The Name Game

When you find out you are pregnant, nowadays, most are incredibly eager to find out the sex of the baby, and of course, once the sex is determined, you can choose a name.  From the time you and your partner find out you are going to be parents, you both start spitting out possible names for boys and girls.  It is never really to early to start the process of choosing a name for your baby.

When you start choosing a name, the possibilities may seem overwhelming. There are so many things to take into consideration like, popular names of the year, family names, how a name flows together, name association and much more.  Maybe you have had a name in mind since you were a child; but, now that everything is so real, perhaps, you have changed your mind.  I urge you to remember how important a name is.  This is the label for your child for the rest of his or her life.

A big reason for choosing a name during pregnancy is to help give your little one an identity.
Choosing a name allows you to start thinking of your baby as a little human being instead of an it.  Even chose a nickname that yo refer to your baby to give an identity to him or her.  When I was pregnant there was conflict about whether the baby was a boy or girl so we started calling the baby, Baby Bop.  It stuck with him and now we call him Bradley Bop.

Here are some tips to keep in mind when naming your baby.

• Be careful of rhyming names, like Paul Haul.  Not nice.
• Is it easy to pronounce?
• Is there a mean nickname that could be associated with the name?
• Does the name flow?
• Try to avoid making your child’s name humorous, like Holly Wood.  I knew a boy in high school, believe it or not, his name was Richard Head.  That poor boy got teased horribly.  Be careful of something like this.
• Decide if you want to have your baby go by his formal name or a nickname.  For example if you name your baby James and do not want Jim or Jimmy, establish that early on with your partner.

• If you are considering naming your child after a celebrity or someone famous, think carefully naming your child with a name that has a lot of positive or negative attention.  The shoes could be too big to fill.
• The most important tip...if you are having trouble thinking of a name, you will know your baby’s name the first time you see him or her.  Truly.  For my mother’s entire pregnancy she had me named Brittany...I am no Brittany.  As soon as I was born my Daddy looked at me and said I was a Trish, and I am.  You will know when you see your darling for the first time.