Choosing the name of your newborn is one of the first and most important decisions you’ll have to take in your life as a parent. Especially if it’s your first child.
However, this pressure can also make it incredibly hard to find a suitable name. You might end up spending hours upon hours going through baby name books and internet lists and come up with nothing. On top of that, there is always the nagging feeling that you may be making a wrong decision with the name. Not to mention, you are also bombarded with others’ opinions.
To ease the weight and make things easier, we are dishing out some top tips to help you look for and choose the best baby name for your child.
Source: The Healthy Mummy
Contents
1. Delve Into Other Cultures
If you’re having a hard time finding good baby names, diversify your search and delve into baby names of other cultures. While sticking to your roots and tradition is great, it never hurts to expand your horizons. With a quick search on the internet, you can find out baby names of almost every culture along with meaning and significance. You can get Korean baby names and meanings, mominformed.com Indian names, French names, and more. However, make sure that you avoid stereotypes and insensitive names, and pay respect to the culture you’re borrowing from.
2. Explore Your Family History
You know what they say. A lot of the time what you’re looking for is right in front of you, and we think you can say the same for baby names too. While looking for inspiration, don’t just stick to the other sources. Make sure that you take a look at the family tree as well. A lot of the time you can find tons of suitable and amazing names right in your family history. Naming your child after a family member is also a great way to honor their memory and legacy, and it will always make sure that they are always remembered. This is a great idea if you’re looking for suitable middle names as well.
Source: Today’s Parent
3. Don’t Rely On Trends
Did you know that in the 1960s and 1970s, when hippie culture was at its peak, it was a trend to name children after elements of nature like rain, moon, and sun? While that may have been popular then, the trend soon fell out of favor. Nowadays, these names seem out of place. So make sure that you don’t rely on trends and instead opt for a name that is evergreen and will last the test of time. With internet culture and social media, trends pass even quicker than normal so this is something to be even more aware of in this day and age.
4. Look For Meaning
Meaningful names are always a class apart. Although all names are beautiful, names that hold a special meaning behind them are amazing. However, the meaning doesn’t always have to be literal. If a particular name or moniker has significance in your life, and it has “meaning” in terms of sentimental or emotional value, then it is meaningful as well. For instance, a lot of parents name their children after the child’s grandparents. So regardless of whether you choose to convey a literal or sentimental meaning through it, a meaningful name is always important.
Source: Adopting.com
5. Make Sure It Fits Them Always
It might seem strange, but it’s true! A lot of names that sound fun and cute when they’re a child don’t seem all that great when they’re an adult. For instance – names like Scout, Bobby, and more seem to lose their appeal as adult names (according to tons of netizens). So when you’re choosing a name for your baby, think about the future and consider how well the name will suit them as an adult. Similarly, certain names suit adults but aren’t that great for children. This applies to names that were used by older generations, which have lost relevance now. So when choosing a baby name, make sure that it fits them throughout their life.
6. Don’t Take Others Opinions To Heart
A large part of being a parent is having to constantly listen to unprecedented baby advice and opinions of people, and this is existent even when you’re deciding to choose a baby name. A lot of people will have contradictory opinions, and some may even try to judge you for the name you choose and tell you that it’s not suitable. However, it’s important to remember here that it’s your decision to make and take care not to let their opinions affect you. It is okay, encouraged even, to take the views of people whom you trust and are close to, but don’t pay heed to opinions beyond that.
Source: JustMommies
7. Don’t Forget About Spellings
In case you didn’t know, names are versatile. They are perhaps one of the only things that you can spell in a variety of different ways, and none of them will be wrong. So, while you’re choosing the name, make sure that you decide on the spelling as well. Different spellings lead to different pronunciations and they might even have alternate meanings. So make sure that a particular word doesn’t have any strange or derogatory meaning. Also, make sure that it is fairly uncomplicated and easy to pick-up.
8. Take It Easy
As a parent, we get that it is crucial to choose the perfect baby name. One that ticks all your boxes, sounds great both as a full name and nickname, has the perfect amount of letters, rolls off the tongue well, and more. However, like we already mentioned above, in the endeavor to fulfill all these criteria, you might end up putting yourself through a tough time.
Source: Baby Magazine
Choosing the “perfect” name can end up becoming more of an obsession, rather than a simple task. So you must remember to ease the pressure off of yourself and have fun in the process. At the end of the day, if you just stick to what you know and trust your gut, you won’t go wrong
