I am just now getting to the stage in life where some of my friends are having their first children. Among conversations of giving birth and finding out the gender, there has been a lot of discussion about names. This summer, while staying in Spain with Kelly and Rich, we were also there for a few days with their friends, Chris, Dorothy and their daughter Charlotte. Chris had some very specific rules for naming their child and I actually thought some of them were pretty good. So for all you expectant parents out there -- here is a little food for thought.
1. You child's name should not be in the top 10 of the Most Popular Names for That Year. This is because growing up with a name like Chris, throughout his life he was always identified as Chris T. On really bad days he was Chris Th.
2. However, you child's name should at least be in the top 100--meaning that is should be a name people have at least heard of.
3. You must think of every single possible way other children can make fun of the name, because they will. Don't name your child Dick, Peter, Adrian, Madonna or any other name from a popular movie.
4. Don't try to do some crazy spelling of a normal name because throughout life the child will always either have a misspelled name, or will always be spelling their name for everyone. There are some great examples on this website. My favorite are Karrylline and Ginapher.
5. Put whatever name you want your child to be called as their first name, not their middle name. Otherwise, every single year they are in school (hopefully that will be at least 17 years) they will have to correct the teacher.
6. Even if you want your child to go by the name you give them, other children will most likely give them a nickname, so be sure the nickname goes with your last name. The most famous case of this rule is ole' Benjamin Dover, also known as Ben Dover.
7. Make sure the first name flows with your last name, however make sure it doesn't flow too much--like my first-grade classmate Andrew Andrews. Or better yet, my sister's high school classmate Richard Richardson, also known as Dick Dick.
8. Think of how your children's initials will work out. No one wants to be Ann Sarah Spencer.
9. Don't have all of your children's names starting with the same letter -- especially when you have 16 of them.
2 comments:
Number 5 should be Rule Number 1! Make sure you call them by their first name. In our age of First Name, Middle Initial it is a constant problem to answer "What is your name?". Fred
I love this! I agree with all the rules - Shawn & I talk about this stuff. I have a thing about naming my child exactly what I want them to be called - I don't want to name them Jennifer for them to be called Jenny or Elizabeth and be called Beth - it's just a thing I have! Kar for Karen is fine, just not a hole different name.
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