Do you have any 'rules' that you use/used to choose a name ?

I chose names that would work if my children ever became titled.

I am so Intrigued what some of these names are now...everything I come up with that i think is unique or a little different appears in the top 20 let alone the top 100 or top 1000 like some here....

Our rules were
they must NOT rhyme
they must not start with the same letter or end with the same letter
they must not sound even slightly like each other
they must not be a 'theme' (rose and daisy for example. can't think of any boy examples )
the first middle and surname initials must not spell a word or anything that could be corrupted into a word by mean kids
they must NOT rhyme. yes, I know I've said that before but it is such a no-no that it deserves 2 mentions
they must not be a name that sends shivers down my spine. I won't list them or say the C word in case of offence . But there is a List of Names To Avoid.
and finally, they had to go well with our very unusual and forrin surname.

I had two 'rules'.

First shouldn't be the same initial. I'm glad it isn't just me that thought of this one.

Second, I wanted to call dd what we would call her every day, ie a shortened name which is what appears on her birth certificate. My mother had me christened a longer name, and I've spent a lifetime telling people I don't use that name! DD will have the opposite problem...

We ended up with a common (top 10) boys name for dd with my grandma's name as a middle name. Made sure initials didn't spell anything first.

So poor lass is going to spend a lifetime saying no, its just xxx not the longer version, and no, I'm not a boy. Oops. MinL hates it! Can't wait for her to be a top flyer though and enjoy seeing blokes faces when they realise she is a girl :)

If we have another girl, then I'd like another 'boys' name... DH not keen.

DH is a teacher too which ruled out EVERY boy's name we could think of by the time DD2 was born. (He was just about to start his first post when DD1 was born so that was OK.) Rule was pretty much no boy's names at all!

Opted to find out sex beforehand and fortunately didn't need a boy's name anyway.

DDs names both have links to past family - place DH grew up plus Dh's granny plus my name as middle name (family tradition).

Didn't even consider whether names were in top 25, 50, whatever.

Did make sure it didn't sound daft with surname.

Only one rule here. Put Dr in front of name and if it sounds stupid, then it probably is.

My only rule was that the name should not be featured in a song. (Only because DH was very keen on Jolene, and also Sylvia, so I would be 'Sylvia's Mother').

Sadly, this ruled out Ruby for DD, who has beautiful red hair. I still call her Ruby Tuesday sometimes, as this was my dream name for her.

Our last name is Brick, so we had the unenviable task of finding something that didn't sound silly with it.

Other than that, we just went with what we liked.

Rules:

1. Must be easy to spell and pronounce in both English and German. Some names look identical but are pronounced very differently (eg Simon is zee-mon in German, not sigh-mun)

1. Classical first names with a real cultural history. Both DDs' names go back to Biblical times or before, although they don't have particularly religious connotations.

1. Obviously sounding good with either of our surnames - kids have my surname, but we might swap to DH's name at some time in the future if we move.

1. DH is Irish so we wanted Irish middle names, but ones known to the English-speaking world.

1. Under German law we were not allowed to invent a name - there are very strict rules about having to prove that a name already exists in your culture. Just as well we didn't want something wacko and original, then.

He-Man I like!
My boy was 5 months when we adopted him, though, so he?s stuck with what we gave him!

sterrryerryoh I have a good friend who was adopted when he was 8 years old. His parents let him choose his own name.

Being an 8-year-old boy in the 1980's he obviously picked "He-Man" but they settled on Jason instead

I used the shout test (stand at bottom of stairs, shout chosen name, see if it flows off the tongue nicely).

That and the names on our list that MIL said she liked were instantly struck off (shame I really like the names rebecca and rachel, but no-way was MIL getting to think she had any say in the matter)

And it couldn't be too popular, because I really didn't want to call her over when we were out and have 15 children heading towards me.

Also, our surname is really difficult to spell, so dd's name had to be easy for her to learn to spell!

