Can't pick a name

zenobiastudios · February 2010

Hi Ladies! This is my first time posting. I'm having so much trouble picking a baby name. I've looked everywhere! Any new name sources?

Tbd143 · February 2010

Hi! There is a baby name board that may be able to help, but don't be a stranger here, we could use a little action.

jmwater7 · February 2010

I got a book and it had tons of names in it

UrbanPanda · February 2010

I am having the same issue!! I am having a boy and just can't decide. I have two girls names picked out, ironically. I bought a book that had over 100,000 names. It was helpful to get the creative juices flowing but the book certainly wasn't all inclusive. My husband and I have come up with most of our finalist names through other means. There was a good section of my book that gave you some food for thought. For example, thinking about what might go well with your last name (maybe avoiding a russian sounding name if your last name is irish), or other children's names; think about changing the spelling of a more traditional name; keeping the first name short if your last name is already long (and vice versa); think about creating your own name or a name based on something you enjoy. My husband and I love the outdoors and hiking so some of the names we came up with are more natural sounding like national park names or mountain ranges. I hope this helps! I would be happy to chat more about it though...

sacey21 · February 2010

I know what you mean! Picking a name is SO hard!! Have you gone over to the baby name board? I usually lurk there, but sometimes they are a little harsh there. Also, come over to the RI nest board if you ever want friendly, honest opinions!

There are some cool baby name sights, but I haven't really used them so I'm no help there!

asf619 · February 2010

I had used some of the baby name sites in conjunction with the book we have at home (100,000 + Baby Names).

Sometimes I would go onto the websites looking for names with a particular meaning, or names that started with a certain letter, or ended with a certain letter. I liked that I could also limit the search results by number of syllables. We have a 3 syllable LN and really didn't want anything longer than 2 syllables for a FN for our child. My typical go-to baby name website was https://babynames.com/, but I had checked out several.

I also checked Social Security's website for their list of popular baby names -- https://www.ssa.gov/OACT/babynames/. I looked at the previous year's top names and tended to cross those names off our list. But, I then looked at the top 1000 names and scrolled down towards the bottom to get some ideas. I also changed the birth year on my search and looked at names that were popular 20-30+ years ago.

With this pregnancy, DH and I both made a list of names that we liked. Then we'd go through each other's lists and cross off any we did not like -- for whatever reason. We did not consider any names that have already been used in our family or among our close friends. And, we have a daughter, so we have been making sure that their first names work together as well, since they are bound to be referred to as a pair, and we didn't want an awkward sounding combination of names. We also avoided rhyming names.

Good luck to you! Choosing a name for your child is really one of the most difficult and highly personal decisions that you will make.

UrbanPanda · February 2010

I liked the SSA website. It was cool to be able to trace the popularity of a name over time, especially b/c I want something different...Tx for sharing!

Randy'sgirl52409 · March 2010

Hi there! Congrats!

I took a different approach to picking our baby names. Whenever my husband and I watch a TV progam or see a movie, whether in the theater or at home I pay VERY close attention to the credits! There are a TON of unique names and even common ones that you really wouldn't think of. This is how we came up with Ashlyn Claire (I forget where we saw the name Ashlyn but Claire is both of our grandmother's name) and Connor Reid (both names are from contestants on The Bachelor! LOL)!

It also gets you some good "hubby" bonding time!

Have fun and good luck!

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