Michael, Madison, Jason, Frank, James, Phillip and on and on. I’ve come across books with 25,000 baby names. Where do you start on this name journey? As you dig deeper and deeper into the many books on baby names you begin to understand exactly how difficult finding a needle in a haystack really would be. In addition to the large number of names to choose from this task is made even more difficult for two people (my wife and I) who have trouble deciding what to make for dinner on a given evening. The process of picking out a movie nearly brings us to blows, how are we ever going to name our child?
In addition to the many name books available there are many websites that offer help in your baby name journey. For people who have difficultly knowing where to begin some websites automatically generate potential names that go well with your last name. Other websites offer suggestions based on language origins or what is popular now or names that have been popular in past years. Because there are so many options to choose from it is best to start your name journey early in your pregnancy. You will have nine months, okay 40 weeks, to fall in love with names and fall out of love with names, like when you encounter an obnoxious waiter named Kurt at your local eatery. As with so many important decisions in your life taking time to contemplate these names is very important and that is why you need to start early.
As I’ve indicated before, making lists is an important part of your pregnancy and the process for choosing your baby’s name is a perfect way to embrace your inner Lister. Keep each and every baby name list that you come up with because your name preferences will change throughout your pregnancy. Ethan may sound good on Friday, horrible on Monday and might be the perfect fit again on Wednesday; such is the life of a hormonal Mom to be and indecisive Dad to be.
Although my wife and I still don’t know what we are going to name our bundle of joy there are some criteria that must be met for our child’s name and I think they are good criteria for anyone who needs some help narrowing down their name list(s).
1. Teasing: Can my babies name easily be turned into a silly phrase that will torment my child for the rest of his/her life? Ask kids what they think, they will be honest. I’m sure we all know some names that fall into this category.
2. Presidential? Can I hear my child’s name be announced at his/her inauguration as the President of the United States? Pilot Inspektor Overman just doesn’t sound very Presidential to me.
3. Does it fit? I think that a name should fit the baby, so we are not planning on naming our child until we see the bundle of joy. We have some names selected, but they have to pass the “see” test before we’ll pull the trigger.
As with seemingly everything in this journey of parenthood, naming a baby may seem overwhelming. If you spend some time discovering your options and having discussions with your partner you will come up with the name that suits both you and your baby. If you fall in love with a name, use it and embrace it, because if you truly love it, you won’t go wrong. Then again, I’ll discuss this with Pilot Inspektor in a few years and I may get another perspective.
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Comments
That sounds like fantastic baby-naming advice.
I ran one of my old friend's ideas for a baby name by my then 6 year old nephew. His response? "it sounds like 'hamburger'."
You can trust the little ones to be honest, that's for sure.
I met this waiter named Kurt and he is quite a nice gentleman. I'd think about using that name if I were you.
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