How Did You Choose Your Baby's Name?

What's in a (baby) name? Whether you have a baby boy or baby girl, naming your child can be a hard decision. Names are a large part of a kid's identity and can affect everything from their job aspects and relationships (seriously, it's true!). So how do you make a choice? Daphne Brogdon of Cool Mom asks the panelists, "How did you choose your baby's name?"

Welcome Karen Dietrich of Grapes at Midnight. She commented on our Now Taping blog post, and her comment was chosen to appear in the episode! Don't forget to share your stories of how you named your child. You never know when your comments might be selected to be in a Momversation video!

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Katharine
5 months ago

My son is named George, which is my grandfather's name and also my husband's greatgrandfather's name, so we liked the family ties with it and also loved that it's kind of classic and not too common. Our daughters are named Kinsey and Diana. We heard the name "Kinsey" (having already considered the name Kelsey and loving that one) and just suddenly loved it because it's so unique and sort of off-beat and I just loved it. And then our little one is Diana, which is after one of my best friends from childhood. I love it because it's really classy and unique.

nicnicnic
1 years ago

our son is named after our grandfathers... my husband's grandfather's name was jack. my grandfather's middle name was raymond... and so we created a hybrid... jackson ray, which just happens to work well with my southern accent too. "JACKSON RAY!!!"

SilverXeno
2 yearss ago

My siblings and I have slightly outside the norm names...My first name is Maegan...but I got it before the 8 billion or so "Megans"...And it rhymes with Regan...but I wasn't named after the president. My grandmother's middle name is Mae. It was unique until 1984...and that Thornbirds movie came out. Now only my spelling is unique. Anywho...my brothers are Cully Jameson, Lucas Emmett, and a sister Thea Leanne. No WAY could I pick Sarah or Christopher or something for my kids! My mom set the bar too high. With my first daughter, Jocelynn Mae...it was day 2 in the hospital and FINALLY my husband and I agreed on a name. I did NOT want to use a family name...I didn't want a common name, and I didn't want a common name with a bizarre spelling...like Soozeee or something. I was a *tad* upset after we left the hospital, b/c I got a call from my FIL saying how honored he was that we would use Jocelynn. Uh. Why? "Well b/c that was the nickname form of my late wife's (hubby's mother) name, Joyce." She was Dutch, I guess someone in her family called her Joceline from time to time. I was pissed beyond belief. But by now it was too late to change it. Unless I am telling the story about how my kid got her name, I don't ever think about my late MIL...so, I dunno, I felt slightly burned on it, but my husband seemed happy, and it meant I had a tad more sway for the NEXT kid. And my husband liked Mae so much (b/c of my first name) that he really wanted to use it. We adjusted the spelling of Joceline to Jocleynn, b/c my middle name is Lynn...and he thought that would be neat. I thought it was weird, but I was so out of it, I didn't care. My second daughter is Anicah Danielle. Anicah rhymes with Monica. Anika is the traditional spelling but I worried people would pronounce it wrong all the time. They do anyway...but oh well. Anika was Pippi Longstocking's best friend, and since Joceline & Anika come from the same region of Europe we thought they would "go" together. Danielle is just a feminine name I liked...I HATE nicknames though, and worried if I ever used it for a first name, I'd end up with a and Dani or an Elli. No offense to any Dani's or Elli's out there...but if I give my kid a name...That's the name I want them to use! If I wanted my child to be called Dani...I would have put it on the birth certificate. I'm anti-nickname b/c not a single person in hubby's family (including himself) goes by their first name. Then my husband screwed that up by suddenly deciding one day he liked going by his first name. Ugh. There is a book that I thought was a great help...It's called something like, "Beyond Jennifer, Jason, Mason, & Morgan..." or something. REALLY helpful. Talks about trends, how they work, how to avoid using a trendy name...etc.

Mommy_Two
2 yearss ago

My father's family is of Italian heritage, so I wanted my child's name to reflect that. We found out that we were having a girl. I had always loved the name Giovanni, so we name our daughter Giana. Giana is a shortened form of Giovanna, which translated is Jane. So when I found out I was pregnant in 2007, we once again went looking for a good Italian boy name. We chose my father's name, Anthony. But it took so long for us to come to that decision, that in the mean time my father dubbed him Vito. So by the time the poor boy was born, everyone was already calling him Vito.

Carita
2 yearss ago

The naming of my daughter was such a TOTAL fiasco. I changed it at age three. I figured that if it made me uncomfortable, I'd better change it before she starts school and really begins to identify with a name. My mother picked Kyah, which my husband and I both agreed on. She picked it from the movie Willow...you know the adventure with the little people? Kyah was Willow's wife. Unfortunately, the Kabalarians (http://www.kabalarians.com/ Check the brief name analysis on their website- I really got into checking names there for awhile) said that 'Kyah' was abrasive. They used words like; depressed, outspoken, trouble with friendships, to explain the life of a person with that name. The only Kyah's I knew of were on TV. One was in and out of rehab, and the other wrote a song that was...well...outspoken. It was a club song that my own kid will never here until she's 50 if I can help it (My Neck, My Back- it is so dirty.). Then, my daughter's nanny, who came from Jamaica, said that in her country, 'Kyah' was something you scrub pots with. Just like they said- abrasive. We used Kyah and a spanish nickname until I had it legally changed before she turned 3. 3 is the latest you can change a name in Pa. without having to file a petition. My husband was not very pleased about the change since he already had 'Kyah' tattoed on his back. He actually asked if I planned to keep changing the name, and did I expect him to have a red X tattooed through the old one every time I did. In the end, we added a new name, one the Kabalarians said would sustain a more pleasant demeanor. We moved Kyah in to the middle, and now my lovely, mild mannered daughter has two middle names. Of course none of this matters as she has since become interested in vampires and has taken to calling herself 'Draculea'. Figures.

ICanGrowPeople
2 yearss ago

My son's name is Porter Eli. Porter: While we were dating, the man who is now my husband and I were working together one summer and one of our co-workers was named Porter. I happen to mention that I thought Porter was a really cool name. We later found out it was actually this guy's LAST name, but we liked it anyway and we vowed that if we ever had a son, we would name him Porter. Five years later, we did just that. Eli: My husband and I fell in love at Yale, so we wanted to honor the university without straight up calling our child Yale. So we settled on Eli, a slang term for a Yale student (after the university's founder Elihu Yale.) We tend to like old-fashion, yet uncommon sounding names.

sweetmamajones
2 yearss ago

My oldest is Gunnar....I got his name from watching a celebrity soft ball game on MTV (Gunnar & Matthew Nelson were playing). He's 18 now! My 2nd son AJ (short for Anthony) is a family name. My 3rd son Max we totally stole from that Carnation baby formula commercial that used to say "Meet Max"...cheesy, but it's cool cheesy.

shuggilippo
2 yearss ago

suzyqhomemaker
2 yearss ago

salsamite
2 yearss ago

I started thinking about movies... movie stars, characters etc. I finally came up with "Jonah", which is the name of the little boy in Sleepless In Seattle! It also worked because both mine and Shawn's (his dad) names are also Hebrew. He has two middle names - Dean Joshua. Dean is both my brother's name and coincidentally Shawn's middle name. Then I figured I can't very well leave out my other brother, plus I have two middle names.... So my little Man Cub ended up with an awfully looooong name! Jonah Dean Joshua - lovely. I mostly just use Jonah Dean - sounds better!

How Did You Choose Your Baby's Name?

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