Six Baby Naming Rules to Consider
Carrying pregnancy to nine months is usually an enjoyable yet tiresome experience for most moms. The itinerary of a pregnant woman is filled with many tiny details about what to do and what not to do; all for the welfare of the baby. From the moment the doctor pronounces a woman pregnant, she begins operating under certain rules. Many moms would want to believe that most of these rules end at delivery. However, there is one very important set of rules that the mothers should observe. This is the baby naming rules. These rules would help the new mom come up with the appropriate and meaningful names. The essence of these rules is to protect the moms from future repercussions whereby the baby ends up hating his or her name and blaming it on the mother. The naming rules help the mothers pick out names that they like and which the babies would be proud of when they grow up. Here are the dos and don'ts of naming.
Rule number one; do not name your baby after food unless they are common names that have been in use for centuries. Most moms go for names that have personal meanings to them. For the food lovers, they will not think twice about naming their kids after food variety that they really like. It is quite unfair to call you baby Tuna, spaghetti, Broccoli, or Apple simply because you like any of these food varieties. There is an exception to this rule though, you can pick from among the popular food names. Here is the list of popular first names that are inspired by food: Kale, Peaches, Maple, Ginger, and Basil among others. It is easy to use these names because they have been in use for many generations that they have become part of the list of ordinary names. Even so, the use of any of these names should have some meaning to the mother.
The second rule is to avoid the names that people tend to hate. As a new mom, you may like a name so much but that does not give you the liberty to use it on your child. Some names have very negative historical backgrounds. Hence, they strike people as odd whenever they are used to refer to regular people. For example, Christians have blacklisted certain names owing to the stories behind the personalities that bore these names. Names such as Gomer, Delilah, and Jezebel are not very common among the Christians because the characters that used these names were deemed wicked. Imagine yourself as a Christian or a religious person giving your baby one of the most hated names in the Bible. The same can be said of the most hated Muslim, Hindu, and Hebrew religious names. One thing is certain, when this baby grows up and hears the stories behind this name, she will hate you for this decision. Moreover, the name might adversely affect her self-confidence because she will live hating her identity. To avoid this, as a mother you should undertake extensive research on names to ensure that you do not use one of the hated names on your child.
Rule number three; avoid names with over one thousand spellings. These names will often become a problem for the child in school and even later in employment. This is because people will be more likely to misspell this name thus missing on the real identity of your baby. An example of such a name is Caitlin whose other spellings can be Caitlyn, Catelyn, and Kaitlyn. I mean this name is bad for your baby; rather I am saying that if you have an option for choosing another name whose meaning is closer to the meaning that you seek in this name, you should go for it. The problem with these kinds of names is that as a parent, you will always have to spell out the name for others. The same will go for the child.
Rule number four; play rhyme games with the names before you finally pick the name for your baby. This rule might sound silly but it will be good for your baby's self-esteem in the future. For example, when you have a name Nelly for your baby, this boy might have problems in the playground when playing rhymes with the others. A rhyme like 'smelly Nelly' might sound good for the years of the little ones; however, it hurts the confidence of your baby. Actually, it might lead to a fight between your child and another when the other uses this rhyme to taunt him. He might also develop ideas in his head that he is not good enough. This would further make him an easy target for the bullies. If this bullying goes on unnoticed for some time, the child will slip into nervousness, anxiety, and depression. Therefore, this name might sound sweet but you would rather avoid it for the sake of psychological welfare of your baby.
Rule number five; keep away from offensive names. Avoid names that remind other people of some painful experiences in history. In addition, avoid the obscene or improper names. Names such as Hitler, Adolf, and Stalin remind the world of a dark history that people would want to put behind them. The offensive or inappropriate names include Penny, Desire, Pleasure, among others. For example, the name Pleasure is just alright but it can be used out of context hence leading to humiliation for the name bearer.
Rule number six; do not be overzealous over uniqueness of the baby names. It is good to create a unique name for the baby. Nevertheless, do not make this process so complicated that the final name loses meaning and becomes even more difficult to pronounce. Some moms come up with baby names by combining more than one names. A name like Jolisa comes from John and Lisa whereby John belongs to the father and Lisa the mother. However this name does not have any profound meaning neither is it cute.
