I know you didn't do it on purpose, but don't criticize my baby's name!

[Krisrich]

I am expecting DD2 any day now. We have decided to name her Anna but have only told immediate family in IRL. It is driving my coworkers crazy that I'm keeping it secret and they are always asking for hints. So, last week I gave in and told them it begins with "A." They start guessing and someone says "Oh, I hope it's not Anna." Why would you say something like that? For all you know, it could be Anna, and, guess what, you're gonna feel pretty awkward soon because it is. I guess it's my own fault for giving hints and allowing the guessing game. But, what the heck is wrong with Anna?

[TwinFoxes]

There's nothing wrong with Anna. No matter what you name your child someone will have a problem with it.

[Ceepa]

Maybe coworker has a negative association with the name, but whatever the reason, she should have kept that to herself. Anna is beautiful, BTW.

[sste]

Anna is a beautiful, classic name. I much prefer to many other girls' names ending in "a" that have become highly popular, and even trendy, right now. In my neighborhood/demographic, Anna would be an absolutely wonderful name for the following reasons: 1) beautiful, lovely name; 2) this is a classic name that would carry well into a variety of fields - - scientist, author, CEO. It is feminine but strong; 3) with the many avas, ellas, addisions, etc you can be pretty confident she will be the only Anna in her class.

[SnuggleBuggles]

I love the name Anna and it would be on my list for future kids. It's a classic. Poo on that co-worker. :(

Beth

[cvanbrunt]

Anna is a beautiful name. Boy, is she going to feel like a heel when your daughter arrrives. It will be kinda fun to see how she handles it.

[lowrioh]

We got a lot of crappy comments when we told people we were naming DD Anne. Most of them made the comment that Anne was so plain and that we should use Anna instead.
My respose was that we were naming her after DH's Grandmother and unless they could raise her from the dead and convince her to change her name that DD's name would be Anne. It tended to shut them up

[alexsmommy]

It's a beautiful, classic, name. Ignore that person.
We NEVER tell anyone or give hints for exactly this reason. There is no way everyone will like your choice and even if they may not mean to, some people can't mask their reaction to the "idea" of a name, but rarely will anyone make a face once the baby is here and the birth certificate is signed.

[carolinamama]

I LOVE the name Anna. You are giving your DD a beautiful classic name that she will never tire of having. I can see why you are annoyed at this person. It was an insensitive comment and he/she probably doesn't even realize it.

[neeleymartin]

I am expecting DD2 any day now. We have decided to name her Anna but have only told immediate family in IRL. It is driving my coworkers crazy that I'm keeping it secret and they are always asking for hints. So, last week I gave in and told them it begins with "A." They start guessing and someone says "Oh, I hope it's not Anna." Why would you say something like that? For all you know, it could be Anna, and, guess what, you're gonna feel pretty awkward soon because it is. I guess it's my own fault for giving hints and allowing the guessing game. But, what the heck is wrong with Anna?

they probably knew someone with that name that drove them nuts. the only names that really both me are the ones that i associate with people i don't like. usually it has nothing to do with the name itself. i'm sure this is the same thing. still quite stupid to make such a comment. iw ish i could be there to see their face when anna arrives. that will be priceless. they will feel so embarrassed. :bag

[jgenie]

Anna is a beautiful name. We don't tell anyone our name choices for this exact reason. People have too many opinions!!

[veronica]

It's a beautiful name. don't let them get you down. People say crazy things and think it doesn't hurt anyone's feelings.

What you are going through is precisely why we never told either DC's name until they were born. We had friends that chose their DD's name (Lola) and shared it before the baby was born. They were ridiculed for months and we knew then ,we would never share.

[scrooks]

LOVE LOVE LOVE Anna...it's my DD's name!

We made the mistake of telling people we were considering it ahead of time and my DH's family said it was too short or they liked Annabelle better....we just ignored them!

[jenandahalf]

I can't imagine what anyone could not like about the name Anna! It's a great name and was definitely a contender for us.

[smiles33]

My name is Anna and I've only met 1 or 2 in the past 33 years. Other than the Anna Banana song, I was never teased because of my name. It's easy to spell, it's a palindrome, and I like to think it sound elegant. :)

Congrats on your impending new addition!

[LexyLou]

Anna is beautiful! I can't imagine anyone having an issue with that name.

I'm sure coworker does have some negative association with the name, but will definitely feel like a jackass when she's born.

I can't wait to hear the stumbling and backtracking.

[Carrots]

I love the name Anna! Your coworker is an idiot.

[JTsMom]

I think it's a beautiful name. :)

[edurnemk]

That was a dumb thing to say...

Anyway, I LOVE that name!

[LMPC]

Yeah, I agree...your co-worker is a MO-ron! Anna is a lovely name! We didn't tell anyone our name choice either and my aunt took to calling our future-DD "Edna" since we wouldn't tell her the name. (And no, DD's name did not end up being Edna....not that there's anything wrong with Edna!)

[sarahsthreads]

DD2's name is Anna. Not quite sure what's wrong with the name Anna, other than the whole "Anna Banana" thing. I have to confess we've been guilty of calling DD2 Anna Banana since about day 2. It's cute. She's cute. I use nicknames of some form or another with both my children *way* more than their actual names, anyway.

