One of the services I offer is a Baby Concierge Program. Basically I help the mother physically and mentally get prepared for a baby. So I often help put together the gift registries, help with the bubs room, organise pregnancy photo shoots, pack a hospital bag for them and during this time together will let them pick my brain as a mother, a sleep consultant, a teacher and a doula. I started to offer this service because for some people they can ask their girlfriends or sisters but I remember 4 years ago feeling quite confused because I was the first of my friends to have a baby and didn’t have anyone to really ask.I have noticed that a common question that comes up is what is the worst name for sleeping babies? Or to put it better, which names am I most commonly seeing as bad sleepers. I always try them to direct them away from this – it’s silly! There’s no proof in the pudding at all. Yes there are names that I’m seeing pop up a lot but that probably means they are the common trending names of the moment.
I thought I would write a blog about it just so I can shut this question down once and for all and also because I have this weird obsession with discussing baby names. I know I am not unique in this conversation. I have a few friends that I know also love talking about it and often as soon as a baby is born with a different/plain/boring/weird name – we get straight on the phone and will chat about it. (Ahem Vanessa and Lauren!).
Now I am going to put a disclaimer on this blog: If you take things personally – stop reading. Names are a really REALLY personal thing. What one person likes, one person will really dislike and sometimes you don’t even know why you feel that way. Either way, every bubba will grow into their names and it always ends up being absolutely beautiful and it seems like it was picked especially for them.
I did annoy my husband when working out names – I have lots of rules… The names have to go with each other but can’t be alike. I don’t like alliteration and nothing can rhyme. I went through any nickname possible and made sure there wasn’t anything they could be teased about, they had to be spelt how they sounded to avoid confusion, no silent letters because they are just pointless, it had to have meaning. But it had to have a nice meaning. If there was a story in the bible about them it had to be a great story where they saved the universe or the likes. They had to be unusual. But not too unusual. I had to make sure that no one in history had done anything terrible if they had that name.
(Feel sorry for hubby….?)
The next set of rules I didn’t even share with my husband but they always played in my head. No names that are big celebrities of the time. Because I know celebs, and soon enough they will be stealing from shops or in rehab and then who wants the same name as them! No characters of any kind (sorry if you have an Elsa or an Anna) because they will want to dress like them forever. No names from a song – I loved (and still do) the name Sadie. But any time I mentioned Sadie was on the list, I would get comments about her being a cleaning lady. I also didn’t want any gems, spices, botanicals or colours. It also had to look nice on paper and couldn’t have too many syllables. So yes I would have to clap every single name out.
Lastly, think ahead. If you plan on having more children then think carefully about your name choice and if you want to go with a theme. Whilst Keeping up with the Kardashians is my favourite show ever, seriously..? So many K names? Or maybe the Duggards should have thought about the fact that they were going to have 19 children and it would be hard to think of so many names with the letter J.
So my sweet girls, Rafaella Noa and Mikah Jewel, if you ever get eyebrow raises when you say your names, or questions on how its pronounced and you silently curse your parents for choosing these names, know that we didn’t come to these decisions lightly. Thank goodness a pregnancy is 9 months – we need all that time to find names that can’t be vetoed off because of my rules!
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