What influences your naming decisions most?

When it comes to picking out names for your children are you most influenced by how popular the name is, your family and friends' opinions, or another factor? I think when my children are born I'll have a list of a few possible names and will see which one "fits." How did you, or will you, decide?

What influences your naming decisions most?
I have four boys:





Mitchell Harrison


Elliot Paulson


Grant Lawson


Tucker Carson





I knew I wanted a name that sounded cute, but grew well with them.





I imagined talking to them at age 2, 10, 18 %26amp; imagined talking to a co-worker or neighbor with this name. I thought "would this name sound silly or childish for a 40 year old?"


I did ask opinions, but it rarely influenced me. I knew what was right for my child.








= )
Reply:it's a combanation of what sounds best with your last name, and after loved ones who have made a difference in our lives
Reply:I think everytime a family member made a suggestion, I was instantly turned off - I wanted my babies names to come from the collective creativity of my husband and me. This is the tendency for OCD talking, but I also wanted biblical names, but not overused ones and a certain number of syllables and letters and the meanings between the first and middle names had to go together. It was a lot of work! We also wanted to use some family names - and believe it or not, it all worked out 4 times!!!


Mine are : Mattea Frances - "God's Free Gift" (feminine for Mattthew and Frances after grandpa's and great grandpa's middle names on dad's side)


Mariah Cathryn - "God's Pure Wind" (Cathryn is a family name)


Madalyn Theresa - "Strong Harvesting Tower" (Named Theresa after dad's grandma who had just passed away - also a family name on his mom's side)


Joel Zachary - "Jehovah is the Lord who has Remembered"


(Zachary is a family name)





I also believe every boy born in the US should have a name that can go with the title of "President of the United States" or "Senator" and we loved the name Joel - every Joel we had ever known was a really nice boy. It isn't being used much either - he has never met another Joel and we lived in a large city.
Reply:I want my children to have names that reflect my ethnicity and my culture.
Reply:I pick names that are considered "normal." I don't want anything too difficult for my child to spell or say, or something that can prohibit them from getting a good job.
Reply:I hate trendy names, so if it sounds like something a teenybopper would name their child (Brooklyn, Nevaeh, McKenna, etc.) I stay far, far away from them. I also hate "unique" spellings, such as Kenedie or Madysonne, etc. I prefer classic names. My mother hated the name my husband and I picked out for our son, but for once, her opinion had no bearing on what I chose to do.


We chose our son's name before he was born, and it fits him fine. I think whatever you call the child is what eventually suits them.
Reply:I was influenced by me. I didn't want names that anyone else in their class would have, I didn't care if the name became popular after they were born. I had a list of possible names, and I looked at both and new. With my first I had the names, Shiloh Grace-Anne, Elizabeth Brooke, Marleigh Anne, and Sadie Elisabeth.. I named her Shiloh Grace-Anne.. remember this was 10 years ago so there was no Shiloh Jolie-Pitt. With my second I had the names Bella Elisabeth-Anne (I am a big fan of the name Anne), Anna Sophia, Savannah Leigh, and Holly Marie.. I chose Bella Elisabeth-Anne, the name is very popular now but three years ago it wasn't.
Reply:We are not a very traditional family, so we went more towards creativity than heritage. Our family and friends did not play a role as we felt it should be be our decision. We cracked a book with about 92,000 names and after a while we figured out our 3 criteria.





1) The name must not be easily made fun of.





2) No names of skeletons in our closets. Old boyfriends or girlfriends or people we disliked in our past.





3) Unique %26amp; uncommon.





Ultimately, our first son is named Ryland Alexander %26amp; our second is named Alden Baine. I believe they are staying unpopular and that suits us just fine.
Reply:I have a list already, and not one of the names is on the top 1000 list according to the social security website. There is one name I love, and I've seen that a few people have it on their "list" here, asking for opinions. Fortunately, no one ever seems to pick it, so I like that. The more people dislike a name, the more I like it, then I know they won't want to use it! So I guess what influences my decision is, well, me! I don't like crazy names, or normal names with nutso spelling, but I'm sick of Emily and Jacob.... Some names I like are "old" names, and some are people's last names, or some are just kinda funky....





When the time comes, I'm not discussing with anybody at all what names I have on my list. I don't care for outside opinions. All the family and friends will find out after the baby is born and my husband and I have decided which name to use. I hate when people find out what they're having (boy/girl) and that day have a name picked out..... Hopefully I'll have it narrowed to five or six, and go from there!





Just as an example of a couple names I like (since I can't use them because they don't go with my last name)... I would use these for a boy OR a girl. There are a lot of names that are considered "boys" names that I prefer for girls.





Lennon


Weiland
Reply:I wanted names that wouldn't make my children be ridiculed, but I didn't want run of the mill names either. That's why I decided to check baby name popularity before I used the name. When I named my little girl Isabella, it was not very popular at all...however, the year after I named her that it moved to the number five spot on the popularity list. When I picked Brayden for my son, it was number 752. The year after I picked it, it moved to number 25. So you don't win either way. I know a couple of other Isabella's and two other Brayden's just in the age groups my children are in. So when I was attempting to keep my children's names unique it bit me in the hiney. In the end, the best thing to do is to choose a name that you love (and I did do that) and that way no matter how popular the name is, it won't matter to you.
Reply:I list any names that sound good to me, then look at their popularity because I don't ever want to pick an over-used name and ask for opinions from other people. For middle names I like to use the name of a family member that sounds good with whatever name we've chosen.
Reply:We both have to love it, easy said the done


Must go with the last name, it is bad


It had to go with Elizabeth (after my mom)


I have to be able to say it, I have a speech problem


My husband did not a popular name, his was Michael, to many. He did not want a name that could be shorten





We pick a name, and for some reason, it got really popular that year, and every year since
Reply:We wanted unique but not weird names. My daughter I knew from before I was pregnant I would name her that and my son we'd agreed on boy/girl names by our 1st Dr visit.
Reply:common sense





proper spelling





good "flow" with middle/last name.
Reply:i like to pick unique names for my kids, names that aren't common. I think its way too common to give a child his fathers names and i have never done with any of my kids. In my daughters case i didn't really have a say in her name i was dreaming and her name kind of came to me in the dream, and i woke up from a dead sleep and was like Savannah was a great name so i stuck with it. I also look at what the name means and the importance of the meaning. I also like to add a bit of royalty kind of to names, like Elizabeth(daughters middle name) and Alexander(my sons middle name) and William(other sons middle name).


Pick a name you will truly love and know your kids can live with.
Reply:Pretty much they have to do with heritage when I pick them. They either have signifcant meaning or they sound really good with the last name. I can't do names that don't sound well when being yelled at your kids lol.
Reply:I named my children after people that were special to me and my family, it depends alot on the person, you want something special because its your child people can make ideas, but in the end it is your decision.
Reply:1. Nothing that is on the US Census top 25 list for boys or girls


2. Not difficult to spell or say


3. Gender appropriate (personal pet peeve when Girls have "boy" names)


4. Reflects culture/heritage


5. Can be agree upon with my spouse.