Naming a baby has become a battlefield for many parents!
Your new baby is ready to be born any day now… but you still haven’t decided on a name. Do you find yourself still fighting over the best name for your unborn child with your partner and families?
Naming a baby should be one of the easiest things to do in the world. But now many parents find themselves in a baby-naming battlefield!
Parents often find themselves caught up in the middle of pressures, internal and external, to get their child’s name right.
If you’re facing such a dilemma, then read through these potential naming disasters and their solutions that should help you navigate through the somewhat difficult arena of naming a baby!
Boy, girl or not really sure?
In wanting to be different, you could actually stray into a lifetime of misery for your child if ‘he’ is given a ‘her’ name or vice versa.
While being brave and wanting to be unique does not hurt anyone, naming your baby Shirley (when he is a boy!) is one that should be thought through carefully.
Solution: Question yourself as to whether trying to be different is just going to cause more hassle to everyone. Sometimes it’s better to stick to the conventional when it comes to naming a child!
Try to keep the decision about naming your child to yourself and your partner.
Battling couples
The two of you have chosen favourite first names for your child and you’re squabbling about who gets to choose the all-important name from their respective list.
Relax! Pregnancy, the birth of the child and the mother’s health are ultimately far more important!
Solution: If there is no way to resolve the naming issue, then it might be best to hold off until the baby is born and then consider the best way forward. Ultimately, a mother’s intuition is always best.
Or, you could always choose your 2 favourite names off each list and give these to your child as first and second names — just don’t start fighting over whose name will be the first and whose will be the second!
Read on for more about naming a baby…
Name and shame
If the naming process has reached name-calling levels between the two of you, then why not draw up separate lists of the names you desire for your child and then swap them. Those names that are in both lists can be kept and those that aren’t, can be axed.
Solution: A final central list will be a good starting point and then an agreed shortlist would be great. Road test the names out and see which one you both like.
Do try to avoid celebrity names when naming a baby – it’s just not cool!
Leave the celeb route
If you’re both branded up to the eyeballs and celeb spotting is the in thing, then maybe you should hand over responsibility to your families.
As much as you’d like your child to be with the in-crowd, naming her Gucci, Ferrari, Nike, Pepsi or Peaches will be a conversation killer for your young one in her teens and will herald a lifetime of teasing.
Solution: Both of you need to agree a ban on brands or celeb names, and think more sensibly. Talk to each other and find a common way of agreeing on a name for all seasons.
(Not) listening to others
Sometimes, new parents have had to deal with the extended family’s wishes and preferences when it comes to naming a baby.
It’s not uncommon for grandparents to request for a name that has been passed down for generations, to be bestowed on the new baby too.
Solution: If you are fine with naming your baby Johnson Junior, then there’s no dispute. But if you’d rather have control over naming your child, take the advice but tell them that you will decide what’s best for your child.
Have confidence in your own decision-making and move on from there.
Try to work together when choosing your baby’s name
Just being different
If you think it’s great to call your son or daughter a name no-one has ever heard of, just realize that the novelty will soon wear off on a dreary Monday morning when you’re battling against the tide of life and your young one is in bed and refuses to get up.
Solution: Try to put yourself in your child’s shoes when they hit 14 or 15 with a name that was originally a screen name in a Bulgarian film that you fell in love with!
Perhaps Googling ancient names should be avoided as it is a bit like choosing to tattoo your arm with a foreign language inscription –there’s always the danger that the name could be wrong or have an embarrassing meaning!
Did you experience any issues when it came to naming your child? Let us know by leaving a comment.
