Choosing Baby Names

Baby Names are really tricky! By the time you have a baby, every name you know will either remind you of someone you met and didn’t like much or didn’t like enough to name your baby after. So, naturally, you reach out for something you hadn’t heard of before. The trouble is, there is probably a reason you hadn’t heard of it before: it’s not a good name.  So you are stuck.

Should you go for something simple but probably commonplace? David is a perfectly lovely name, but, lets face it, we all know a Dave or two, and you wan’t your baby to be an individual, right?!

So should you go for something unusual and interesting (but potentially disastrous) like Fifi Trixibelle or Memphis Eve? Individual for sure, but they also make your kid sound like a cartoon character or shade of paint.

Also, does the name you have chosen open your child up for all sorts of playground teasing? Lots of people claim to know someone who was at school with an unfortunate boy called Dwane Pipe, for instance.

Or does the name you pick give your newborn amusing or rude initials, like, oh I don’t know, Phillip Oliver Orwell for instance? Because when an 11 year old boy realizes what his best friend’s initials spell out, well, that is a nickname for life.

Basically, if it sounds pretty to you, if it isn’t an obvious bullying target and it won’t remind you of someone awful – go for it. Basically, this is the golden rule:

Think your child’s name through before you commit to it.

That might sound like obvious advice, but there have been some, ahem, unusual names becoming popular recently.

The name Siri – iPhone’s voice activated search tool – has found new popularity this year, rising 5% in the BabyCenter list of most popular baby names of 2012. In actual fact, Siri is a Norwegian name that means “Beautiful woman who leads you to victory”, or simply “Beautiful victory”. There is nothing wrong with the name as such, actually it is quite pretty, but the timing of it’s popularity is suspicious…

Worryingly, the names Apple and Mac are both getting less obscure too, which rather implies that it won’t be long before there is a non robotic couple called Siri and Apple Mackingtosh walking among us.

If you are looking for a little inspiration for a baby name, have a look at the Baby Center top 100 boys and girls names here:

www.babycenter.com/top-baby-names-2012

We also strongly recommend you check out www.babynames.com for a name of the day and all sorts of list and poles on baby names.

At the end of the day, however, it is your choice. If you want to call your son Charlotte or your daughter Alopecia, go for it. But be reasonable, make their middle name Chris or Anne to go by if they so choose!