Looks like baby will be nameless........

[Kitt3n]

DD1 and I have loved the name Arika for quite sometime now, but DH is completely NOT KEEN. He says it just sounds like you are saying Erika and can't say it properly . I have told DH that unless he comes up with something else then that is going to be the name (unless of course it doesn't suit her!). (FWIW it's an old viking name and I am a little viking mad)

Plan of action was to wait till she was born and then just look up at him and say "Arika" ... with a smile. I mean, he can't say no to me just after I have been through labour can he?

Now he is starting to freak out that we don't have a name and is pulling some really........ well, names I do not care for. One was Burnette. WTF?

Here are a couple of other names that I like the feel of, but not nearly as much as Arika

Annique
Arienne
Ariette

So, hit me ladies! Or should I just perservere with the "Arika" ... with a smile... thing just after birth?!

[NaeNae]

yep ... fwiw how is it pronounced? ayrika? ahrika? or Rika (as in arrhhh)

[thepixie]

I quite like Arienne
And how would you pronounce Annique? would it be like Monique but with An instead or would it be more like Annika?

[Kitt3n]

Yep, Arika would be pronounced Ahrika (so a soft ahh) - Annique is as you noted Pixie, like Monique

[nickle730]

I like Arienne as well. Arika is nice and I'd persevere with the post birth plan if you really like it!

I read 'Brunette' instead of 'Burnette' and I thought... but what if she's blonde? D'oh...

[~clover~]

Plan of action was to wait till she was born and then just look up at him and say "Arika" ... with a smile. I mean, he can't say no to me just after I have been through labour can he?

I tried that with DS... I wanted Kobi, he didn't. I bit my tongue til that last second.... & was shot down!!! lol, lucky I love his name anyway!

Jazmyne
Brianna
Summer
My 3 faves

I went to school with an Anneke (pronaounced the same as Annique), her sister was Kyona, which is nice too.

[NaeNae]

I like Annique too ... I knew an Anike (pronounced the same)

[onthefly]

Arika's nice.
How about Ara?

[jackrose]

I went through something similar when DD2 was born, I had picked a boys name and girls name as soon as we got our BFP and was pretty keen on them but DH was not so sure. (It took him ages to warm to DD1's name too!) So for 9 months I kept bringing up the names and he just ignored me. I finally said that if he didn't discuss it with me, the baby will be named with the names I choose as I don't like the idea of a nameless baby for a few weeks till he decides, especially after we have had 9 months to talk about it! I really wanted to introduce our baby with a name when she was born as he had held off letting me with DD1 and I had to send out a text saying 'little girl' even though I knew what we would settle on. He just kept ignoring me...

So, DD2 was born and I turned to him as you suggested and said, "Are you still Ok about Natasha?" He looked at me dumbfounded and said, where did that name come from? Turns out he was well and truely ignoring me!! He asked for 24 hrs to think which I gracefully gave him and then he reluctantly agreed. Then, 24 hours later he came to me and said that he really didn't like the name. I was mortified as she had been a Natasha to me for 9 months, I loved the name and she was named after a friend! Plus, it was already out there publicly!

In the end I agreed to give him a week to come up with other names or to come round and we would discuss it later. As much as I could easily have said too bad buster you had your chance or too bad, I'm the one who pushed this baby out I put myself in his shoes and thought, what if he was insistent on a name I really didn't like. So as much as it pained me, I gave him his space, after all he has to live with the name and use it daily. And, in the end there was a debarcle around her name anyway with everybody completely confused as to what to call her!

Finally, we compromised and used Natasha on her birth certificate and came up with a nickname/variation of the name that we can use everday that he was happy with and I could deal with 'Sasha'. In the end I figure, Sasha can choose her own version of her name later in life, and I bet she demands to be called Natasha!!!

So the point of my long winded story is, you can certainly push for the name you want, the arguement of "I pushed the baby out" is one that has been used many times before I am sure but in my opinion a name is bigger than that and in the end belongs to the little baby. In the meantime, it is preferential for those involved to feel happy with it and that they have played a part in the process of naming... That said, what about Marcellus' suggestion? using Ara as the day to day 'familiar' name with Arika as the formal name? I think they both sound lovely.

[thepixie]

I quite like Aria ...

[Kitt3n]

I read 'Brunette' instead of 'Burnette' and I thought... but what if she's blonde? D'oh...

PMSL the first thing I thought was "Burn baby burn .... disco inferno!!!"

I'm liking the other spellings of Annique too - alas this is another name that DH is not fond of - we do not seem to care for the same names **bangs head**

[Pandora]

Tell him Burnette is a sewing machine and ask if he likes pfaff also :/

It doesnt really matter what we think of the name if he is taking so much issue with it.

I would have trouble with pronunciation, I though initally is was arrika rhyming with barracker, then I thought a-REE-ka

Once you tell people though they should be ok.

I like aria or ariana,

[*Ang*]

I know an Anique and think it is a lovely name. Must admit I prefer it over Arika, sorry. Going along with the "A' theme that you seem to have, what about Akina?

[thepixie]

we do not seem to care for the same names **bangs head**

Aww keep looking, I had the same problem with the Bear probably until she was due... but once we decided on the name we both absolutely loved it and couldn't think of anything better. It will be so nice if you can find something you both adore.

[luna moth]

Anais
Ada
Alma
Atlanta
Anise

None of them are very viking though. I have a list of A names that i can't use because of our surname

[*Beema*]

Anika
Anastasia
Analiese
April
Anja

[Arimeh]

Urgh I hate it when they change their mind. We have a girl's name already, and I've told some people, so if DH changes his mind I'll rip his nuts off.

Anyhooo (no bitterness here obviously!....)

I don't think the smile thing will work, if he doesn't like it, he doesn't like it. (unfortunately).

I think the only "a" name I had on my list was Airlea?

[megs]

An a name that I quite like is

Acacia.

Good Luck