So Wills and Kate have had their baby and the royal watchers have moved on from when the baby will come and the gender to naming the new heir. Personally, we’re hoping for Arthur because the world needs another King Arthur. But how do the rest of us choose baby names?
Names are a very important and personal thing. We’re often defined by our names and to some degree they can dictate people’s perceptions of us. If we’re named after celebrities then it’s possible that some folks will make assumptions about our personalities.
In naming our children, my wife and I preferred traditional names with traditional spelling. My surname seems tricky enough for many people and we figured that the kids wouldn’t want to spend their lives spelling both their names out.
But we were conscious of the meanings of names. That’s where a quick search on the etymology of a potential name is worth doing.
For others, religious beliefs, numerology and other systems are used to find names.
In the case of Will and Kate’s new tyke, chances are that the name will be quite traditional although we wouldn’t be surprised to see a modern spin as the royal family moves along with the times and tries to make itself more modern.
Have you had to name a child? How did you go about it?
Comments
6 responses to “How Do You Choose A Baby Name?”
Getting something that isn’t just a good children name but a name that would fit an adult as well
avoiding names that could obviously become taunting nicknames
avoiding bad combinations of initials that do the same
avoiding trends/gimmicks etc
giving a middle name that rolls off the tongue nicely, nothing suggests to a kid more they are in trouble then when you pull out there full name!!
I also like a long name that shortens nicely into a good nickname as well.
My son unfortunately has quite a long name. He’s called Dickson Irving Charles Kowalski Hamilton Ernace Arnold Deucalion (the second)
Word is, the child will be called Gervaise Brooke-Hampster and is a strong contester for the upper-class twit of the year..
Gervie. Has a nice ring to it!
Kong would be a good name for the new prince.
I wonder if they’ll do the full windsor-mountbatten-middleton hyphenation.
Apparently the royal baby’s name is George Alexander Louis, making it’s full name, according to the press:
George Alexander Louis Malcolm Peter Brian Telescope Adrian Umbrella Stand Jasper Wednesday (pops mouth twice) Stoatgobbler John Raw Vegetable (whinnying) Arthur Norman Michael (blows squeaker) Featherstone Smith (whistle) Northcott Edwards Harris (fires pistol, then ‘whoop’) Mason (chuff-chuff-chuff-chuff) Frampton Jones Fruitbat Gilbert (sings) ‘We’ll keep a welcome in the’ (three shots) Williams If I Could Walk That Way Jenkin (squeaker) Tiger-drawers Pratt Thompson (sings) ‘Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head’ Darcy Carter (horn) Pussycat (sings) ‘Don’t Sleep In The Subway’ Barton Mainwaring (hoot, ‘whoop’) Smith-Mountbatten-Windsor