A simple guide
How to choose a baby name
How to pick a baby name comes down to a few tests you can do in a week. You are not hunting for a perfect meaning. You are choosing a word a person will hear every day, in a classroom, on a form, and next to your surname.
Start with a feeling, not a ranking
Say what you want the name to do. Short. Calm. Strong. Easy in two languages. Tied to a grandparent. Write that down before you open a list, or the most popular name on the page will choose you.
Meaning can point you at a letter or a style. It should not win by itself. A beautiful meaning that nobody can pronounce becomes a correction the child has to make forever.
Say the whole name
Put the first name, any middle name, and the surname in one sentence. Call it across a noisy room. Leave a voicemail. If you wince, or if you have to slow down so it does not blur into the surname, drop it.
Then check three small things. The initials, written as a monogram. The nickname strangers will invent if you do not choose one. The spelling, after you say it once to someone who has not seen it. If they write a different name, you will be spelling it at every desk for years.
Match the places the name has to live
A name that is ordinary in one country can be rare, or hard to say, in another. If grandparents, school, or a second passport will use it, look at the names by country. You want a name both places can say without a lecture.
Popular, rare, or in between
Popular names are popular because they are easy. That is a real advantage. The cost is sharing a classroom with two or three of the same name. If you want that ease, start with boy names or girl names.
If you want fewer collisions, open unique boy names or unique girl names. Those lists put the less common names first. Rare is not the same as difficult. If a stranger cannot spell it after one hearing, it is still a hard name, even if nobody else has it.
When the sex is still open
You can keep two lists. You can also pick a name that already works either way. Those names are marked Boy or girl, and the full set is on gender neutral names. A name that fits both saves you from falling in love with one you cannot use.
Brothers, sisters, and the set
If you already have a child, say the names together. They do not need to match in style, and they should not rhyme so tightly that each one sounds like a joke about the other. Similar length is enough. A very grand name next to a very plain one is fine if you like both on their own.
Keep three, then wait a week
Cut the list to three. Use each one for a day or two: in a sentence, on a pretend school label, when you talk about the baby at home. The name you keep using without deciding to is the one to choose. The name you have to remind yourself to like is not.
Other people can tell you what they mishear. They cannot feel which name is yours. If you are stuck with too many options and no pull toward any of them, spin the random name generator and run the winner through the same tests. A spin is a way to start. The week of using the name is the decision.