Biggest Concern for Babies Names

Don't go with the trendy names! There are way too many Jaydens and Taylors and Emilys at my son's school!

1) Choose a name that's pronounced like it's spelled. My wife's name is spelled Cheri but pronounced Carrie.
2) Don't do a nickname, it's a hassle for the rest of your life. My real name is John by I go by Jay. It's a constant hassle.
3) Don't be too clever or cutesy. We almost named our second daughter Secret Brooke Young, but thankfully we chickened out at the last minute and went with another name.
4) If you name a child after your own brother or sister, be prepared to name the rest of them after your other brothers or sisters.
5) Don't pick a name based on recent movies you liked. Maximus is not a good name to carry around the rest of your life.
6) Going with Jr. or III can be advantageous when sharing frequent flier miles
7) Shorter names are easier to yell, and since you'll be yelling them A LOT it makes a big difference.
8) Salem is a cool name for a girl

Sound it out against your last name (Jersey Guy and I had several baby-name discussions dissolve into hysterical laughter over some of the first names and the new words created when that name was followed by our last name.)

Definitely avoid the trendy names - my name was one of the most popular in the early 70s and I was in school with about twelve Kimberlys. Ugh. My best friend was also a Kim - so we were K-squared.

Watch out for cutesy/fluffy names - Bambi may be cute on a little girl, but she'll have a hell of a time being taken seriously as an adult.

Don't hang a girl's name on a boy. There's a reason why John Wayne became John Wayne and why Alice Cooper is slightly twisted.

Just my $0.02

No matter what you name your kid, they're bound to hate it and want to change it at some point in their life. And, perhaps, they actually might do it because they want to express who they really turned out to be.

Watch the initials. I didn't realize my mistake until my 6-yr-old came home from school with his things marked "BM". Now I initial things myself and include his middle name, which changes it to "BAM".

Sigh.

A friend of mine's initials are MAD. He liked it so much that when he chose a confirmation name, he chose one beginning with a D to keep the MADD.

I know of a friend whose last name started with an O, so she couldn't name their child anything that started with a B. Obviously.

And trendy names may be a no-no, but it's amazing how many people do it anyway. There are three Jaydens in my daughter's class. I like what Steve Corell said in the latest issue of Parents magazine (he named his kids Elisabeth and Jack), "My children will be unique by not being unique."

As for movie/book names, one of the girls I know, born a few years ago, is named Arwen. Her ears are only slightly pointy. I wonder how that name will weather on her.

You have to do the doctor/lawyer test. How will the name sound thirty years from now when someone else says, out loud:

"Paging Dr. Britni Meadow N'Veah Asia Jones to the ER, stat" or "All rise, the Honorable Judge Jayden Brice Dakota Cayce Tyler Smith presiding".

And yes, there's an unfortunate trend in this part of the country amongst a certain demographic to use the name "N'veah" or "Neveah" for baby girls. It's "heaven" spelled backwards, and apparently it's quite the in thing for teenage moms.

When contemplating a very common name, consider what that does to teachers. I taught Freshman Composition for 8 years and by the end of my very first semester, I referred to all my students by their last names. It was simply too impossible to keep track of the Johns, Emilys, Davids, Brittneys. I still run into students and only know their last names.

I was going to add what Patti Wicked said. Run the name through the Supreme Court Justice test.

Also, people should be aware of a name's history. One of my colleagues had twin patients named Cain and Abel--I am not making this up.

On the trendy name thing...don't just assume that since you haven't heard it used recently that it is uncommon. My parents named me Jennifer, thinking that the only Jennifer they knew was 16. Their goal was to give me a pretty name that would still be a bit uncommon. Jennifer turned out to be the most common name for girls born the year I was. The pediatrician said they should have asked him. Names go in cycles. It is fascinating.

My main concern was trying to find a name that was unusual without being TOO weird. I think we succeeded.

I don't understand some parents' insistence that a name be unique--that seems more about expressing themselves and less about the child. Common names are generally common for a reason--they're short, easy to spell, and versatile.

