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Baby Naming Tips

• Many parent like to, or feel obliged to, honor a family member (such as a parent or grandparent) when naming their baby. This is a traditional way of choosing a name, and can work well. However, if it is something that you would rather not do, but feel obligated to do it, why not consider honoring the family member by using their name for the baby’s middle name? That way, you can select whatever first name you wish and still keep your relations happy.
   

• You may be planning to name your baby after a celebrity with an unusual name. Even if the celebrity in question is a household name at the moment, it is worth bearing in mind that ten or twenty years down the line they may not be – but your child will still be lumbered with their name.
   

• Try to choose names that can be abbreviated into initials without causing embarrassment for your child. For example, there is an instance where a couple decided to call their baby daughter Phoebe, and gave her a middle name of Olivia. Their surname was Ogilvy. Can you imagine how horrified the child will be when she’s a little older and she realizes that her initials are P.O.O.?
   

• Don’t feel pressured into choosing a particular name by family and friends. By all means, feel free to ask for advice. But remember, when it comes to the crunch, it is you as the child’s parents that will get the blame if the baby grows up to hate his or her name.
   

• If you wish to avoid arguments and pressure regarding the baby’s name, you might want to keep it a secret until the baby has been born. This way, people won’t be able to comment on the name and try and put you off or make you change your mind. Another good reason for doing this is that many parents actually change their minds about the name as soon as the baby is born. Quite often, the name that has been decided upon just doesn’t suit any longer once you are actually looking at the baby in the flesh.
   

• Bear in mind that, if you decide to go for a very popular name, the chances are that several of your child’s school friends in later life will have the same name.
   

• Avoid trying to use a clever play on words when picking your baby’s name, such as Holly Wood or Edward Woodward. This may seem cute and clever to you as parents, but you must think about how your child will feel when he or she is a little older. Names like this can result in comments from other children when your child starts school.
   

• It is important for both parents to compromise when selecting a name for the baby. This is made a little easier by the fact that you can choose two names, and use one of the as a middle name. You could also think about giving the baby a double-barrel name such as Anna-Maria. However, avoid putting together two names that clearly don’t go together and are a mouthful to say. Also, avoid getting carried away and giving the child several middle names. It may give you a feeling of satisfaction to be able to use all of the names that you like, but the child will not thank you in later life when it takes him or her ten minutes to write out their full name!

The Types of Names to Avoid

In later years, from school-life to work-life, your child may have to say or write their name many times every day. You should therefore make your decision very carefully, and be pre-emptive of how he or she may feel in later life. Try and avoid the following types of names: 

• Cute names: Although a name may seem cute and cuddly to you – and may even suit your child whilst he or she is a baby – it may not be quite as delightful to your child later in life. Your child may grow up to be a high-school principal at the age of forty, and wouldn’t thank you for giving them a name like ‘Fifi Trixibelle’ (the name of Paula Yates’ and Bob Geldof’s daughter). If you must use names like these, they are probably better reserved for the family poodle.
   

• Difficult to spell names: You will probably find that names that are difficult to spell will be commonly misspelled by others, which may become irritating for your child in years to come. The same applies to popular names with that have been given a very different spelling to the traditional one.
   

• Names that don’t suit: Don’t give your baby a name that is clearly going to sound inappropriate when he or she is older. For example, it is fine to use names from different backgrounds and cultures as long as the name suits. However, your blue-eyed, blonde-haired daughter may feel odd later in life if she’s given an Indian name like Parminder.
   

• Using place names: This is not actually a no-go area, and some place names make very nice names for your baby. This method of naming babies is becoming increasingly popular. Famous footballer, David Beckham, and his singer wife, Victoria, named their little boy Brooklyn after the place where he was conceived. A very novel idea, but you do have to use your common-sense and be sensible about this. It would certainly not be a good idea if your baby was conceived, for example, in New Delhi.

Choosing Unusual Baby Name

Many parents are steering away from the old-fashioned and classical names, and moving towards an ever-increasing trend of trying to find a unique and unusual baby name.

Listed below are several ways in which parents can try and find an unusual yet acceptable baby name.
 

• Name or word combinations: This a name derived from the combination of two or more names or words. For example, if the baby’s parents or grandparents are called David and Trina, the baby’s name could be Davina – a combination of the two names. This provides an unusual (although not unique in this case) name for the child, as well as honoring family members.
   

• Name meanings: Another way to pick out  unusual name for your baby is to focus on the meaning of the name. You can decide what you want your child’s name to mean and then choose a name that has that meaning. A very good site to help you do this is www.parenthood.com. They have a facility whereby you can type in the desired meaning, and it then brings up a listing of names with that meaning, both popular and unusual.
   

• Place names: Many parents are now using this method to name their babies. Some countries, states and cities can make very nice names for your baby. The downside is that, as this method increases in popularity, the names will become more and more common. Some popular names for male babies are: Colorado, Phoenix, Salem, Denver and Israel. Popular names for female babies are: Atlanta, India, Paris, Asia and Vienna.
   

• Using a surname as a first name for unusual baby name: This is another method that is increasing in popularity. You could choose, for example, the surname of an ancestor or perhaps the surname of a historical figure or a celebrity. Examples of using a surname as a first name for boys are: Beckett, Addison, Brewster, Donovan and Jenson. Examples of names for girls are: Bronte, Dempsey, Liotta, McCartney and Piper.
   

• Names from nature: You can also draw on the beauty of the world around you for inspiration. Some parents have selected words related to nature to help them name their babies. Examples of these are: River, Leaf, Raine, Rainbow and Sky.
   

• Traditional (Unusual Baby Name): There are still the traditional ways of selecting your baby’s name. The first, of course, is using a name that has been in the family for years – perhaps the name of an aunt or uncle, or a grandparent. The other way is to browse through the plethora of books on the market that list literally thousands of names to select from. Although it is unlikely that you find a unique name from these books, they can certainly prove to be a valuable aide to parents who are struggling to think of a suitable name.

Naming Subsequent Babies or Twins

It is difficult enough to select a name for your first baby. When choosing a name for a subsequent baby or a twin, there are even more factors that parents should take into consideration, such as the following:

• Try not to choose names that start with the same letter. Calling one child Jane Smith and the other Joanne Smith may cause confusion. At school, clothes, books and toys that have the child’s initials on may get mixed up. In later life, you may begin receiving letters for Miss J Smith. This could cause embarrassment and arguments if the contents of the letter are private and it is opened by the wrong person.
   

• If you have given your first child a very unusual name, avoid giving your next child a very common or simple name. They may wonder, as they get older, why you didn’t put as much thought and effort into naming them as you did your other child. You should put an equal amount of consideration into naming a subsequent child as you did in naming your first.
   

• If you have twins, don’t be tempted to give them both very similar names. Particularly with identical twins, their name is often one of the few things that give them their own identity. Naming them, for example, Christopher and Christine (both of which can be shortened to Chris) may not be a wise move.
   

• A good way to name siblings is to give them names that are connected in some way but are outwardly different. For example, you could use Aidan and Nadia. These are actually the same name but in reverse. Erica and Heather are very different names, but erica is actually the Latin word for heather. Amy and May are an anagram of one another. Or Eve and Zoë, which sound very different but both of these names actually mean ‘life’ – one in Hebrew and one in Greek.

Good luck in your baby name search at BabyNamesDirectory.com!