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Baby names

Find baby name inspiration and advice on the Mumsnet Baby Names forum.

Original poster

What did/are you taking into account when choosing a name for your baby?

29 replies

LentilsLennie06 · 19/01/2015 13:19

Hi I have a two fold reason for posting this thread, and I am really hoping you can give me some help!! Apologies for the extremely long post!!
I am due to pop a little boy soon and we are having trouble with choosing a name... his sister is called Lennie which I consider to be different without being too made up??!! She sometimes gets on at me for it being a boys name, but I loved it when I had her, not really for a baby but because I thought it would be different for when she was a girl, a teenager and older. I haven't come across another one yet. I had settled on Rex for the new baby, and despite being told by EVERYONE that it is a dog/dinosaur name I still loved it. But I live on the same street as a lady who is pregnant, due before me, and is also planning on calling her baby Rex. As her child would be in the same class as mine at school this is now a total no no for me!!
I am currently studying a degree and have been given an assignment on language, and the way we name our children is the direction I have picked to go in!! Thus, my second reason for posting this thread. Having looked at the subject in depth I have found research that suggests names affect life paths, job chances and university attendance, amongst other things!!
From reading books, info on the internet and lots of other threads I can see quite a few themes which affect the way people name their child, some prefer biblical or traditional names, people like place names or surnames and some avoid popular names preferring to give their child their own unique identity. What influences your decision??

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twinjocks · 19/01/2015 15:33

From most important to least important:

  1. Unusual, not boring but not completely wacky.
  2. That we both liked.
  3. That went with our surname and didn't make any unfortunate abbreviations.

Put no credence whatsoever into "future-proofing" i.e. how it would sound if they were a high court judge, etc. If they want to be high court judges without boring, staid names, I'm sure they'll manage ok, and if it's really that much of a problem, they can change their names.

BananaHammocks · 19/01/2015 14:04
  1. not in the top 100, in fact as far down as possible...
  2. ...But not seen as weird/made up/crazy
  3. Easy to spell and pronounce
  4. no obvious class association, not seen as posh or chavvy
  5. Not a nickname/shortening
  6. One we both agree on
  7. Not currently rising in popularity (see darkgreener website!)

We went with Tessa so slightly failed in point 5 but overall pretty happy!

steppeinginto2015 · 19/01/2015 13:58
  1. not top 100
  2. recognisable, so they wouldn't have to keep repeating it/ spelling it out
  3. a meaning or association we liked
  4. we are a bi-lingual family and lived in a third language country, so the name had to work in 3 languages!
  5. a name that works on a child and an adult, and would sound good on a high court judge!
Hobby2014 · 19/01/2015 13:22

I really wanted a name we liked (obv!) but that nobody else we knew had. Wanted one that had variations, ie Thomas/Tom/Tommy. Chose the longest version. And didn't want it in top 100.