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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 6 of 14)
4-10-2011 @ 9:32PM
danglingm said...To many parents forget that they are naming their children not their pets.
4-10-2011 @ 9:48PM
Aubrey Hart said...Hey, I like Calliope. It means "beautiful voice".
4-10-2011 @ 9:26PM
Kit said...I remember in the 70's a lot of parents were naming their daughters Erica after Erica Kane from All My Children. I thought that was rather amusing naming your precious baby after a cold blooded character from a television soap opera.
Reply
4-10-2011 @ 11:31PM
carol said...I have eight kids. They are all named traditional names. Not one of them has ever been teased about his/her name. It is SO not true that kids don't get teased about their names. They do. I know because I am around a LOT of kids all the time. Now, if a kid happens to be cool and athletic or a celebrity kid, they get away with unusual names or if they live in an ethnic group where unusual names are the norm. But, very few of them get away with NO teasing. Get real...times haven't changed THAT much!
Reply
4-10-2011 @ 9:33PM
Jason said...My friend got attacked one time for giving all too "common" names. But what she gave as an excuse really works well. When deciding a name, stand out on your back porch yelling it a dozen or so times each day until you find the name that fits. That being said because eventually there will most definitely be the days you will have to yell for him/her at the top of your lungs to finally do something and you will need a name that you can easily say to get the point across.
Reply
4-10-2011 @ 9:36PM
Jourdan said...Just because a name is on the most common list doesn't make it a popular name. It just means that a lot of babies in that socio-economic category are being born. A unique name like 'Precious' doesn't make the child more or less likely to be harassed but it does answer some of the questions a prospective employer is not allowed to ask.
Reply
4-10-2011 @ 9:41PM
morgan said...I get that some people want to be unique when naming their children (and I have no problem with that), but what I don't get is when people go with a name that is so unique half the population can't pronounce it.
Reply
4-10-2011 @ 9:48PM
Amy said...What is wrong with Asher as a name? THat is a family name for me. I personally wouldn't have a problem with being greated from receiption by someone named Isis. I don't have a problem with different names as long as the name would be appropriate for the person as a kid and as an adult or something that can easily be made fun of whether on the playground or by fellow collegues (believe me adults can be just as cruel as kids)
Reply
4-11-2011 @ 3:31AM
Stephanie said...Asher is also a biblical name - one of the 12 tribes of Judah. And common everyday names- borrrrring... I got so tired of being one of at least 4 Stephanies that in highschool I went by my middle name - Robin. Not that I liked it more, but I was the only one. And the name Jason - I must have really liked that name because I married two of them. Far flung made up names are not good, but something just off the beaten path might be better. Each of my kids got a classic name and a slightly less common name (at least at the time I thought) Erin Elizabeth, Matthew Ryan, and Caleb Brennin. of course they each hate their names. no one ever likes their name.
4-10-2011 @ 9:57PM
bondo said...HONESTLY!!!, do we now need rules and do's and dont's to name our children?! Who cares what the popular names are - does everyone have to have to have the same name and do we really need to obsess about it?! just name your kids whatever you want and for what ever reason is good with you, even if it is not exactly what everyone else is doing!
Reply
4-10-2011 @ 10:19PM
danglingm said...In alot of countries there are rules and you cannot name your child an invented name. Google Australia for example. They do not allow names like Apple to be printed on a birth certificate.
4-10-2011 @ 9:48PM
dankintz said...May Christian names be the choice of name for Christians.
Reply
4-10-2011 @ 9:59PM
moe said...that's just bigoted and dumb.
4-10-2011 @ 9:48PM
sun-hawaii said...I have an ethnic name and it has been a pain having to re-pronounce it over and over and then spell it. I hated my name when I was a kid, I was teased becuz it is unusual. Today not so much, but when I'm dealing with anyone for the first time it is a major hassle. I know like my name but it took years and years. The worse part is that since it's 3-syllables, I have been called nick names, one that is just awful. Ppl will call you what they want esp. if the name is long. Having 'in' names may be fun, but think about the kid stuck with it the rest of their life and having to spell it, pronounce it over and over on the phone. I've gotten use to it, but if my name was a simple Susan or Jane, I think I could've saved at least a total of one year of having to go over it. I gave myself a simple nickname to beat the punch of THEM re-naming me. I also was teased over it for years in grade school - which resulted in low self esteem. So parents just think about your child's next 60-70 years.
