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The 7 Biggest Mistakes Newbie Baby Namers Make
Filed under: Baby Names
There are few things more thrilling in life than having your first baby. But newbie baby namers are prone to making some mistakes that more experienced name choosers are able to avoid.
If you're choosing a baby name for the first time, don't make one of these seven common mistakes:
1. Believing that the names that were popular -- and creative -- when you were a kid still have the same status.
Name tastes have changed radically over the last decade or two. Goodbye, Jessica and Josh, hello Layla and Serenity, Landon and Tristan -- all top 100 names.
2. Thinking that the playground rules are the same as they were back in the day.
Kids no longer get teased for having names that are unique, androgynous, exotic or hard to pronounce or spell. Rather, name diversity is celebrated.
3. Letting your parents have too much say in the baby's name.
Baby names can undoubtedly be a fun topic of family conversation. But the person who changes the diapers at 3 a.m. gets to name the baby.
4. Clinging too tightly to the name you always swore you'd give your first child.
A lot of people -- let's face it: girls -- spend their childhoods coming up with fanciful names they want to give their children. But if that name you always loved has suddenly become uber-popular or clashes with your new last name, let it go.
5. Caring too much about how cool the name choice makes you look.
Sure, pregnancy is cooler than it used to be, with cuter clothes and celebrity role models. But putting a name's cool factor above all else won't make little Bronx's life very easy.
6. Not considering subsequent children's names.
First-time namers are likely to think about, well, their first child's name, but if you name Baby No. 1 Tallulah, then you pretty much rule out Lula, Lila, Delilah, Sula, Tally and maybe even Louis for subsequent children.
7. Not realizing that there's going to be a real live baby ... and child ... and, eventually, grownup on the other end of the naming decision.
We get it that it can seem like your pregnancy is all about you. Sometimes, it can almost come as a shock when an actual baby emerges in the delivery room, instantly asserting her own needs and personality. Try to keep that little (and eventually big) person in mind when you choose the name she'll live with forever.
Want to get the latest ParentDish news and advice? Sign up for our newsletter!
The Name Babes are Pamela Redmond Satran and Linda Rosenkrantz, founders of Nameberry.com, innovators of baby-name content on the Web. Got a name craving? Learn more about baby names at Nameberry.com.
If you're choosing a baby name for the first time, don't make one of these seven common mistakes:
1. Believing that the names that were popular -- and creative -- when you were a kid still have the same status.
Name tastes have changed radically over the last decade or two. Goodbye, Jessica and Josh, hello Layla and Serenity, Landon and Tristan -- all top 100 names.
2. Thinking that the playground rules are the same as they were back in the day.
Kids no longer get teased for having names that are unique, androgynous, exotic or hard to pronounce or spell. Rather, name diversity is celebrated.
3. Letting your parents have too much say in the baby's name.
Baby names can undoubtedly be a fun topic of family conversation. But the person who changes the diapers at 3 a.m. gets to name the baby.
4. Clinging too tightly to the name you always swore you'd give your first child.
A lot of people -- let's face it: girls -- spend their childhoods coming up with fanciful names they want to give their children. But if that name you always loved has suddenly become uber-popular or clashes with your new last name, let it go.
5. Caring too much about how cool the name choice makes you look.
Sure, pregnancy is cooler than it used to be, with cuter clothes and celebrity role models. But putting a name's cool factor above all else won't make little Bronx's life very easy.
6. Not considering subsequent children's names.
First-time namers are likely to think about, well, their first child's name, but if you name Baby No. 1 Tallulah, then you pretty much rule out Lula, Lila, Delilah, Sula, Tally and maybe even Louis for subsequent children.
7. Not realizing that there's going to be a real live baby ... and child ... and, eventually, grownup on the other end of the naming decision.
We get it that it can seem like your pregnancy is all about you. Sometimes, it can almost come as a shock when an actual baby emerges in the delivery room, instantly asserting her own needs and personality. Try to keep that little (and eventually big) person in mind when you choose the name she'll live with forever.
Want to get the latest ParentDish news and advice? Sign up for our newsletter!
The Name Babes are Pamela Redmond Satran and Linda Rosenkrantz, founders of Nameberry.com, innovators of baby-name content on the Web. Got a name craving? Learn more about baby names at Nameberry.com.
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ReaderComments (Page 2 of 14)
4-11-2011 @ 8:34AM
JLM said...Yeah, I think kids are even more cruel these days. My daughter is in her mid elementary years and she comes home repeating horrible things about others and asking if they are true. Even kids with interesting last names get made fun of. Eventhough my name choice won, over my husbands, we both agreed that chosing something that would fly with school-aged kids would be a really good idea.
4-11-2011 @ 9:54AM
rskibitski said...No lie, what kind of idiot would name their kid Goodbye? Seriously?
