Five easy steps to choosing the perfect baby name

One of the few decisions you will make during pregnancy that

will last, in fact, throughout your child’s life is the

choosing your baby’s name. (Unlike, for example, your

choice of stroller or whether to use Lamaze or hypnosis to

relieve labor pains.) To choose the best name for your baby,

follow these simple tips:

1. Don’t try to please other people.

Everyone from your in-laws to the supermarket cashier

you are going to have an opinion on your child’s name.

But the only opinions that really matter are yours and yours.

husbands.

2. Keep it a secret!

If you tell all the names you have chosen before the baby is born

born, they will not hesitate to criticize your choices. But yes

you keep it to yourself and announce the name and birth

at the same time, everyone will congratulate you on a great

choice of name.

3. Consider how your child will feel about the name when he or she

she grows up.

Will it be difficult for teachers to speak in

school? Will they make fun of her because it sounds funny or

rhymes with an unfortunate word? Sound like a

name young or very old? Do you want to choose something

the child will feel comfortable in all phases of his life.

4. Check the initials to make sure they are not problematic.

One of the moms I interviewed for “The Gallagher Guide to the

Baby Years “told the story of his relative who named his

baby, William Eugene Thompson. A good name, but the

initials (WET) were not ideal for monograms.

5. Decide ahead of time, or at least have a couple of names

under consideration, at the beginning of the third

trimester.

There is a lot to do as your due date approaches. You

I don’t want to be under pressure to choose a name because

went into labor early and had to think of something in

Hospital. Visit BabyNames.com (www.babynames.com)

for lots of cool baby name ideas.