Choosing a baby name can be complicated. Where do you even begin?
Do you write a long list, or wait until they’re born and hope you’ll just know? Are there family traditions you have to stick to? And what if you and your partner can’t agree on a name?
Over 62,000 different baby names are ed in the UK every year. With so much choice, it can be hard to know where to start…
So we asked you for the inspiration behind your little one’s name.
Letting tradition decide your baby's name
“My son is half Ghanaian and it’s tradition to be named depending on the day of the week a baby is born,” explains Ali, mum of Kit Kojo. “There are seven names for boys and seven for girls.”
“Kojo was my favourite of the names, which was the silver lining to my six-day labour!”
And his first name was a no-brainer for Ali: “I’ve liked every Kit I’ve ever met, so it was easy to decide that. But if he had been born on a Thursday, he would have been Kit Yaw and that did not sound right to me! So we also chose Ruben as a back-up.”
Aarohi followed the Hindu tradition of astrology when naming her twins, Rehansh and Reyansh. Their names are based on their moon sign, called Rashi, that relates to position of the moon when they were born.
"Their zodiac sign is called ‘Tula’ as per indian vedic astrology," she explains. "Based on that, you’re given certain letters to inspire their name – we had three to choose from."
“I was always hoping that we'd get a zodiac sign with good letters. Otherwise, it would have been so difficult to find two good names.”
We followed tradition and held our naming ceremony on the sixth day after birth, so we really didn’t have much time to choose.
“We loved the meaning of the names and they were unique too. ‘Ansh’ means ‘part of’. So their names mean ‘part of the sun’ but also ‘part of the Hindu god, Lord Vishnu’.”
“In our family, we want to honour our culture and basing our kids' names on Indian Vedic astrology is one way to show respect. And with fewer letters to choose from, at least it didn’t take us as long to decide on their names.”
Picking a fame name for your baby
In 2018, the TV drama Peaky Blinders inspired some of the most popular baby names in the UK, such as Arthur and Ada. And this isn’t the only example of popular culture influencing baby names.
When choosing her baby’s name, Sam looked to her favourite story for inspiration. “William was conceived after over five years of trying. He changed my stars, so it’s a nod to William Thatcher in A Knight’s Tale.”
And she looked to the movies when naming her second child too.
“Finley Jack was named by his big brother,” she explains. “He’s named after the Disney characters Finn McMissile, from Cars 2 and Baby Jack-Jack in The Incredibles.”
For Melissa, it was music that played an unexpected role when naming her son.
“I couldn’t agree on a boy's name with my son's father,” she says. “Then one night I was sitting at home, watching TV and a One Direction song came on. I decided to call him Harry after Harry Styles.”
It was like a lightbulb moment you see in the films, as if it was always supposed to be his name.
Elise, on the other hand, left it up to her bump to decide.
“I was pregnant when the film Bohemian Rhapsody was in cinemas, so my partner and I started listening to Queen. One day we were listening to Radio Ga Ga and the baby kicked me in time with the claps. From then on, it always felt like he was dancing inside me whenever Queen came on. I took it as a sign and called him Freddie.”
Your bump will start to hear sounds from the outside world after about 18 weeks and listening to music during pregnancy is a great way to help you bond with your baby. But is Freddie still a Queen fan now?
“He’s definitely living up to his name,” says Elise. “He’s always wiggling his bum and he still likes dancing to Queen.”
Keeping baby names in the family
When Serena became pregnant, her family in Italy were a source of comfort and inspiration.
“My first trimester was horrible. I was always sick, I had mood swings and felt really lonely. I was missing my family for the first time in nine years of living abroad.”
“Thinking about my grandma, who ed away before I gave birth, helped me get through those first few months. I decided to name my baby after her. She was Liliana, so I decided to make it a bit more English with Lily-Ann.”
My grandma was a strong woman and I hope my daughter will be one too.
Naming your little one after family or close friends is not uncommon. It’s a great way to help others bond with your baby. But what if your family has a naming tradition you don’t want to follow?
“My husband wanted to call our baby John,” says Kirsty, mum of Hamish. “It’s a tradition in his family that the first born son is called John. It dates back to at least his great-grandfather. But I didn’t want to have two Johns in the house and was adamant that I wanted our son to have his own name.”
“I think it’s important that my son feels like he has his own identity. We ended up compromising and used John as a middle name.”
Kirsty and her partner also chose a second middle name, Patrick.
“Patrick is my uncle, who died three months before Hamish was born. We spent a lot of time with him in the last few months of his life and decided to add Patrick as a middle name to him.”
For Kaylee, naming her baby after a much-loved relative meant a lot to her and her mum: “I never met my grandad, Edgar, but my mum always talked about him and how much he would have loved us. So for me, it just felt right.”
Finding a baby name that fits
However you decide on a name, there’s no better feeling than finding one that simply fits.
“Our littlest is called Ezekiel (Zeke), which means ‘God will strengthen’.” Jonny and Emma decided on this name during their pregnancy, after they were told their little one’s chances of survival were slim.
“We didn’t know the meaning at first, we just really liked the name. But then, when we found out what it meant, it felt right.”
It felt significant to name him Ezekiel, God will strengthen, as that’s what we wanted to believe and repeat to him every day.
“Against all odds, he made it to 36 weeks in the womb and then survived major surgery when he was one day old. Zeke is now 5 months and continues to fight, thrive and live up to his name.”
Baby name inspiration
- Check out the ONS website to find out the top 100 baby names in the UK.
