MANY parents feel the pressure to choose the perfect name for their newborn and want to have one picked out before they’re born.
But this couple went a bit of a different route when it came to naming their son.
Asa Steinars, from Reykjavik, Iceland, revealed she still hadn’t named her son at two-months-old.
In a viral TikTok, which has amassed over four million views, Asa assured viewers not naming your little one straight away is actually pretty normal where she’s from.
“It’s quite normal here in Iceland, babies often stay nameless for weeks or months, so up until now we have just been calling him ‘little brother’,” she explained.
The mum said other parents will use the time after birth to try out different names to see which one fits best, or wait for their chosen name to be approved by The Icelandic Naming Committee.
Only parents who want to give their child a name that’s not already on the approved list must submit the name for approval, however.
The committee exists to ensure new names fit well with Icelandic grammar and tradition, as well as to ensure the name will not cause the child embarrassment down the line.
In fact, Asa revealed in a follow-up video that she and her partner originally thought they would go with a different name than they eventually did.
Before changing their minds, the couple noted they liked the name Levi for their little one.
It wasn’t until her son arrived they decided the name they loved didn’t seem right.
But after two months pondering the choice, the couple revealed they picked the name Jökull, which means glacier in Icelandic.
In the UK, parents have 42 days to register the birth of a child, but parents can still change the name for 12 months after the registration, at which point a formal deed poll will be required.
After sharing her decision to hold off on naming her son people shared their thoughts on the matter, with many agreeing it was a good choice to hold off for a while.
“This needs to be a thing everywhere, I’ve heard so many silly names,” one commented.
“We did the same with our daughter, one week we would try one name, the next another until it felt right,” a second commented.
And someone else said: “More places definitely should require a committee to pick a name!”
“I’m glad you changed it, Jökull is much better than Levi,” congratulations,” someone else said.
The struggle of choosing a baby name
CHLOE Morgan, a Senior Writer at Fabulous, has revealed her dilemma on choosing a baby name…
At 35 weeks pregnant, by far the trickiest part of pregnancy for me in the past few months (minus the insomnia and countless night-time wee breaks!) has been trying to decide on a baby name.
The dilemmas are endless…
My partner and I went for a private scan to find out the gender as early as we could – partly due to the fact we thought it would make baby naming so much easier because we’d only have to come up with a list of names for one gender rather than two.
How wrong we were…
I was absolutely thrilled to be told I was expecting the baby girl I’d already dreamed of, but being one of the last of my friends to fall pregnant, I’ve had countless conversations over the years with excited pals discussing their top baby names…something which I wish I could go back in time and un-hear.
With each friend mentioning at least 10 possible monikers, I can’t help but feel like several are now a no-go even though I know it’s something that none of them would mind in the slightest – it’s a total me problem!
The debate comes up time and time again on social media forums – can you choose the same name that was a “potential” for a friend’s baby?
It’s a very divisive topic and opinions are always mixed…and I don’t want to be THAT person.
While some will argue there’s thousands of other names out there to choose from, others will say you need to choose YOUR favourite…after all, there’s no guarantee that person will even have another baby.
Then there’s also the issue of finding a name you adore…only to research it online and read one negative comment amongst hundreds of positives that you just can’t shake off.
I made that very mistake when I fell in love with a certain name (I won’t reveal it because I don’t want to ruin it for others!) …only to see someone point out that it constantly gets autocorrected on a phone to something rather rude instead.
So, back to the drawing board we went..
Just five weeks to go and it looks like our little one is going to be known as ‘baby gal’ for a little while longer!
