"An insane amount of things go into getting your house/life/mind ready for having a baby—the nursery needs to be decorated, the clothes need to be washed and put away, the mommy-and-me groups need to be signed up for. But perhaps the most important choice of those nine months is… what are you going to name this little life? It’s a huge responsibility, when you think about it, giving your child the name that will last a lifetime.
I’m sure many of us have asked our own parents how they chose our name, and so we asked you the same thing: how did you come up with your child’s name? We loved reading the sentimental, serious, and sometimes silly reasons you chose to name your child what you did. Read on to hear how 18 moms picked just the perfect name for their baby—their process might spark inspiration for you, too!
I used a family name…
“We chose two family names, James (my grandfather’s name) and Carter (my maiden name).” —Sarah D.
“My son’s name is my maiden name: Merrill! Boy names are hard, and our favorite name had become too popular amongst people we knew who’d had kids—so we went back to the drawing board. And now I can’t imagine him as anything else!” —Kelly C.
“My husband has the same initials as his father and great grandfather. We wanted to keep that tradition going, so we were constantly on the lookout for names that started with ‘C’ and weren’t overly-common. I liked the idea that the initials carried some tradition, but he got his own name. We landed on Cyrus after reading it in the Bible and it just felt good. His middle name is the same as his great great grandfather on my husband’s side.” —Lauren S.
I wanted to choose something from another culture…
“For my son’s first name, we wanted an English name that wasn’t super common here in China (there are so many Annas and Mikes), but also one that people wouldn’t butcher trying to say in their second language, so a lot of names were out based on the sounds and letter combinations in them. And his middle names are his Chinese name, which my husband chose based on their meanings.” —Kelly S.
“I wanted Lilly for my daughter, but my husband wanted something more Scandinavian since he is Danish. We chose Klara because it means ‘clear and bright.’ Klara Lilly certainly is bright and smiles so much!” —@momnotebook
I used an app for baby names (yes, it’s a thing!)…
“With our first baby, we knew what name we wanted for either gender. For our second child, we used the Babyname app. Then, we found out the name we chose was also a family name!” —Meg W.
A powerful memory helped me pick my baby’s name…
“I was five months pregnant and listening to one of my favorite albums. As I was singing along there was a song that mentioned what would be my son’s name!” —@brvmrsk
“Our first daughter, Annabelle, was named after an island (Sanibel) near where we got married. I always knew my firstborn daughter’s middle name would be Jean, same as my middle name, a strong family name. Our second daughter will also have a fun story. The name is still a secret, but she will be named after a character in a movie we saw—the first movie our firstborn (who’s now 6 years old) saw in theaters. My husband also immediately loved it, and so does Annabelle! The middle name also is a family name.” —Tina H.
“I came up with our baby’s name by using our best memories from vacation in Italy! Our most memorable day was strolling along the Tiber River drinking wine, so our son’s name is Luca River.” —@tompkat_
“During our struggles with infertility, the song ‘I See the Light’ from Tangled became a special song for me and my husband. From there, we knew Flynn—a character from the movie—was the perfect name for our son.” —Kristina M.
I just loved the name…
“My partner and I were on vacation and got introduced to a friend’s friend. We shook his hand and looked at one another and said, ‘That’s a great name.’ It was five years before we had our first son.” —Olivia T.
“My husband is a teacher, so a lot of the names I liked he vetoed—but we agreed on Owen! And then my son got to pick between Logan and Colin for our second son.” —Kathy N.
“We struggled with a name for a long time. Every time we would bring up names to friends or family we would get the crooked-faced ‘Really?’ That was super annoying! We decided to stop telling people until after my son was born. We read something that said if you have a one-syllable last name you should go for a three-syllable first name. That narrowed it down for us. We also wanted something unique and pretty, but not so unique that people wouldn’t still be familiar with it. We also wanted to meet him first to make sure it fit. We chose Julian.” —Emmy C.
“My husband and I had our boys’ name picked out since we were dating and loved it. The typical, ‘If we ever got married and had kids, what would we call them?’ We would be on the edge of our seats every time someone in our circle had a baby boy hoping they wouldn’t use the name before we could. When we found out I was pregnant, I really wanted a boy so we could finally use the name. Luckily, it was, and baby Theodore was born about four years after we chose the name. We like to say we always knew he was coming.” —Megan C.
“My daughter’s name is Scarlett. We wanted something traditional, but something all the other girls in her class wouldn’t have (I’m a teacher so I think about these things.) So I went on the Social Security website and looked up popular names by decade. We found her name on the 1930s list!” —Maddie R.
The baby weighed in (in their own way!)…
“We found it important for our children’s names to have a significant meaning and we wanted something that was different, but also not too far outside the box. We also decided not to name our children until they were born and we could see/meet them. We compiled a short list of favorites and took them along with us to the hospital. With our first, we knew immediately. But with our second, we tried calling him our top two choices, and when he responded to one by turning his head and opening his eyes wide we knew it was the right fit!” —Emily M.
“We narrowed our list down to two names and asked her when she was born. Her eyelashes fluttered to the second name and that was our go ahead!” —Katie R.
“My husband and I went back and forth on names while I was pregnant, but finally settled on a favorite in the last few weeks before our son was born. We’d just say names out loud and brainstorm on car rides, then I’d write down contenders in my notes app. We actually ended up not choosing our top pick because our son just didn’t fit that name! Seeing him completely changed our minds.” —Molly M.
