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

[LentilsLennie06]

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??

Oh and names that don't tell you anything about a person's background or potential 'class'

Names like James and Sophie are in this category for me. Nobody can really form an opinion about James or Sophie before meeting them. This I like.

1. Not in current top100
2. Has to go well with our surname
3. Isn't either really unusual/difficult to pronounce/difficult to spell/made-up/a Disney character's name - Nothing against these names, just personal preference, and not for me!
4. Passes the "Lawyer/Dr" test, but could also be shortened just as easily to pass the "DJ/Artist" test
5. And a more unusual/odd one, I like American names... No real reasoning behind it, but DH and I both love America, so decided to choose American names as thought they'd be a bit more uncommon (and so far the 2G/2B names we have in mind don't fall in the UK top200 let alone 100, so seems to be a winner lol) x

It had to reflect our heritage, be uncommon (in fact he was the only one in his birth year), go with both our surnames together and individually (DS has both, but might drop one when older), and be something I knew I would enjoy saying and writing forever.

I could use the name and it suited my life style and culture.

No else is friends children etc had the name
It went with my last name
It didn't have any teasing potentials.
Made sure initials were ok together