When a new baby is born, the question inevitably arises: what name should I give the child? Which of the names would be most appropriate? If you have also faced the problem of choosing a name for your child, then first of all remember - the decision here is only for you to make. Another thing is that you need to approach this issue carefully, as a FUNNY CHOSEN NAME can cause severe psychological problems in the life of the child. Those problems may even continue to persist and intensify when the child grows into an adult. It so happens that parents, blinded by love for their baby and a desperation to keep a unique name, end up choosing such an unfortunate name.
Common mistakes to avoid when choosing a name for your child
Baby Naming Tips - Mistake one: When choosing a name, remember your responsibility to the child.
How often do I hear the phrase: this is my child, I will call him and name him as I please. This is not entirely true. A child is not a thing; it cannot be owned by you or anyone else. It will have a life of its own, its own feelings, its own experiences, and God forbid that among these experiences, to top all the challenges that the child may encounter while growing up, may it not go through the worries of having a poorly chosen name.
Baby Naming Tips - Mistake Two: Be careful with non-standard names.
The fact that your baby is the best should not be doubted, but you should not emphasize the uniqueness of your child by choosing for him an unnecessarily extraordinary name.
Remember that the more unusual the name, the stronger it attracts the attention of others, and this is a source of great psychological stress. In most cases, people around you are by no means inclined to treat your choice with a broad sense of understanding. On the contrary, they would prefer to play a trick on non-standard names much more willingly than to admire them.
Alas, but even the most seemingly appealing of non-standard names give their carriers a lot of problems and troubles. Even celebrity children living away from the “rough” world suffer from unnecessarily unusual names. So the son of David Bowie, who received the strange name of Zoe at birth, growing up, chose to change it to a neutral one - Joe, and the daughter of the musician Keith Richards (Rolling Stones), whom the wise parents christened Dandelion, became Angela.
Baby Naming Tips - Third mistake: Do not try to express all your love for the baby in its name.
Love and nurture of children and their dreams by their parents is a great thing. However, if you are a new parent, you should not overdo this aspect too much when choosing a name for your children. Avoid overly affectionate names. Remember that the name of the child serves not so much a purpose for the expression of parental affection as much it does for his communication with the outside world, and this world is often colder and more indifferent than we would like.
As for parental feelings, firstly, any name, no matter how it sounds, has affectionate expressions that allow you to show the whole gamut of gentle parental feelings to the baby. Secondly, names that are too affectionate can cause rejection not only among others, but over time in the child himself.
Baby Naming Tips - Fourth Mistake: Do Not Trust Your Hearing and Voice
One of the many common mistakes when choosing a name is the argument: I like how that name sounds. Alas, this argument is no good. The bottom line is that when parents pronounces the name of their child, they do it completely differently than how the name is uttered by strangers and outsiders.
When pronouncing in your voice, the name that you are going to give your child, you will hear not so much the real sound of the name as much you would hear your own love and tenderness for your baby. In such a situation, even the most dissonant names may seem like a fabulously tender melody. For example, the name of Martha or Marfush, spoken with affection, can sound surprisingly beautiful, but alas, the same name, uttered by an outsider, will inevitably sound too harsh due to the peculiarities of its sound combination.
Baby Naming Tips - Fifth mistake: Do not forget about the compatibility of the name with the middle name and last name
It is no secret that things that are good in themselves, in combination, can give the exact opposite effect. A simple example: a white blouse and ketchup ...
In the same way, with the choice of a name: try to ensure that the name, middle name, and patronymic are in harmony with each other, and do not look like an inappropriate spot on your blouse.
Baby Naming Tips - Sixth mistake: Do not chase fashion
If you want your child’s name to always sound modern, then you should not focus on fashion. Remember, nothing passes as fast as fashion, but a person’s name remains for life.
Believe me, such familiar names as Alexander, Mikhail, Anastasia, Natalya, Olga will sound modern and beautiful even after a hundred years, while the fashionable name of Snezhann in the recent past does not look like that today.
Baby Naming Tips - Seventh mistake: A name is not just a word!
Many believe that the main thing in the name is harmony and the absence of negative associations. In fact, this is far from all. A name is what a person identifies with himself. It is a sound expression of our “I,” and people are especially partial to themselves. That which often seems to be an insignificant trifle to others, the bearer of the name itself can perceive the same event with particular acuity because of the association of the meaning of his name with the occurrence of that event.
This also applies to the sound of the name. Each name has its own melody. Listen to how different the names Peter and Innocent sound. The first contains a powerful charge of composure and punching perseverance, while the second, if you have a musical ear, you can easily catch a subtle artistic note.
A child will identify with itself the melody, the music of one’s own name, from a young age. Don’t you think that the nature of this melody will affect the character of your child?
Guide to Choosing the Perfect Baby Name
1. If you already have options for a name for the child, but you have not yet decided which one to dwell on, first try these names not on your baby but on some stranger. In the end, for the majority of those around you, your child will also be an outsider. Listen carefully, would you like a stranger with that name? Does the selected name cause any ambiguous emotions or associations?
2. Ask a stranger to say your chosen name out loud. Evaluate how this name will sound in the lips of others. Something like this will be addressed to your child on the street, at school and at work. If it seems to you that strangers pronounce the name of your child somehow wrongly, then your choice of name is most likely wrong. Believe me, no stranger will pronounce the name of your child with the same love, diligence, and tenderness as you do.
3. Remember the famous people, acquaintances or relatives with the same name that you would like to give your child. Think about their strengths and weaknesses, weigh how well these people have developed their lives. This DOES NOT MEAN that if you give your child the same name, he will repeat the fate of these people (the laws of psychology are more subtle), however, such an analysis can give some idea of the general direction in which the character of your baby will develop.
4. Evaluate how the chosen name is combined with the middle name. If this combination disturbs the ear, it would be better to choose a different name.
5. Before making your final choice, think about how you want to see your child. If you want to provide him with a calm, quiet life, then avoid both too rare and too banal names. Both will cause discomfort in the child.
6. Do not forget that rare or overly beautiful names inevitably attract too much attention, which can be very difficult to handle. Too widespread, banal names, on the contrary, constricts pride. Each person wants to feel their uniqueness and individuality, and a commonplace name contradicts this.
7. If you want to teach your child from an early age to stand up for himself and his interests, then on the contrary, avoid convenient names. If the name will cause some discomforting feelings in the child, then it may become an incentive that will force him to prove to others his importance. In a similar way, a man who worried all his life because of his short stature, once managed to become emperor and went down in history under the name Napoleon. However, one should not forget about the sense of proportion.
8. And finally, remember that in the world there are few very negative or, on the contrary, absolutely successful names. Many of the mistakes in choosing a name can be completely corrected by proper education of parents in choosing the right name for their children.
rachel frampton
I'm going to give birth to a baby boy next month, and I haven't decided what I should name him. I'll keep in mind not to make the name too unique, so it wouldn't attract too much attention, which then may cause distress to my child. I just hope that there'll be a baby name research tool online that I can check out for ideas.