Do you Google potential baby names....

[kitty78]

or is it just me?!! AND, is it just me or is picking a name the second time around even harder??!!

Of course I google potential names - with the surname to check out who else out there has the name. Also look on facebook etc.

And yes it is much harder second time. I love DDs name so much and every other name feels like second best. Plus, having chosen one name, it slightly dictates the type of name you go for next time.

I also check each and every baby name website obsessively.

(OK I really am obsessed by this naming business, I admit)

With the sur name? or just on its own?

I did put my children's names into friends reunited to try and get a picture of HOW popular those combinations were.

Oh yes, definitely with surname!

I didn't do this, but have just tried it with ds' name!

No never thought of this but just did them. Ds1's only comes up with him - he is involved in a sport with results on the internet.
dd's - nothing
ds2 - nothing

Oh absolutely with the surname.

Apparently my DD is the name of a B&B in Pennyslvania! Getting nothing of interest with my potentials though and am terribly disappointed!!

She will have to visit that B&B one day!

My DD doesn't appear anywhere, although there is an imposter out there with my name and a whopping 11 of my husband on facebook.

Yep, i did. One possible name for Ds1 turned out to be a US serial killer on death row.

Needless to say we didn't call him that...........

I've done it for my whole family. I'm also a ballet dancer and a surfer. My DH is some sort of mathematician, DS is a stage actor and DD is some sort of business coach.

See - that is exactly why we need to check these things out!!!

If I Google my name I am a famous (not to me or anyone I know) Australian cyclist which I find quite amusing given that I absolutely cannot breath after 2 minutes on an exercise bike!!

One woman I know was about to call her son Carl Doyle when somebody on an internet forum told her it sounded like Gargoyle. So she changed it.

I have written a few children's books.

Lulubai, I agree, I gave dc1 a name that wasn't popular so I felt I had to give my son a name that was about the same popularity, the same style etc. So their names both rank between 150 & 300, both have 3 syllables, are both fairly classic English names, neither is a bible name. They don't Match like Polly and Paul though!

Liffey - my problem with choosing a name in the same popularity region as DDs name is that it turns out to be v. v. unusual in this country (in the region of top 6000!). Most other names with that extreme level of unpopularity are highly unpopular for a jolly good reason .

Wow, number 6000! the mind boggles. I thought my children's names were fairly unpopular! I'm curious, but I'm sure you won't tell me!

Please tell us. I won't be able to sleep otherwise! (That and I'm looking for inspiration so might possibly pinch it!). x

Would have thought Liffey might know it. I have hinted at it on other threads. It's Spanish and it means dove. Honestly it's not that bizarre a name. It gets suggested on here quite a lot. But (luckily for me) very few people actually seem to choose it.

Just checked the Bounty website. This year apparently it is up to position 4398.

I think the Bounty name-statistic-ometer might be a bit skewiff though as it seems to think it was in position ten thousand and something last year and I'm sure it wasn't that unpopular .

a si me lo recuerdo ahora! es bonito.

THe bountyometre is definitely skewed. Cos them posh folks have home births and go to the portland

My friend was telling me about her husband who insists that all names are divisible by 3!! a=1, b=2 and so on! my name is a prime number 139, I probably terrify him. This has nothing to do with anything really, but I was thinking, it's hard enough choosing names without having to make sure the name is divisible by 3!

Its beautiful!

I wish my daughter's name was as unpopular! Unfortunately for my daughter she now shares her name with the title of a film about a girl with the nose of a pig - unfortunately I didn't Google back then!

Oh Kitty - I really liked that film and it is a very pretty name too!

And I don't think that the film is all that well known. The actress with that name is far better known and I can't imagine anyone would mind sharing a name with her. She's lovely.

So if the Bounty stats are not accurate, how else do you check the popularity (or lack thereoff) of a name?