Whether we’re pregnant, trying to get pregnant or simply have a lot of extra time on the internet, plenty of women can spend hours searching for the right baby name. We read lists of the most popular, favorite up-and-coming, celebrity-inspired and literary-inspired (by which I’m always disappointed). From there, we move to the more obscure collections – soap opera names, names from musicals or Gilligan’s Island. We search the names of every ethnicity we might possibly have a connection to. My cousin’s husband is from Moscow, so a Russian name might work. A hundred years ago, someone in my family came over from Croatia, maybe I should look at Slavic names? No, I don’t know how to pronounce them, because I’ve never even heard the language spoken, but there’s history there.
If you’re actually pregnant, this process is extremely stressful. Finding the right baby name is difficult. Getting the father of your child to agree with you is even harder. Thinking of all the possible nicknames your child can get and reconciling with them is the hardest of all. More »