Choosing a name for another human can be really really stressful. If you get it right, you may be attending your daughter’s rock concert one day. But if you get it wrong, you’re potentially setting your son up for years of torment (I’m talking to you, Ben Dover).
Unique names are cool, but endless “it’s actually pronounced” moments are not. And getting your name spelled wrong on a coffee cup may be momentarily annoying, but starting a new job only to realise that there are fourteen other Sarahs is a pain that will last a lifetime. Sorry, Sarahs.
Sean Szeps shares his baby name philosophy and how they came to the perfect baby names for his twins.
Basically, it’s hard to win when you’re naming a child. And while I’d like to believe that finding the perfect balance between ordinary and unique is the best way to go about choosing your unborn child’s name, I’m sure that backfires too.
So I’ve recently come to terms with the fact that all that really matters is that you truly adore the name you choose for your child. Because you’re the one that’s going to be screaming it down the hallways for twenty-something years, right?
To help you double and triple check that you’ve selected the perfect name, ask yourself these eight questions to ensure you’ve made the right decision:
1. What nickname will your unborn child be given?
Aussies like to shorten, well, everything. So while Hunter may be a truly adorable name, Hunt is too close to a very naughty word, which may result in a little “C**ny Hunty” name-calling on the playground.
2. How might people misspell their name?
Nothing is more annoying than someone spelling or pronouncing your name wrong. You may love the unique spelling of Cydnee, but it’s their name that has to be called incorrectly in class each morning.
3. What does the name sound like in a different accent?
If your family comes from different countries or is planning on moving around quite a bit, then you may care whether his or her name is mangled outside (or inside) Australia. My husband is Aussie and I’m American, so we played the “what will it sound like in Australia” game each night, which helped eliminate Harper (or “HAAAAAAA-PUH” in an Aussie accent).
Top Comments
I agree that the main thing is that you and your partner love the name! Because you don't know how popular a name is going to be. The name we picked for our eldest was not one I had ever heard when I was at school, or when I was a teacher. But after she was born, I later met 3 others with the same name. But she is still unique! Also, another thing that my husbands family do is to have two middle names! It was like naming royalty, and I quite liked it! Gave me a chance to use some more unusal names as a third middle name is not going to be used that often. We picked a first name that we liked, and one middle name from each side of the family. Really love that the names connect them with family history!
Just what I need! A friend is asking me for advice about her baby's name. We have a few names we're choosing from, but she's still not satisfied with them. I'll use these tips as a guideline. But one thing's for sure, we don't want a name the little angel would hate when he/she grows up lol.