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

[picklemum]

If so what were/are they ?

We had couple, like didn't want to use same intial as me or DH and, second time not same as DD1. Also ruled out 'noun' names eg Ocean even though I liked a lot of these, I thought in long term might not be appealing for the person who has it as a grown-up ( no offence to others who disagree)

Also one rule was nothing very very unusual or really weird that no-one had heard of, so to avoid the poor kid having to spell their name out all the time....

.......BUT in the end me and DH fell in love with one name when DD2 was born and gave her a v unusual name. We simply liked nothing else better.

SO did you have 'rules' ? Did you follow them ?? ?

[woahwoah]

My rules were:

No easily shortened names

Nothing beginning with same letter as our surname (sounds silly IMO)

Nothing that makes words out of the initials

Choose Biblical names, but not too unusual (not Hezekiah, for example)

Not in the top 50 names

Nothing that any close friends / family have picked (despite MIL's pleading to use her name for dd!)

DH and I had to agree!

I did stick to the rules, though MIL thought dd's name was too unusual (she just wanted us to name her after herself!!). Ds recently said he really liked his name (he's grown up now) which really pleased me, as I chose it!

[colditz]

It had to be a name they could put on their CV.

It had to be a name that everyone knows how to spell (or so i fucking thought!)

It had to be a name that wouldn't make other children take the piss.

It had to be a name that didn't make the teachers roll their eyes.

[SarahJim]

DH is a teacher and insisted on 'Top set' names to give them the best chance in their exams. :)

[BongoWinslow]

I've been banned from using any names I've previously given to a cat - living or deceased.

[sarahtigh]

our rules

1.nothing that will be embarrassing later ( not like jamie olivers kids) ie bunny pixie chasity

2.nothing that instantly will age you in 20 years remember all the kylies!

3.family name as second name

4.nothing too common, misspelt/ different like davyd instead of david or so unusual that they will have to spell it out slowly for the rest of their lives

1. initials dont make a word even if an ok word like jam
   

1. would we hate the shortened version ie if you dont like liz/beth dont call her elizabeth
   

1. we only have 1 child so far but not rhyming with sibling ie molly and polly or and twosomes like jack and jill

[kiwijesta]

DH has an extensive list of rules, mostly due to the fact that his last name is Green

1. No plants, eg flowers etc
   
2. No colours (shame I like Scarlet)
   
3. Correct spellings are a must
   
4. No places, months, seasons
   
5. No words that can be names but should just be words, eg Faith
   

So you can see he likes traditional names

My two rules are

1. Not in the top ten here in England or NZ (where we are from)
   
2. Some part of it to have a family connection
   

I also like names that are a little different so it could take us a while to agree on one, good thing we've got til Jan!

[VMumToBe]

went through the ons website list at www.statistics.gov.uk/statbase/Product.asp?vlnk=15282
DH and I scored each:
2 = really liked it
1 = okay could live with it
0 = do not call our child this.

4 names scored 4, and 30 names scored 3. We looked at these, got to a shortlist and when DS arrived called him "what he looked like"

hope this helps!

[emptyshell]

Pregnancy died in the end but my criteria were:

Must not have taught an utter nightmare series of children with the name (ruled out Thomas on this one - even though it's a lovely name - as a succession of them had given me grey hairs and one fed a paperclip to my electric pencil sharpener - I bear a grudge!) That one's a hazard of teaching as a job though - so many names get massively linked in your mind with certain personalities that you've encountered over the years!

Must be phonically regular to be easy to spell (yes I've previously taught reception far far too much)

Must have a longer form for maximum impact when telling off when you know you're REALLY in bother... added impact when the middle name's dragged in as well

I had right of veto over all silly sci-fi, TV show and mythological names suggested by hubby. No, Darth Vader is NOT a suitable name for a boy. Prolonged ridiculous suggestions may result in a clip around the ear (Luke Skywalker was ruled out that way too).

I don't like the nicknames as full names either.

The Tesco-test... imagine it being screeched full volume down the freezer aisle of Tesco in the worst variation of the local accent possible. If you're not laughing at the daftness of it or cringing you're onto a decent thing.

[MmeMorph]

• traditional but pan-European as we have family around central and Eastern Europe
  
• easy to spell
  
• wouldn't give you a hint of the social class of the child/adult
  
• no repeating initials within immediate family
  
• multiple nicknames
  
• family name as middle name
  
• for girls - an actually girl's name, not one derived from a boy (e.g. not Georgina, Roberta, etc)
  

We stuck to them.

[ilovesprouts]

never gave a thought about names ,i called my dcs names that suited them ,:)