Choosing Baby Names
by: Phil
Wheatley
A baby name can be harder to choose than many people realise. It’s very easy to
pick one that you like yourself but quite often this can clash with what your
partner has in mind. I hope this article will help you with the reasons for your
choice.
You have to remember that you will never be able to choose a
baby name which will please everybody, the main thing is to choose a baby name
that is right for you and your partner, not for your friends or family, it’s
your baby after all.
Rather than picking just one baby name, try to
think of 2 or 3 for both a girl and boy. You may find that as the time draws
nearer, you may go off your first choice; possibly you might meet someone you
don’t like with the same name. Even if you know what gender the baby will be due
to scans, it’s still wise to pick baby names for the opposite gender as scans
are not 100% full proof.
If you can’t agree 100% on a baby name with
your partner, and it is also important to you to tray and go some way to please
parents, then you could think about using their choice for a second name. If the
name is only one syllable and the other choice has two then you may find your
partner will agree it is best as a second name anyway.
This is another
consideration for the baby name, does is flow when spoken, try saying it out
aloud and see how is sounds. For example, Christina May flows well whereas
Christina Alexandra is a bit of a mouthful. Also make sure that the baby name is
easy to pronounce, it can be very irritating if you have to keep correcting
people.
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Another problem is the baby name may rhyme with another word
which kids may pick up on at school, someone called Duke might be called Duke
the Puke for example. You may also consider whether the name takes on a new
meaning if joined to the surname. Classic examples are Ivor Biggin or Rusty
Bracket.
If you want a baby name that is unique then you may want to
invent one of your own, it could be an amalgamation of two other names. However,
don’t make the name too wacky, it may sound good now but your child may not
appreciate it when they are older. For the same reason, be careful of names that
are suddenly fashionable.
You may want to look up what the name actually
mean, this is especially important in say the Chinese culture where they put as
much importance on the meaning of the name as to how it sounds. What may have a
nice sounding name could have a very strange meaning indeed, or vice versa.
Bear in mind that a baby name can determine how they will be perceived
before somebody meets them. If say you are meeting somebody called Charles or
Bartholomew, you may expect them to look and speak differently to if they were
called Dave or Nick. Try and pick a name which you think will suit your child
and their environment.
In this day and age of email, it could also be a
consideration to choose a name which isn’t hyphenated, email address can often
be spelt incorrectly as it’s not always clear whether the name should be
hyphened in the address or not.
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