Tips & Suggestions

What’s in a name?
Despite the millions of births each year in Western countries 90 percent of all first names are from a list of only 175 girls’ names and 125 boys’ names.  In the 18^th century half of all men were called John, Thomas or William and about half of all women were called Anne, Elizabeth or Mary.

In tribal societies naming of the new baby was given significant importance.  It was the responsibility of the most spiritually aware person of the tribe – the priest or chieftain.  Relics of this tradition remain in the Christian baptism service.

How do you think your childhood experiences would have gone if had a name like May Day, John Wilfail, Annette Curtain, Lo Fat or Ima Hog.  On the other end of the scale are average names like Bill Smith, Jane Jones or John Brown.

Romeo asked ‘What’s in a name? …. ‘that which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet’.  ‘Rose’ comes from the same root as the boys name Ross – ‘Hros which means ‘Horse’.  Not many parents would want to call their new daughter ‘Horse’.

A Rose by any other name is a Horse.  So what is in a name? A lot!

Choosing the right name for your new baby is very important.  But how do you choose a meaningful name?

Step 1
Find or decide on a quality or thing you like.  It can be a place, flower or plant, famous person, a name from one of Shakespeare’s plays or a sports person.  To help you find a name in one of these categories go look in the search facilities - >Click here.

Step 2
Once you find a name or names you like and are not totally sure you want to use one of those names then play with the name.  Combine them, change the spelling or shorten them.  There are no real defined rules.  See some of the sections below as your guide.

Boys Names
Names with a single syllable hard short vowel sound tend to sound masculine, so they are more suitable as boys name rather than a girls name.  Such as John, Ron, Carl and Jack.  However single syllable names with longer soft vowel sounds can sound feminine.  Such as Jane, Joan and May.

Girls Names
There are specific endings in girls’ names that are particularly feminine. Endings such as-

	- belle Comes from French and has an association to ‘attractive woman’.  Examples are Isabelle, Arabelle and Annabelle. - elle Also come from French meaning ‘woman’.  Examples include Rochelle, Gabrielle and Janelle. - ette Examples are Yvette, Bernadette, and Claudette - leen - lene - lyn Examples are Pauleen, Kaylene, Marlene, Roslyn and Joscelyn - a The ‘a’ ending comes from Latin.  Examples are Claudia, Renata, Diana and Georgina.

The ‘a’ ending can be combined with any of the above endings to make a new or unique name.  Examples are Yvetta, Bernedetta or Gabriella.

Make a Unique Name
Creating a new name is not difficult.  One tip though is to avoid creating a long first name if your family name is also long.

So how do you create a unique name? The easiest way is to pick a name you like and change the spelling and/or the pronunciation.  Some examples-

	y – i Wendy May - - Wendi Mai i – y Sonia Alice - - Sonya Alyce e – y Darren Allen - - Darryn Allyn ia – ja Tania Sonia - - Tanja Sonja s – z Sara Sandra - - Zara Zandra

Another method of creating a unique name is but shortening multiple syllable names.  Examples are-

	Desdemona Desde, Esde and Esede. Natalie Nata, Tali, and Atalia.

Offcourse the opposite can apply.  Elongating or combining parts of two names will give you a unique name.  Some examples-

	Adora and Belle Adorabelle Jo and Marlene Jolene Kay and Lana Kalana

Reverse Syllables
Reversing syllables to create a new name has been in practice for centuries.  An example of reversing syllables is Dorothea and Theadora.  Both words originate in Greece.  Doron means gift and Theos meaning God.  Other examples are-

	Diamond - Mondia Abraham - Hambra Carissa - Issacar Escalus - Lusesca

As you can see it is not difficult to create your own unique name.

How Do You Know the Name You have Chosen is OK?
Some people will find a name and they know instinctively is the perfect name.  Others will feel the need to check to make sure and that is perfectly OK.  So how do you check? The sad news is there is no real way.  Deciding on the right name is very much a matter of your own feelings.  Family and friends can be of some help, but also they can be a hindrance.  Particularly if they have a whole set of different suggestions of their own.

Also see the Top Ten Hints on naming your baby >Click here