Of all the decisions you’ll make as parents-to-be, choosing a name for your baby can be among the most challenging. While some couples make it easy by using the same first name for generation after generation, others may prefer to choose from the thousands of unique, classic, or downright trendy names. If you find yourself paralyzed by indecision and are finding you can’t name your baby no matter how hard you try, remember that this should be an enjoyable process — not an agonizing one.
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Pro tip: Name your baby but keep it to yourself
While you may be tempted to ask your friends and family for advice, don’t. Too many suggestions can fuel your level of indecisiveness — especially if your parents or in-laws tell you they hate your choice or if they have clearly identified the person after whom they expect their grandchild to be named. Even if you’re not 100 percent sure of your decision until you must provide your baby’s name to obtain a birth certificate, keep the chosen name to yourselves until you’ve made the name official.
Another reason to keep the chosen name to yourself: Someone else might decide they love that unique name just as much as you do, and may decide to give it to their baby. Yes, along with all the other stressors of pregnancy, you can add name-thievery to your list.
“Years before my wife and I were pregnant, I shared the name we loved with the new couple who had moved in downstairs,” Bethany Cook, a Chicago-based clinical psychologist, told VeryWell Family. “A year later we saw the same name on a ‘meet the newest member of the family’ email.”
Even if it’s not intentional, name-stealing does happen. So it’s best to keep that name under wraps. “If you have a name that’s really special to you, hedge your bets and don’t share it ― because someone is going to hear it and even subconsciously save it,” etiquette expert Diane Gottsman told HuffPost. “We oftentimes don’t even remember where we heard something or got an idea, and then it becomes part of our everyday thinking. You’re not keeping it from someone because you don’t trust them. But you’re protecting something near and dear to you.”
Then again, you could always leak “Barleyhauler” to your pregnant frenemy and see what happens.