Yes, but it is a hassle when there are 3 JEnnifer's in your class and one of 50 Jennifer's in your school. (50 may be too high, but you get the idea.) I stopped responding to Jennifer until I heard it three times, and my friends started calling me by my last name. NOt that I don't like my name. I think Jennifer is very nice.

I think what my parents wanted was a nice name that was common enough not to get teased, but uncommon enough with babies that I wouldn't be one of many in school, etc. Obviously they failed. That is why research is a good idea. Now there are sources on the internet as well, like the Social Secuity website, it has a list of first names for ssn applications in a year.

JennaGlatzer said:

My main concern was trying to find a name that was unusual without being TOO weird. I think we succeeded.

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Did you run it by the pediatrician?

In high school, it was pretty cool that I never had to sign my last name to anything. In grade school, I did get a lot of Cindy Brady jokes.

My son's name is not overly common or uncommon.

When I was pregnant, I told everyone I was going to name my child either Denver or Ford (but did neither).

Where I work, there are a ton of Katies, Ashleys, Brittneys, Olivias, Samanthas, Allisons and Laurens. In past years, we had many Alexandras and Kristens.

If my son had come with a twin brother, the brother's name would have been Angus Robert.

When in doubt, Hermione is a great name for a girl, and Harry is great for a boy.

I know people who have gone by their middle names their entire lives.

My grandmother's name was Anastasia. When she was in kindergarten, the teacher asked the class, "Does anyone know what the nickname for Anastasia is?" and some kid replied,
"Yeah! It's Nellie."
She was called Nellie from there on in. Even her checking account said "Nellie" on it.

I disagree with Three (spelled III) and think Secret Brooke and Maximus are very cool names!

I would never name a child "Apple" unless I were Steve Jobs.

The pediatrician said they should have asked him.

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They should have. As a pediatrician, you get a real sense of the naming zeitgeist. About ten years ago, Destiny was big for girls. Lately I've been seeing a lot of unusual spellings for common names (Alexxzander, Madisyn, Kaytee).

I confess that most of these make my head hurt a little, but they're not my kids to name.

C.bronco said:

I disagree with Three (spelled III) and think Secret Brooke and Maximus are very cool names!

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I think Coconuts is a very cool name.

JennaGlatzer said:

My main concern was trying to find a name that was unusual without being TOO weird. I think we succeeded.

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We went along with the similar lines in that we (or at least I) wanted something that was uncommon but not unheard of. (Bad sentence ending I know.) Which is like my first name.

My first name is Tori.

We chose Piper.

We have an odd sounding last name so we needed to make sure the name sounded right with that. Plus her middle name was already decided. She's the fourth generation girl with the middle name Jean on my mom's side.

It all worked out. I didn't want her to be the hundred Madison or something.

I wanted to use Keck as a boy name, but no one around here likes it.

I thought Keck Brian was a good sounding name.

tjwriter said:

I wanted to use Keck as a boy name, but no one around here likes it.

I thought Keck Brian was a good sounding name.

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Too close to 'Kick', lol.

TerzaRima said:

Lately I've been seeing a lot of unusual spellings for common names (Alexxzander, Madisyn, Kaytee).

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Oh Good Lord. I hate that. It isn't helping a kid to spell a common name in an uncommon way. It just means the kid has to spend the rest of his or her life telling people how to spell it.

I confess - my daughter's a Samantha. And there's at least one other Samantha in her class each year. My son's name is Jason - but that's because my husband wouldn't let me name our son after him (Jason would have been III) because my husband isn't crazy about being a jr. Fortunately, the name Michael covers every male in each family in some way, shape, or form - so we used that as his middle name.

The trouble we had was I liked the unusual names, Jersey Guy likes the ol' fashioned names.

Oh, another thought. I knew a girl whose name is pronounced Erin. But her parents spelled it Aaron, which is the male spelling. That isn't doing anyone any favors either. She had to correct everyone. Then when she got married, since she was legally changing her name anyway, she decided to change it to Erin, but since she couldn't be normal she added an n, Erinn. Now she still has to correct everyone on spelling. duh.

My mom knew a woman named Timmy. She was called in when she didn't register for the draft. When she insisted she was Timmy, they told her to bring her brother who she must be protecting.