Avoid These Mistakes When Naming Your Baby

One of the hardest parts about having a child is naming him/her. You're essentially establishing part of your child's identity for life. It's no wonder there are hundreds of baby naming books out there and even more website dedicated to names.

In fact, there are so many baby naming resources, it actually makes the decision harder, not easier. This article from Yahoo! explains:

The problem with this name explosion is that psychologists don't necessarily find that having more choices is better. To explain this phenomenon, Swarthmore College researcher Barry Schwartz coined the term "the paradox of choice." Schwartz's research suggests that the more choices we have, the more stressful those choices become. And even if we make a perfectly serviceable choice, we're more hampered by regret.

Everyone always hears those funny names people use to sign up for online forums with, or used to have someone paged at the mall. These names include "Hugh Jass", "Al Kayda", "April Shours" and then there's the classic "Ben Dover." I could probably write a pretty long post filled with silly names people come up with to show the world how witty they are.

My point is that naming your baby needs to be taken seriously. You should also think about potential consequences of the name you pick. Remember, you're child will be going to school, and kids can be cruel.

If you name your daughter "Mona Lots," she's probably going to be called a porn star and slut for most of her life. If you name your son "Harry Bawls," he's going to get his ass kicked a lot in school, and possibly the workplace. I should note that some poor soul really was named Harry Baals. What his parents were thinking, we'll never know.

So what if you name your baby, he/she is born and a few months later you don't like the name? Chances are you can have it changed. A 4-month old baby doesn't have an established identity yet, so you're probably okay. I'm just not sure how hard it is to legally change your child's name. And if you do it more than once, you might have the state child services visit you to see if you're a fit parent.

What it comes down to, however, is picking a name that you like. Babies generally grow into their names. You might also have family considerations, like naming your baby after a grandparent, father, mother, etc.

One tip: Keep you baby's name secret until he/she is born. Why? Because if you start telling people the name you picked out, they will invariably tell you that someone's mean pit bull dog has that name, or some jackass they dated in high school had that name. If you wait until the baby is born to announce the name, people will be a lot more respectful.