Despite the fact that choosing baby names can be exciting project, and one to which most pregnant women give much thought during their pregnancy, if the woman is in a multi-cultural family, then the choice of baby name takes on a life of its own. Once the initial joy of consulting a book of possibilities wears off, dread and fear of never finding something that will make all family members happy takes over! Although the choice of a baby name does fall to the parents, there are a number of additional problems that can fall on a family which has more than one nationality to consider, and which are in addition to the pitfalls of choosing a name which none multi-cultural families need to avoid.
The first thing that must be thought about is the country in which the child will be raised. Baby names on the top 10 most popular names in the USA may not appear on a similar list in Europe or Asia. There are sometimes reasons for this, the most important of which is that the country will not have names on it which are difficult to pronounce for the people who live there. Not all countries who use the alphabet pronounce the letters of that alphabet in the same way; this means that the way you write the name can also decide how the baby name sounds when spoken by the people in the country in which you live. Some names fair better in translation around the world than others!
Some cultures have a need for baby names which have some form of religious significance, and this will greatly influence the opinions of some family members. Another factor will be a cultural trend towards always naming a child after a family member from a previous generation - a name passed down through hundreds of years. If you are a person who believes firmly in following traditions, then this probably won't be a problem, but if you have a preference for modern names, then this could create friction within the family that is still an issue when the baby graduates college! Even if the tradition within the culture/family is to give the same middle name to each child, this too will raise issues as the first name will have to be something that easily connects to this imposed second name.
When faced with a situation of needing to please everyone, including yourself, do your homework. Find baby names that are going to be acceptable to both respective families and cultures, and are ones which you can live with. If you feel that you don't really like any of them, check the family tree on each side and see if anyone did stray off the traditional path and pave the way for you to do the same. If this fails, see if you can reach a compromise where the baby will have the traditional first name, but a non-traditional middle one so that everyone can be happy about the baby name and look forward to greeting the baby when it arrives, this way the baby will have a right to choose which name to use when it becomes an adult.
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Picking the Perfect Name For Your Baby
One of the most important decisions you will make once you find you are pregnant is that of picking the perfect baby name. Everyone has their own idea of what a great name is, sometimes it is as simple as whatever is currently fashionable as per the top 10 names for the country in the year that the baby is born, sometimes it's a family name that honors a favorite relative, and sometimes it's just a name that the mother (or father) really likes.
The baby name chosen will occasionally carry certain cultural significance. This happens often in the case of popular baby names as they are fashionable for a certain period of time and then the trend changes and so you can put babies with those names into a certain decade. Television, and to a lesser extent movies, can influence these trends as certain television shows have characters with names which are "different" and which parents like so this is added to the list of potential baby names. There are exceptions to this however, as there are some baby names which are timeless and have been handed down generation to generation throughout the family.
Whether or not to choose the baby name before the baby is born is a matter for personal preference. There are parents who decide what their baby's name will be from the moment they have the pregnancy confirmed - and in some cases, they know what baby names they will choose before they are even pregnant! Then there are other parents who wait until the baby is born before naming it. Sometimes this is because they can't agree on a name, or because they haven't found one they like, or sometimes just because they want to wait to see how the baby looks before naming it.
Once the baby is born, there's still time to pick the perfect baby name for your baby. Even if the name was decided months before the birth, it's possible that having seen the baby, the name will change. When you see your baby for the first time, and hold it in your arms, you may decide that the name chosen doesn't seem to fit with the baby you are looking at. Maybe the baby has more delicate features than the robust name chosen suggests, or vice versa. It's also possible that there was someone instrumental in bringing the baby into the world that you want to honor by naming your baby after them - and this won't be known until after the birth occurs.
Take time to choose the perfect name for your baby, and don't be afraid to change your mind at the last minute if you feel it's not quite appropriate, after all the baby is going to wear that name a long time!
The baby name chosen will occasionally carry certain cultural significance. This happens often in the case of popular baby names as they are fashionable for a certain period of time and then the trend changes and so you can put babies with those names into a certain decade. Television, and to a lesser extent movies, can influence these trends as certain television shows have characters with names which are "different" and which parents like so this is added to the list of potential baby names. There are exceptions to this however, as there are some baby names which are timeless and have been handed down generation to generation throughout the family.
Whether or not to choose the baby name before the baby is born is a matter for personal preference. There are parents who decide what their baby's name will be from the moment they have the pregnancy confirmed - and in some cases, they know what baby names they will choose before they are even pregnant! Then there are other parents who wait until the baby is born before naming it. Sometimes this is because they can't agree on a name, or because they haven't found one they like, or sometimes just because they want to wait to see how the baby looks before naming it.
Once the baby is born, there's still time to pick the perfect baby name for your baby. Even if the name was decided months before the birth, it's possible that having seen the baby, the name will change. When you see your baby for the first time, and hold it in your arms, you may decide that the name chosen doesn't seem to fit with the baby you are looking at. Maybe the baby has more delicate features than the robust name chosen suggests, or vice versa. It's also possible that there was someone instrumental in bringing the baby into the world that you want to honor by naming your baby after them - and this won't be known until after the birth occurs.
Take time to choose the perfect name for your baby, and don't be afraid to change your mind at the last minute if you feel it's not quite appropriate, after all the baby is going to wear that name a long time!
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