How to choose a name for your baby
Responsibilities for parents begin even before conception, with the choice to adopt a healthy lifestyle that decreases the chances of incurring pregnancy complications.
During the gestation, self-care continues and one of the first “tasks” that involve both the mother and the future father is the choice of the name . How to call your own child? How to choose the name? Will he like it? How will it fit into his personality?
It’s not a trivial task also because the name is something that once assigned you never change and remains as a sort of identifier for life. The name is associated with an image and then with a personality. We do this every time we think of a person.
in our case I remember that we started thinking about the name at the beginning of the second quarter but without pressure. From the morphology onwards, when we had the certainty of the sex, I needed to call him by his own name, and no longer with “bean” or similar nicknames.
The name we give to our child is one of the first gifts we give him. And we wish it was perfect.
I remember having almost consumed the pages of the dictionary where all the male and female names were collected . We had already excluded foreign names at the start and therefore the range was narrower than a cauldron with all international names.
We had also consulted the list of the most common names in Italy , at the beginning with the idea of not falling among the most common, with Veronica we succeeded, with Francesco definitely not 🙂
Some tips to make your choice:
The sound: pronounce the name you want to choose aloud, and repeat it several times. Is it difficult to pronounce? What effect does it have on you when you hear it? Does it seem suitable for a child and also for a future adult? Imagine calling him when he’s little or when he’s big. It will help you make the right choice
Uniqueness of the name : do you want to opt for a completely different name from the usual ones? That he doesn’t have anyone you know? If you find one, the name you have chosen will certainly be a surprise for everyone, and being unique or original, they will certainly not have a hard time remembering it. However, remember that the other points must also apply 🙂 I know children with unpronounceable names who probably learn to say when they are at least 6 years old, or so particular that they probably become more of a burden than a touch of originality.
Meaning of the name: The name you have chosen for the child must have a meaning. When we chose the name, we read descriptions, origins and meanings, even a little hoping that those meanings could accompany his future personality.
Match with last name. When you choose the name, pronounce it together with the surname and evaluate the combination. Very often the name is accompanied by the surname, not only in signatures or documents but also in speech, at school, in the workplace. So try that the whole is pleasant to pronounce. Length can also be important. For example, if the surname is 11 characters (as in my case) do not choose an equally long name that every time he has to sign in full or fill in data he will never finish typing.
Influence of relatives and friends: in many families even now we are led to choose between the names of grandparents or distant relatives. If it’s something you don’t like and you can avoid it, don’t be influenced and choose freely. For example, I have discarded all the names of family members, always for the sake of uniqueness.
Other factors – When you choose the name you can also decide to associate a second one, to complete it for example, or because you can’t agree or because overall it sounds better or has more meanings. Many nouns in common speech are abbreviated. For example, Francesco is often abbreviated to Franci, Tommaso to Tommy…and so on. If I may give you some advice, don’t give the shortened name as the official name. Always give the full name, then call it with an abbreviation as much as you like, but your child deserves a real name 🙂
Kathryn Barlow is an OB/GYN doctor, which is the medical specialty that deals with the care of women's reproductive health, including pregnancy and childbirth.
Obstetricians provide care to women during pregnancy, labor, and delivery, while gynecologists focus on the health of the female reproductive system, including the ovaries, uterus, vagina, and breasts. OB/GYN doctors are trained to provide medical and surgical care for a wide range of conditions related to women's reproductive health.