4-11-2011 @ 10:14AM
van said...Kids are BRUTAL about unusual names. My daughter has an unusual name, and has been teased mercilessly! She now goes by a common nickname. In retrospect, I'd have given her a more mainstream name.
4-11-2011 @ 1:25PM
Elvis Lopez said...Kids absolutely are just as cruel as they always were. I am a former teacher and have seen it all. To saddle a child with an unpronounceable or hard to spell name is abuse. Here are some classics from my last third grade class. A'sh'lianne. (Your eyes are not deceiving you. There are two apostrophes, both of whose meanings were lost on me.) Theltan. Destranie. (pronounced Destiny)
Incidentally, Tristan may be cute for a 4-year-old but it's a terrible name to give someone who's going to grow up and be a man for most of his life.
4-10-2011 @ 2:34AM
Averagedancer said...Agree with Erin; you must live in a parallel universe if you think kids don't get bullied because of the outlandish names their parents choose for them.
Reply
4-10-2011 @ 8:11PM
Annette said...I work with alot of kids and am constantly asking them to spell their names for me. It is embarrassing for them when names have no vowels, or are phonically driven - or just plain STUPID!! My favorite L-a. How do you pronounce that? Well, lets just say the 'dash' isn't silent. L'dasha!
Reply
4-10-2011 @ 8:29PM
Lisa said...Well, lets just say the 'dash' isn't silent. L'dasha!
HaHa, that made me laugh, I love how you worded it.
4-10-2011 @ 8:43PM
sga said...my sister met a k-a.
4-11-2011 @ 12:28AM
renee said..."L-a" is old news. And i'm pretty sure there's only one person with that name, so let's let it go.
4-10-2011 @ 9:10PM
danglingm said...I could hear the L-a story a hundred times and still laugh. Somethings just should not be let go and L-a and k-a are one of them. LOL!
4-11-2011 @ 1:24AM
lesa said...I have met a L-a and it not funny at all. I think if your parents made stupid choices then you should get to change your name for free. I knew a guy in the army who married a woman form where he was stationed who named their daughter Elie May and he was just disgusted. I told him he was to blame since they did not discuss the name of the child before she was born. He wanted to fix the problem. The advice I gave was change the baby's name to Eleanor and keep the May but don't use it or just call her Elie. He made a change in the name and the issue was solved.
4-11-2011 @ 2:25AM
Joe said...It's not to hard to figure out why anyone would name their kid l-a or any other stupid thing with a dash. Of course it's sad for that child but after all, isn't that one good reason why we should always give our kids a middle name? With a middle name a child can always go by either one, if they don't like one when they get older then just use the other, no problems.
4-11-2011 @ 10:13AM
gbar879 said...I worked in an elementary school for 11 years . Some parents were obviously under the influence of something when they chose a name for their child. Parents, if you do choose an "unusual" name then don't get angry when no one else can pronounce or spell it. That's YOUR fault!
4-10-2011 @ 9:49PM
KFidei said...One of the biggest mistakes in my opinion is outlandish spellings. Condemning a child to a lifetime of phone conversations that go like this "No, CLYVE, C L Y V E , not Clyde, not Clive, C L Y V E. Knowing that almost all their mail, every name tag, every written reference to their name will almost certainly be mispelled. I know an adult named Sinthea because her mom thought it would be cute, and a young man named Andersohn, both of whom have resigned themselves to spelling their names aloud every time, only to have their mail come addressed to Cynthia and Anderson.
Reply
4-10-2011 @ 11:47PM
Sheila said...I agree. As someone who married into a difficult last name, I have spent 32 years spelling and re-spelling it over the phone. Why set someone up for a lifetime of that with a first name?
4-10-2011 @ 8:19PM
Pam said...I work in a social service setting and hear some OUTLANDISH names, but the award-winner is YO'HYNUS. Can you imagine doing that to a baby??
Reply
4-10-2011 @ 11:35PM
Kym Tabor said...I work in an urban ER. I have had patients named L-A (there is more than one person with this name apparently) YoHighness, Crayola, Allegra (that's an allergy med FYI) Candida (medical term for yeast) and favorite first/last name combo...President Washington. You CAN NOT make this stuff up! What are these women thinking????
4-10-2011 @ 11:31PM
my4salebox said...Yo'Hynus? I'm no prude, but that just sounds obscene! lol
I remember about a decade-ish ago fathers were naming their kids ESPN. More accurately: Espn.
Pronounced Ess-p'n.
Silly.
4-11-2011 @ 12:26AM
mia said...i think candida may have been named after the song by whatzit and dawn 'my candida'. oh yeah. tony orlando. hmmm. orlando. hmmmm.
4-11-2011 @ 2:03AM
Anne said...mia said...
i think candida may have been named after the song by whatzit and dawn 'my candida'. oh yeah. tony orlando. hmmm. orlando. hmmmm.
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Candida? Isn't that some kind of fungal infection?