how do you choose a name?

I just started making a list of stuff I liked. DH made a spreadsheet. We combined & narrowed from there.

A tip: consider what the initials will be. Our surname initials are FC, so we couldn't go for any names starting with K as then the poor child's initials would be KFC.

My daughter has a very unusal name and people are always a bit when they hear she's named after an ancient weapon. My husband loves history and this general in particular which is why we went for her name. We've given her a normal middle name which was named after my husband's... best friend we'll call her. In case she hates her first name and wants something a bit more normal.

-It has to pass the "beach test"....can I shout it across a beach in my accent without feeling like a fool, or without half the children on the beach turning round. (I love the name Genevieve, but it just doesn't work with a broad Yorkshire accent.)
-I wanted there to be a good chance they'd be the only one in the class, preferably school, but not too off the wall.
-It has to be a real name, not made up.
-For me boys have to have good, solid names, but girls can be more unusual.

DD's name came about after I was googling a place we love and I realised it was used as a name in Cornwall, there were 4 girls with her name in the year she was born, so I'm pretty certain there won't be another in her school. Especially as we aren't in Cornwall.
It could be argued that DD's name fails the 2nd and 3rd reasons above, as it's very unusual and not in any baby name books, but we know it's a real name and it means a lot to us.

DS's name is more common and more traditional, a good solid name but still outside the top 100 boys names in the year he was born.

I would say the following:
Pick a name that sounds fine with your surname;
Pick a name which either can't be shortened or, if it can, that you like the short version;
Pick something that sounds ok at 5mths, 15years or 50 years;

Most importantly, remember your child will have to get through to adulthood with this name - there are enough reasons why children get bullied - you don't want your selfishness in choosing some wacky/awful name to be one of them - I think this is particularly true of boys names.

I have an unusual name, so particularly wanted to use a long established traditional names which transcend the centuries. Like William, for example. I then dug back the family tree for a few generations and picked from there - noble relatives as opposed to my rather more promiscuous ones!

I am very pleased with our choices and I think my children are too.

We had the usual arguments discussions about names for our twins, and a piece of advice I received (after they'd arrived & we'd chosen) was to put "Sir/Lord/Lady" in front of the name.
I'm happy that our children can join the peerage without embarrassment!

Ha ha KittenOfDoom, yes I mean Etta James.

It is a nice traditional name but the inspiration was a train

Went with heart... And named dd after a vehicle

Wanted something different but not 'trying too hard'... A well known name but not one commonly used, but still pretty. i like the sound of 'A' names. Also names that end in 'a'. I saw the names of dutch princesses Alexia, Amalia & Ariane. When i told DH he said he liked them all but Amalia was too similar to Amelie (Dd of close friends) Alexia would be called Lexie which he didn't like and he loved Ariane but would prefer it with an 'a' (Ariana) so that was her name

We choose DDs name by first establishing any 'rules' like themes, family traditions, etc. and discovered DP wanted names that can be shortened, I wanted traditional names. From there we just thought about any traiditonal names with shortenings. got a list of 5 then picked what suited her best when she leapt out my fanny.

Fitzgerald. (didn't hit the z hard enough)

"I've considered Etta as I think it'a lovely name, but also would be great to play DD Etta Fitzgerald's music"

Ella.
It's Ella Fitgerald.

Did you mean Etta James?

im in exactly the same pickle, took two weeks after 'baby surname' was born for us to decide on a name for her. So im starting early this time 32 weeks early. For us, we have to consider our families accent- some really beautiful dainty names can sound very dull and clanky with the wrong accent.

Try nameberry.com- beware! its vast...

OOOOOO We had soooo many names for girls for both our children, boys however where somewhat or a danger zone. Hubby had names picked out like Mercutio and Sergio!! (big nope) ... my mother finally picked our daughters name, Madelyn lily (after her deceased mother and my grandma) - though spelt differently. My sons was picked because my hubby was in iraq at the time i found out the sex. He was made up to be having a boy and said he had discussed with the lads a strong boys name. They picked Lucas ... and I loved it :) There are just too many beautiful names about xx

I didn't care if the name was 'dead common' (popular) acc to my sis. I wanted something that, if shortened, wasn't offensive to me. Also had no undiesirable connections to next door's dog or the nitty kid at school. I prefer old timeless names. It was only once we had registered the boys I found out one of their names means twin and the other he who laughs.

I wanted unusual so nothing top 20

I wanted short sharp strong names for boys

I wanted names that sounded good together

nurses were responsible for our first two!

For DD1 we could not agree - I liked frilly names & he liked staid sensible 1960s sort of names

I was having ante-natal tests done at 41 weeks & the nurse suggested Jessica; when it was decided the same day to do a CS that's what she got.

For DD2 we had sort-of decided on Frances for a girl & Samuel for a boy. It ended up being another CS, but under GA, & when I was being wheeled down the paed nurse asked what we'd decided on because she didn't like putting "Baby Surname" on the wrist band, so I told her.

DH saw DD2 before I woke up, & there was the name on the wristband, so he went off & rang everybody thinking I'd taken an executive decision She likes it & it suits her so that's ok.

I was looking for family names so looked to grandparents and great grandparents for inspiration. However, when DD was born, the name we chose was of a singer that DH saw on telly when I was pregnant. It's quite an unusual name but very traditional. I wasn't keen at first but DH was really taken with it and it grew on me When she was born, she was in NICU for 24 hours so the meaning ended up being quite apt as it means battle and she battled her way into the world.

trawling through baby name blogs
i particularly liked this one
lists of names are categorised to easily find ones that may match your requirements.
for instance i was after something old fashioned but mildly quirky and wasn't concerned with meanings so i loved the 'funky clunky' list

i have a Max,a George,a Tabitha and an Ivor.

i like Posie or Matilda for a girl,not sure abut boys,i like Sebastian.

What kinds of names do you / don't you like? Perhaps we can help by coming up with some suggestions? I find it much easier to suggest names for other people's babies than my own

For DS, DP came up with a list, comprising off the wall names from films & books he likes, the manager of his football team and some Scottish names (he's Scottish). He left it to me to work out which was which though!

I meant to come up with my own list, but I read and rejected all the names in 8 baby names books. On reflection I decided I liked one of them, which I'd picked out (but then rejected for a silly reason in retrospect!) which was also on DP's list. I love the name now and couldn't imagine DS being anything else.

Now DD is due in 3 days (eek!). DP has come up with a (silly) made up name he likes and lots of tbh sensible suggestions. None are "the one" for me though. DS's name is Celtic so I'd like DD to have a Celtic name too ideally. Have read and rejected names in only 4 baby names books so far though so maybe there's hope yet! ...

In answer to your OP, I'd say you should:

• think about whether you're happy with a popular or more unusual names (or you may not mind either way!)

• consider whether you want to honour any family members, either with first or middle names and also look up derivatives of their names

• consider whether you want to reflect any particular heritage - yours or DP's - in the names

• perhaps have a go at starting at the meanings of names. When's your baby due? I had a think about Spring names for a while. (e.g. Persephone, Olwen, Freya, Maia, Pascale) Also as it's been snowing here recently I had a think about snow names (e.g. Eira is a Welsh name meaning snow).

• who are your favourite authors / musicians? I've considered Etta as I think it'a lovely name, but also would be great to play DD Etta Fitzgerald's music.

• start a mumsnet thread, which you have :)

Catgirl, bless him!

not commonly used, but pronouncable, spellable and commonly known. no close friends using it; or relatives it was likely to cause policitical issues with. husband's nationality. we both liked it (this was the hardest)