Believe it or not, I had two inspirations for this article (no, I do not have kids).  For one, the summer tends to be the most “productive” month when it comes to producing future offspring in the U.S. and Canada.  Why summer? I haven’t the slightest clue, but I assume that it has something to do with the sun.  

Two, the other day I was having a discussion with a couple of friends over what they were going to name their soon-to-be-born baby.  Even though they had agreed on a name for the boy, I couldn’t help but think that there was a bit of indecisiveness on both of their parts.  Naming a baby is one of the biggest decisions that a couple will ever make.  After all, a baby’s name is something that they will carry with them for the rest of their lives.  Yet, as I have discovered, naming a future prodigy isn’t exactly the easiest thing in the world, especially when you have another opinion to heed.  Let’s find out what you can do to name your (future) baby without starting the next world war. 

Sources
When I was a youngster browsing through my parent’s (sparse) library of books, I noticed an encyclopedia of sorts that covered potential names for babies.  Most likely this is where my name came from and chances are that countless others have been named from one of these books.  So, just like your parents, a good starting place for naming your future baby is an encyclopedia of names that you can probably find in any book store.  Most of these books cover the meaning and origin of the plethora of names included. 

The next obvious source that our parents did not have is the Internet.  As we all know, the Internet has information on just about anything imaginable, including naming your expected baby.  You can easily finds sites dedicated to helping you choose a name or sites that are set up like the above-mentioned encyclopedia of names.  Furthermore, if you are trendy, there are sites dedicated to tracking the most popular names for a given year or decade. 

Another source for finding a name for your expected baby is your respective families.  Naming your baby after a family member has the potential to be a touching tribute to your loved ones and a reminder to the child where he or she came from.  Some names live on through countless generations and one of you may be interested in keeping the name alive.  If there aren’t any long standing names, you may have a favorite relative that you would like to include in the name, i.e.  a middle name.   

Finally, the most obvious sources are both you and your mate.  Chances are that both of you have heard a name down the line from any number of sources that you liked.  For example, if you are a highly religious couple it would be a good idea to start looking for names covered in the Bible.  Other examples include a favorite sports star’s first name, a favorite musician, a favorite author, and much more.  Essentially, the possibilities are limitless. 

To sum it all up, go wild with your sources, but be reasonable (the child will have to make it through high school, after all.)