View Message

We called our firstborn The Fish before he was born.

---

This was because, after I felt movement (of the baby) for the first time, I said it felt like a fish fluttering around inside me.

I think they're cute, but I felt weird using one and one never stuck during my pregnancy. I called the baby "baby" or "it" until we found out the gender and then I called the baby "baby" or "Linnea".

I think they're kind of fun, and also kind of weird. It's interesting to see what people come up with. "Peanut" is pretty common, it seems. I know one couple who has a food theme -- Waffles was their daughter's in-utero name and Strawberry is on the way. For them it is a good way to keep the baby's sex a secret also. I have one Facebook friend who referred to her unborn child as "baby in the belly" all through her pregnancy.

---

A kid in the preschool where I worked a few years ago was called Bob in utero -- the most generic name his parents could think of. But then when he was born, he was still Bob to them, so they named him Robert and continued to call him Bob. It was hilarious to see a 4-year-old named Bob (never Bobby!) but it fit him perfectly.

Nicknames are out of control! We referred to our future daughter as the bean, and she remained "the bean" instead of "the baby" when she was born. We still sometimes affectionately refer to her as the bean, and my husband even addresses her as Bean. My son was the Tater. But then, my daughter nicknamed him Pickle. So far his real name is sticking even better than either of those, thank goodness. But they're all sort of sticky.

---

I don't think they're a problem unless the child decides s/he doesn't like them but people keep using them anyway. And Beaker isn't a very endearing nick, in my opinion ... but if you all think it's funny, no harm done, at least until he's old enough to say whether he hates or likes it.

My mother did with all but one of us. I was Snoopy, Brogan was Thumper (she kicked) and Dane was Beth (thanks to my other brother insisting that the baby was a girl). I liked it, it makes the child feel more real (at least from the point of view of someone not carrying the child) and allows you to identify it without giving away what you want to call the baby. And sometimes it'll carry over, Brogan and I still get more Thumper/Snoopy stuff than anyone could every want and sometimes we still call Dane "Baby Beth" when he is being particularly moody.

I think it's kinda cute, your child will most likely have several nicknames unrelated to his real name throughout his life anyway.

---

In high school, my form teacher was pregnant, and she wouldn't tell any of us what she was naming the baby. A few boys in my class decided that he would be called Felix, they thought it was a funny sounding name, and the teacher thought it was ridiculous. But they would always ask how Felix was, rather than how the baby was. When she'd had the baby, who was named Logan, the nickname Felix still stuck, and when she came to visit us, the boys would still call him Felix.

My cousin called her lil' peanut and my friend calls hers munchkin all the time.

I called my niece "Peanut" while she was still in the womb. I still call her that from time to time. :)

I think they're sweet :) And I think Beaker is a cute term of endearment that would work later in life as well.

---

When my aunt was pregnant they referred to the baby as "junior" even before they knew the gender

I think its a great idea...much nicer than calling it The Baby all the time, and SO much better than it, which has never sat well with me. Especially if you don't want to tell everyone the name and/or gender until the birth- or if you yourself don't know the name and/or gender!

---

Beaker is cute, and veyr original :)

I'm not sure if I would do it. Those types of nicknames really irk me for some reason, they just rub me the wrong way. Saying "the baby" though is okay with me, so when I have children it will probably be "the baby" until we find out the sex and choose a name.

For our 3 we had

---

Nugget
Peanut
and Niblet

---

Nope, we never do that. Baby is just "the baby" until we find out the gender and name him/her.

---

I have friends who nicknamed their unborn baby Cletus...as in "Cletus the fetus" lol.

When we were pregnant the first time, we called the baby TicTac. Just like you were saying, so that we didn't have to just say "the baby" and "it". We hadn't ever heard of anyone doing it before, although I'm sure people had.

---

Friends of ours also got pregnant shortly after us and called their baby Meatball.
Then my sister was pregnant a while later and called hers Eggo.
And my sister-in-law just had a baby that they had nicknamed Jelly Bean.
Now we are pregnant again and are calling the baby Freckles.

---

So, yeah, I love the idea. :o) So far, no one I know has really had the nickname stick once the baby is here, interestingly. I think once they are here, if they do get a nickname it's more related to what they are like or a shared experience.

I like them for the same reason. It feels more personal than saying "the baby" all the time, and I didn't want to 100% commit to a name for my son until he was actually born. So we called him "Turnip." It stuck for maybe a year after he was born, but we don't really call him that anymore. My other babies never really had nicknames, and I think in the future we'd use the name we assume we'll be giving the baby just so our son will get used to it.

This message was edited 2/17/2011, 10:54 AM

When my friend found out she was pregnant, she decided that regardless of gender, the baby would be Penn. Just Penn if it was a boy and Penelope if it was a girl. So, she called the baby Penn during her pregnancy. Penelope is now sometimes called Penn, sometimes Penny, and sometimes Penny Wren.

I think it's cute!