Okay, I’ll admit it. I was totally guilty of checking the most popular baby names list from the Social Security Administration before selecting the final name for each of my babies! While choosing names for my youngest children, I was shocked by how far some of my favorite names from previous years had moved up on the list. To watch the popularity of names change over the decades is an amazing phenomenon, and it’s fun to see which names become obsolete and which ones make a comeback. But getting back to the point, picking names is not always an easy thing to do, especially when you have a million other things to worry about when planning for a new baby. Trust me, it took me the birth of my fourth or fifth child before I finally found a method for avoiding baby-naming stress!

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How can you avoid the stress of picking baby names?

In my experience, coming up with five names was not exactly a piece of cake, but I enjoyed talking to other people and seeing which names were the most popular among them. With my first few babies, I tried getting feedback from friends and family to see what they liked and disliked, but I discovered that it really only added pressure for me if I didn’t go with their choice. In some ways, it felt like I was paying a visit to the eye doctor. What’s better, this or that? Do you like the first one or the second one more? I found that family members often got too invested in their own name choice, which made it confusing for my husband and me as we sat down to sift through names. To help relieve the stress, I always tried to remind myself that picking baby names was really just up to my husband and me because we needed to live with the name for the rest of our lives.

Watch my video to learn more about how to not let others influence your choice!

Parents, do you have any baby-naming stories or strategies you’d like to share? Let me know in the comments below!