This is hell, I'm not even pregnant and already breaking my own rules! First of which, because I have a very common name, was nothing in top 50, but the ones I love are in top 10! Aside from that:

Nothing ending in 'y' or 'ie' - due to rhyming with surname

DH and I have same first initial, so definitely can't have the same as us

No made up names or inventive spelling

I'd like Shakespearean names but DH needs to be convinced

Love the Great Aunt test, think we'll try that one

Happy to have a long name with variety of ways to shorten so child has a choice

It had to be cornish or scottish. We decided on scottish this time which means if we have another it will be cornish :)

1. Has to be Welsh. However, has to be pronouncable by English inlaws. Spelling of no consequence - non-Welsh speakers can learn to spell a name!
2. Has to be medieval.
3. Must be unusual i.e. uncommon, but not weird. (That's unusual in Wales, btw - but names like Gareth and Megan would be out due to being Welsh names popular in both Wales and England.)
4. Must not begin with P (surname issues...)
5. Must be masculine or feminine - lots of Welsh names will work for either.
6. Must not be shortened: personal preference. Welsh names often don't shorten anyway.
7. Middle name must be a proper name, work with first name (obv) and not too long.

Stuck to them all. On 6., MIL attempted a shortened form of my DS's name and I nearly decked her (it was so ugly too!) but she only attempted it the once.
So now you'll all be puzzling about my unusual Welsh, masculine, medieval DS's two names!

1. Had to go with the surname
2. The three initials (first, middle, surname) couldn't be silly (MGM for example)
3. Couldn't be shortened to something we didn't like.
4. Wasn't already in the family

As far as number 3 goes, we call DD by a diminutive of her name. However, that diminutive can a diminutive of 2 longer names. One of them has other diminutives that we didn't like, so we opted for the other one.

Expecting first child, and these are our rules:

1. Not poncey. (hubbie's rule)
2. Not chavvy. (my rule)
3. Not more than two syllables (hubbie's rule)
4. No family or close friends must have used the name (hubbie's rule).
5. No made up name/ unusual spelling/ hyphenated name (both agree).
6. No old lady or old man names (hubbie's rule)
7. Has to sound good with surname.

We've never had a rule against popular names, but both like the slightly more unusual names. Also no family or close friends having used the name does limit us.

names that didn't remind me of children I have taught over the years!!

1. not top 10

1. Must have been used for at least 200 yrs

1. Easy to pronounce in Italian and English (e.g. could not have "r" in it, "gl" sounds, start with "h" etc)

1. Italian or English "standard" spelling

1. Not too long as I am not big on shortening names

1. had to sound good with middle name/surname

We had slightly different rules as DS is adopted, so we had no say on his name. We had a tense few years thinking about that, I can tell you, - it was a real worry for a while, especially when some friends adopted and their son?s name was just awful (their opinion too?)
Anyway, we were very (very) lucky with DS?s name as it is very nice, goes with our surname and, coincidentally, is also my Granddad?s name. In actual fact that last point made our ?rules? up. We were allowed to change DS?s middle name (thank goodness) and we decided to name him after DH?s Granddad too, as a middle name - so not only does he have the name that his birth family gave him, he also has (by sheer luck) a first name and a middle name that link to our biological heritage too!

Ooh come to think of it, we did have a couple more:

1. Must sound good in Greek, English and French (that reduced our options considerably);

1. Mustn't mean or allude to a quality - e.g., name DS Adonis (a DH family name) and he'd be bound to be...ahem...interesting-looking.

1)Not too standard (we ended up with something outside top 100);

2)suitable for Catholic christening;

3)unusual but traditional - not a nickname.

My favourite girl's name was ruled out for being disastrous to say with a lisp.

I have heard some people use the judge/stripper test - i.e. would the name pass for both a judge and a stripper.

I have a very unusual name which I have always loved actually and never understand why some people would want to choose something very standard but each to their own!

Also, did someone say you could find out how many times a name had been used in the last year? Would be interested to see that.

Two tests:

1. The supermarket test - how would the name sound being yelled across the dairy aisle.

1. The professional test - how would the name sound on a professional adult.

The first test excluded a slew of polysyllabic Greek names DH was keen on; the second a number of cute names that would sound great on a baby, not so much on an adult.

Rules:

1. Latin if poss

1. Unusualish (not in the top 100 (at least) and not used by anyone we know)

1. Not used by a dodgy or well-known and unusually-named sleb (loved 'Siena', the place has lots of meaning for us but...)

1. A name we wouldn't cringe to announce when joining a conference call (that test binned lots of fave names, especially over-the-top frilly girl's names)

We stuck to them, including the Latin one.