Choosing a Name

One of the most difficult decisions a parent-to-be or new parent has to make is choosing a name for a baby.

You may have decided on names years ago, or you may have not given it a thought until you found out you were pregnant, or you may not even have a clue after giving birth.

Either way, its important that you choose wisely because your child is going to have to go through life with this name, although celebrities don’t seem to worry about this.

Celebrities seem to live in a parallel universe where the bizarre names they give their babies sound fine. Sylvester Stallone and Sasha Czack named their child Sage Moonblood, whilst it must have been pretty confusing in Frank Zappa’s house when he scolded little Moon Unit, Dweezil, and Diva Muffin!

It’s probably kinder to your child not to name them after cars, planets, fruit, musical instruments, countries, accessories, or random words from the dictionary

The origin of a name can be very important, especially if you are looking to find a name that is related to your own family history or part of your culture, or religion. But with so many sources of inspiration now, from celebrities and their babies to countless baby name books, here’s a few thoughts that I hope will help you decide.

You have six weeks after your baby is born to register the birth and decide on their name.

Make sure that you pick a name that you like when you say it out loud.

You may want to consider giving a child a middle name. Therefore, when they are older they can switch between that and their first name if they wish.

Make sure that you choose a name that goes with your surname. You’d want to avoid calling your son Terry if your surname’s Bull.

Be wary of names that start with the same letter as your surname.

Try not to choose names that are tricky to spell or pronounce. You may know how, but what about friends and relatives, teachers, classmates… it all adds to the embarrassment factor for your child.

Avoid trendy names if possible, Kylie and Brittany will quickly lose their appeal.

Baby names are influenced by trends, so what will be the most popular baby names in 2010 I wonder?

A recent survey of over 3,000 expecting parents to find out the most popular 2010 baby boy names and 2010 baby girl names came up with the following results:

Top 2010 Baby Girl Names:

Olivia
Ruby
Emily
Grace
Lily
Jessica
Amelia
Chloe
Isabella
Emma

Top 2010 Baby Boy Names:

Jack
Harry
Alfie
Thomas
Oliver
Daniel
Joshua
Charlie
Mohammed
George

I guess, at the end of the day the name you choose is down to you (I’m assuming you are the parent here)

And whilst you will no doubt receive advice from all quarters, especially the ‘soon to be’ grandparents, who will insist that your great aunt Ethel would be delighted to know that the baby is to be named after her (not)

Just smile politely and say thanks for the ideas, then make your own mind up!