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4-10-2011 @ 10:47PM
Teacher said...My granddaughter is named Kachina. She is not named for the Kachina dolls of the Arizona Native Americans. She often has to correct those who see her name in print for the first time and ask if it's a misprint and should be "Kristina." On the other hand, she doesn't need to supply her last name--also easy to mispronounce--in a crowd, as she knows she is the only Kachina present.
4-10-2011 @ 9:50PM
Joanne said...I had a client who named his son Prince. I didn't blink and eye when we were introduced. When my neice was pregnant with her second child, I asked her to name it Ethan after my grandmother Ethel, if it were a boy. That is the name I would have used if I had a boy. I didn't know that my dad had asked her the same thing. He was very close to my mother's mom. It was a nice surprise when she did. My other grandmother was Bertha.
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4-26-2011 @ 9:46PM
Alexandra said...Dear EMagin25:
I am one who tries to celebrate peoples' SIMULARITIES to each other -- that we are ALL HUMAN BEINGS, AND ALL DESERVE RESPECT BECAUSE WE ARE ALL SENTIENT BEINGS! Even in the article for this discussion, it is said that naming your kid "Bronx" might not make things easy for him in later life. (I'm from NYC, and I know how many people FEEL about the Bronx. Rightly or wrongly, the general concensus is that the Bronx is, shall we say, "tres declasse", (quite 'down-market'!) Celebrate diversiy? Strange isn't it, that though that most warm and giving person, Audrey Hepburn, let it be known far and wide that her mother was a Belgian Baroness and her father an English businessman, that the fact that one of her ancestors was Javanese, (probably accounting for her beautiful doe-eyes), was not publicised at all -- and that I only recently found out this fact by reading a biography of her? "Celebrate" your diversity and differences all you wish -- but this will NOT get you the best table at the better restaurants. WHAT is wrong with wanting the best -- and realizing the best is still, mostly, the province of WASPs,and to a lesser extent, WASP wannabees? People today not only give their children outlandish names, but wear torn jeans, (pre-packaged poverty look, no matter how much they cost!), go to such places as "The Rainbow Gathering", (the closest thing to a yearly, modern-day Woodstock), and hate all rich people, stereotyping the rich as much as many rich people stereotype the non-rich? WHY can't everyone just see each other as HUMANS? As a Human myself, I am humanly-AMBITIOUS! Why NOT give one's children names that DON'T set up "red flags"? I wouldn't even want to give my daughter the name, "Daisy", as "Daisy" was a servant-girl's name in both "Upstairs, Downstairs", and "Downton Abbey". It doesn't even cost ANYTHING to give your child a normal, or even elegant-sounding name. (Kate Middleton has begun calling herslef "Carherine" Middleton, and soon she will be, NOT "Perincess Kate", but "Princess Catherine". And I have a feeling that "Catherine", as a name, will reach new heights of popularity, soon. I guess, for various reasons, I've been "put down" too much in my life. Wanting an elegant name, to HELP put me up....and wanting the same for my younger relatives -- is that really too much to ask? In this world, most people need all the help they can get! Why do you think so many immigrants to the USA changed their l.o.n.g...last names? (And no -- immigration officials did NOT change those name. It was the immigrants THEMSELVES who changed their names. Or at least many of them, if not all.....)
And many people, (even the Queen's cousin, Princess Alexandra),
have the name "Alexandra". For Alexander the Great was known for many other things besides his sexual preferences. Nobody is perfect, as they said in "Some Like It Hot". (And "Alexandra" is, as I have stated, for me, only a pseudonym)..
Reply
4-11-2011 @ 12:18AM
moe said...Jezibel? is that you sweety?
4-11-2011 @ 8:28AM
Barbara said...I have seven children, now mostly grown. My eldest son is named Aubrey (family name). I won't say he was never teased about his name but at 32 he likes the uniqueness. Aubrey means "golden haired ruler" which I did not know at the time. 2nd named Bryan, again a family name.
3rd John (not Johnathan), 4th Alexander shortened to Alex, 5th Andrew, 6th Scott and the last Caitlin also shortened to Katie..
Middle names: Mitchell, Stanley, Nicholas, Christian, Robert, Aaron, and Eileen.
I did not name my kids until they were born. I had to see their faces to determine which names would suit them. I happen to LOVE the name Alexander Christian. I was the one who shortened the two names.
4-10-2011 @ 10:06PM
Susan said...Has everyone forgotten that a disliked name can be changed when the person reaches eighteen years old? I went to my county courthouse, lpaid $10/00. and had my name changed to one I liked.
Reply