Choosing a Baby Name A name is one of the most precious things you will give to your baby. Sociologists, baby experts and teachers agree that your child’s name impacts on his/her personality, baby’s ability to interact with his/her peers and how he/she is seen by total strangers. Initials Obvious really, except some people miss this one. Spell out the initials of the first, middle and last names to see if that makes a word. Meaning The meaning of any name can be found on this websitet. If you can’t decide between two or more names, it may be the meanings of the name that may be the deciding factor. Uniqueness It seems that the current fashion is to give baby an unusual name, or a traditional name with a different spelling I can remember going to school with a Peta and a Aimee, although I think they may have changed these themselves when going to school because it sounded different. We are going through this process at the minute and a girls name we like alot is Lola, although we think it may be just a little bit out there for us. Sound and Compatibility Before you finally decide on a name, it is recommended that you go into the garden and shout the name five times to see how it sounds! A bit drastic maybe but it is important to ensure the name sounds right. General advice is to avoid a name that ends in a vowel if the last name begins in a vowel. Another piece of advice is that if your surname is long, you should choose a short first name, or vice versa. All four names on our shortlist so far are short words as our surname is very long!