How Long Do You Have To Choose Your Baby's Name?
I was curious if anyone had experience leaving the hospital without selecting a name for your child. How long do you have to pick a name before things start to get more complicated? If you did wait, what additional steps (and how painful was it) to decide on a name after you left the hospital? I have seen different answers online and was hoping to hear from someone with direct experience. We are quickly approaching my due date and are undecided on a name. I want to better understand what happens if we take a few weeks post-birth to make a final decision. Thank you!
Mar 24, 2022
Parent Replies
My info is 7+ years old, but we had a similar struggle when our child was born. Kaiser advised us at the time that it was far, far easier to choose the name before they filed the birth certificate than afterwards (when a great deal more paperwork would be involved). I think they gave us around four days at the time. We let our three-year-old make the final decision in the end and emailed them minutes before the deadline. We haven't looked back, and I'm really glad not to have had to deal with the paperwork to register/change the name ourselves with a newborn at home. No idea if other hospitals handle this differently as far as the timing, though.
If the birth certificate is filed, without the first name. Then you child name will be -
Even if you file an amendment, some forms require the name "as it appears on the birth certificate" which will be -
Basically you need to pick the name before the birth certificate filing. In Alta Bates, it was within HOURS, even when my child was in the intensive care and I was on tons of medications, IVs and so on.
Hello, our kiddo is 9+ now and we were in new-parent brain fog, so we don't remember details. FWIW, we were at CPMC in SF. I had a c-section so we were there a few days. We received the full court press from the hospital to complete it and we deferred. We left the hospital without completing the paperwork. We wanted to be sure the name felt right for our child before formalizing it. Went home, they called us and called us. Within a few days, when we knew the name was right, my husband brought the paperwork in to them. We don't recall extra effort on our part. Not sure about waiting a few weeks, perhaps ask the hospital directly for timetable on exactly what/when? I think their incentive is to get it done for efficiency, perhaps other reasons.