Guest Post: Baby Name Challenge

 

 

Since my husband and I went back and forth on the name of our baby this time around I thought some of you may benefit from this guest post, which comes from Maria Barker. Thanks Maria!

Baby Name Challenge

Naming your baby can be one of the most exciting and yet nerve racking parts of pregnancy. Many people take to the internet, researching their favourite names’ meaning or just to find inspiration on what the perfect name could be. Others have a name they’ve saved since they were younger but once the baby comes it just doesn’t seem good enough!

Choices, choices, choices

Well, if you’re facing the baby name challenge at the moment, then why not try some of these new and exciting ways of discovering possible names for your child? Some of these are set to be big trends for 2012, while others are tried and tested ways to find inspiration for that perfect name.

Heroes and Villains

Look to your heroes: whether you hero is your next door neighbour, a grandparent, a family friend or a celebrity, examine their names to see if you can draw inspiration from them. Obviously, you could take their first name, or find out what their middle name is. Even their opinion on a name might mean more to you as you value them so much. You could pay homage to your hero by using their initials or even morphing their surname into a first name (more on this later.) Often we favour names because of association with a person or figure we already know, so having this bond with your baby before it’s even born is a nice way to start their life. Also, you’ll have a good story to tell when they ask where their name came from.

Trendy?

Trends: Look to the past for trends or follow the current ones for inspiration. Right now, a trend is forming for naming children after surnames of celebrities. Beat the trend by finding a really unique but pretty surname of someone you admire and giving it to your baby. Or you could decide to change the spelling of a very popular name to make it different from everyone else? Old fashioned names and soft sounding names are big this year, so you could look to these name groups for inspiration on what’s right for your little one.

Creating your own Trends

Start your own trend: look around you for inspiration and think outside the box. Did you conceive your baby in a special place? If so, is there a name in the town, city, street or even building that you could use for inspiration? Think about your favourite characters from books, television series or films. Would you like to child to have a hero and role model like them? If so, use their name! Celebrities seem to think any word is fair game for baby names. They take their inspiration from mythical creatures, fruit, numbers, days of the week and colours. While you might not want to call your baby ‘Eight’ you might want to find something which has significance to you and morph it into a pretty and unique name.

If none of these options appeal then you could ask friends and family for their suggestions and look through baby names books and internet sites. Try different sounds with your surname and keep an open mind. Whatever you name your child they will grow into that name. Many parents say they just ‘know’ when they’ve found the one so bear that in mind and good luck!