I'm obviously biased, but I personally think Anna sounds cute (especially when the Anna in question is 17 months old and says it herself), elegant, feminine, strong and professional. It doesn't sound strange with a "Dr." in front of it or "Esq." after it. What more could you ask for in a name?

Sarah :)

[KrisM]

We kept the names secret here. My mom is super opinionated. A friend of hers has a grandchild named Owen and my mom just would not let up on how bad/awful that name is. It had been on our boy list, but not after that. She still doesn't know how many names she ruined for us.

And, when I called her from the hospital and told her DD's name (), she said "oh, well that's different". Nice. My dad said he had to google the name to see if we made it up. Shortly after, his Realtor called and my dad told him he had a granddaughter and the Realtor's sister's name is the same.

Anna is a perfectly beautiful name. It would have been on our list, except DH has a sister with that name and we weren't naming after family, in general. I think your co-worker will feel awful down the road.

[Melanie]

Anna is lovely. And some people are just lame. LOL.

We didn't tell a soul either of our children's names b/c I didn't want to hear about it and hold grudges against people forever after. LOL. It seems once they're here and officially named people are less likely to "offer" opinions.

[DrSally]

Love Anna. People can be so thoughtless about names sometime. That's why you didn't want to give it out in the first place! People should really respect others desire not to tell names before their babies are born.

[MamaMolly]

Ugh. We got picked on about DD's name by a few choice idiots. This time we are playing very, very close to the vest and don't plan to tell anyone other than DD and maybe, maybe some family. When we pick one, that is...

Anna is a great name. Classic, elegant, feminine, cute on a little girl but one that will work well into adulthood. You co-worker might have been trying to bait you into a trap just to gauge your reaction. But either way it was a stupid thing to say.

[Toba]

Anna is a beautiful, simple, graceful name!

When I told my mother what we intended on naming our son, she literally made an "eww" face. My husband's grandmother actually asked me to switch his first and middle names around (which, honestly after the fact, I think I might have been receptive to if it wasn't requested in such an offensive way). My DS's name is biblical but got pretty popular the year he was born. His middle name, OTOH, is unique and still simple (I've never seen it used elsewhere). I actually prefer his middle name now to his first name, and I call him by both (separately) often (when I use the middle name, he knows I mean business).

[vludmilla]

Stupid comment. It's a great name. Of course, I'm biased as my DD's name is Anastasia and we often call her Ana. Try not to let it bother you too much.

[Clarity]

I am expecting DD2 any day now. We have decided to name her Anna but have only told immediate family in IRL. It is driving my coworkers crazy that I'm keeping it secret and they are always asking for hints. So, last week I gave in and told them it begins with "A." They start guessing and someone says "Oh, I hope it's not Anna." Why would you say something like that? For all you know, it could be Anna, and, guess what, you're gonna feel pretty awkward soon because it is. I guess it's my own fault for giving hints and allowing the guessing game. But, what the heck is wrong with Anna?

I love the name Anna, and would consider it a contender if ever I had another girl. That co-worker is going to be very embarrassed shortly and will deserve it.

[gatorsmom]

Anna was on our list if the twins had turned out to be girl/girl. I love the name. Congrats on your upcoming Anna!

[Happy 2B mommy]

Anna is lovely and can't think of why anyone would not like it. I agree with the pp's that your co-worker may not like it because she associates it with someone she doesn't like.

Or perhaps she LOVES the name and is hoping to use it for a future dd and would feel that others might think she is copying you...?

[shawnandangel]

I love the name Anna! I have a niece named Annabelle. Love it.

We did not tell people DD's name before she was born, but I got a comment simlar to yours! At my baby shower a woman said to me "As long as her name isn't Faye. I hate that name!" Well, guess what DD's middle name is? Yup. When we see this woman she still comments on how embarressed she is. She is such a nice sweet woman otherwise that she was easily forgiven! As pp's have mentioned this woman in particular had some bad incidents with a "Faye".

[HIU8]

Anastasia is DH's 1st cousins little girls name. I assumed they were going to call her Ana or Stacy or something. I love Ana.

[frgsnlzrds]

I think Anna's a great name! Name your baby whatever you want and let them apologize later. It reminds me of my dad. A week before DD was born he said, "Whatever you do, don't name her _____. That's an awful name." I liked it so I used it and too bad for him!

[momof2girls]

I too love Anna.
Just think of how stupid they are all going to feel once they find out you named her something they were so vocal about. They'll get theirs in the end. They are the ones who are going to feel awkward.
FWIW, nobody liked DD#1 name when she was born (I didn't have a name picked out in advance so no one knew until after she was born). Now they love it and I like to rub it in to them about how much crap they gave me over it in the beginning. I especially love it when we are all out together and a stranger comments on how they like the name.

[MmeSunny]

All these posters keep talking about how people commented on their DC's names. . .it's really making me wonder what the names are. :loveeyes:

[awoodm]

Oooh, I like this thread! My name is Anna! :love-retry:

I have always liked my name, and I'm sure your daughter will too!

[willow33]

Anna is a strong and pretty name...shame on her :(

[mum-to-be]

My name is Anna, and I am happy with it! I have never met a horrible Anna! I haven't met many Annas, and am glad I didn't have to go by Anna C at school. I will never understand why people like to weigh in on decisions that don't affect them!

[AnnieW625]

Hugs to you. They'll opinion will all change once they meet her:)