I know it's perhaps too early to be talking about this, but I HATE our boy name and DH won't budge. As long as I've known him he's wanted to name his first son after his Dad and Grandfather, bothed Laurence Daniel. I HATE hate hate hate hate laurence (apologies to anyone whose son/father/brother/husband is laurence), but I was willing to compromise because I thought we could call him by a middle name.

For a while he wanted to do Daniel, but I thought that seem as how there's already two living laurence daniels...and i hate the nickname Dan AND Danny...that we could do better. Then he came up with Neal (his middle name) and THAT is where he settled. Laurence Neal.

I'm sorry, but i hate almost everything about it. Laurence is the worst...both dad and grandpa are called "Larry" and I will die if my son is Larry. DIE. Neal is OK, I guess...but it's spelled wrong and I hate that. Plus...neal...ew. I would never choose that if it weren't Colin's own middle name.

I don't know what to do. I feel torn because he LOVES the name. He's super close to his dad and grandpa and loves that the baby will be named in part after him...and Neal is a family name as well. He refuses to even discuss the option of something different because "I already agreed to it." I tell him...nothing is freaking agreed to until there's a baby and  it's on a birth certificate.

I guess I either need A. condolances, B. reasons why this is OK or C. Ways to make him budge.

Boo :(

PS: Apologies if I sound like a snot....I've actually been really leniant with his feelings on this one, but I can't hold it in anymore haha.

It's ok to feel as if you dont want that name for your baby because you have to call your child that for the rest of its life. Names are very important in my family & in DH's. So we are going with our fathers first names for a boy or our grandmother's first names for a girl. My DH wanted to name our son Joshua Nathaniel and thought he would be a junior because he would have my husband's first name. Kinda had to correct him on that one. But maybe you can just work on your DH a little bit at a time to see your side of things as well. HTH

Awww....this is a tough one.  We are still TTC...hopefully this is our month :) but we have already had the name talk.  His grandfather and fathers name is James and we have decided that if we have a son it will be his middle name. 

If I were in your place I would come up with a few first name suggestions and present them to your DH and maybe he could have two middle names. 

Colin Lawrence Neal _______

Jackson Lawrence Daniel ________

Since you still have time maybe one of the names you suggest your DH will really like! 

Oh Katie, I'd be freaking too!!  My daughter has a kid in her class named Leonard, and it's just such an old man name.  LOL-  What if you compromise and do what October suggested, give him 2 middle names OR maybe just honor the name by using something more modern and similar or maybe even something that starts with the same letter?

I also found several variations online: 

Lawrence has 46 variant forms: Larance, Laranz, Larenz, Larrance, Larrence, Larrens, Larrey, Larry, Lars, Laurance, Lauren, Laurence, Laurens, Laurent, Laurentios, Laurentius, Laurenz, Laurie, Laurits, Lauritz, Lavrans, Lavrens, Lawrance, Lawrey, Lawrie, Lawry, Lenci, Lon, Lonny, Lorance, Lorant, Loren, Lorenc, Lorence, Lorencz, Lorens, Lorentz, Lorenz, Lorenzen, Lorenzo, Lorin, Loritz, Lorrence, Lorrenz, Lorry and Lowrance.

Side note: my sister's soccer coach growing up was Loren, I always thought it was kind of a cool name for a guy.

I've always liked the name Lorin for a boy after reading The Knight of Maison Rouge :)

DH's brother passed away at a young age so all of the boys promised that their first born son will have his name as a middle name. That is great...I am totally on board for that. However, he wanted to pick the first name too. I stood my ground and told him we each get to pick a name so I would pick the first name as long as he could agree on it. We are having a girl so it ended up not being a fight yet but DH was willing to compromise and so was I. If he wants to honor his dad and grandpa I think that is wonderful. But your say is just as important as it is just as much your child.

I like the suggestions given already with the two middle names or changing it up a little bit. If he is standing his ground, then you can stand yours too ;-)

I went through the same thing with my DH. His Grandpas name was Francis Eugene, but he went by Sam (dont ask, I dont know). DH told me when we were first dating that he would name his first child Samuel or Samantha after his grandpa. I used to be a teacher and had a kid named Sam who cried constantly and was so whiny and his image was the only thing I saw when I heard the name. I tried to get DH to name our Chihuahua Sammy so we couldnt use it for our kid, lol!

However, the name really grew on me and now I love it. When I hear the name Sam I dont picture that kid anymore, I picture my son and couldnt imagine him being named anything else.

I would try to sit down with him and talk with him about it. I think both parents need to agree on the name and if one hates it, then the kid shouldnt be called that. Some kind of compromise needs to be made. Maybe say he can choose one of those names to be the first or middle name and you get to choose the other?

I think I definitely had it a bit easier with Sam, than you do with Laurence. Id be putting my foot down on that one. Sorry!

I know people with two first names as their formal full name. Then you and they can choose which to go by... possibility?

I like Neal....it makes me think if the hotty a few years back on So You Think You Can Dance!  If that makes you feel any better! :)  I like the idea of Lorin too...it's totally different and unique!!