Girls names - Things to consider when naming your daughter
Whenever parents find out they are expecting a baby, one of the fun things to do is to choose a name. Choosing a name for your child may be an easy or hard task. You may already have a few girls names and boys names picked out. Some people want a popular name; others want a unique name that isn’t commonly heard. Some people make their name choices public knowledge; others choose to keep it to themselves.
Sometimes it is hard to agree on a name. Girls names were harder for my husband and me to decide on than boys. We had two boy names picked out before we even had children. The girls names, on the other hand, were a different story. The girls names I liked, he didn’t like, and vice versa. When considering a name for your baby girls, consider several factors:
- Do you prefer a popular name or a more unusual or unique name? The most popular girls names in 2005 were, in order, Emma, Emily, Madison, Kaitlyn, and Sophia. The popular girls names list has changed much more than the boys list in the last several years.
- Consider spellings of your name choices. If it is difficult to spell or if the spelling is a variation from the most common spelling, this might be difficult for others to remember and may cause confusion for your child.
- If you choose an unusual name, be sure that it isn’t too unusual that your daughter will be teased about it. This is the name she will have to live with for the rest of her life!
- You may want to choose girls names based on your parents, other family ties or your ethnic background. Perhaps you are Irish and would like to choose a name that reflects your ethnicity. I chose my daughter’s middle name, Elizabeth, because it was my grandmother’s middle name.
-Consider the meaning and origins of the girls names you are considering. My husband and made our final decision on our first daughters name by the meaning of one of our choices. You can find the meanings of names on websites and in baby name books.
-Say the girls names—first, middle, and last—that you like and write them down on paper. Listen to how it sounds. Does it flow together or not sound quite right?
-Some common names today, such as Dakota and Payton can be used for a girl or boy. Consider that there could be some confusion as to her gender as she enters school.
-Look at the initials of the girls names you like. Make sure they don’t spell out offending or critical words such as “ASS” or “FAT”. This could be cause for teasing and embarrassment as your daughter grows.
-When choosing a girls name that can be shortened to something else, such as Victoria, consider whether or not you like the nicknames that go with it (in this case, Vicki or Tori). If you don’t prefer the shortened versions, you may want to steer clear of these names because someone, somewhere will shorten it, whether you or your daughter wants it to be or not.
-Sometimes you may not decide until the day your baby is born. You may decide that the girls names you’ve chosen just don’t fit her look. Be sure to take your baby names book with girls names and boys names with you to the hospital.