Any of you that are parents know that it can be SOOOOOO hard to pick out baby names. You want to find the perfect name for your child, and you don’t want to get sick of it and wish you had picked a different name ten years down the road. I bought a baby name book right after I found out I was pregnant with Brielle (my first). It took us almost the entire pregnancy to find her name and agree on one that we both liked. It is especially hard for me (as a teacher), because I have quite a list of names I can NEVER use thanks to knowing those names of my students. We knew what we were having with both of my previous pregnancies, and were so glad we did, because it narrowed down our name searches immensely. We had Bryce’s name picked out much earlier. Almost as soon as we found out it was a boy, we decided on that name.

I think it is hard to pick out boy’s names because you don’t want to get too frilly or outlandish with a boy- he needs a strong name- not some froo-froo name. Girls have it a little easier, you can be creative and it won’t affect how others percieve her. She will always have the “cool, unique name” (I liked my name growing up for that reason). I liked Brielle because it was different, and Joel liked it because it sounded pretty. For Bryce, we liked the name, and it was different enough (not a bazillion Bryce’s out there- like Michaels or Jacobs)

And so now we are on kid #3, and although we don’t know what we are having, I have already started the name hunt. I have gone to many baby name websites, and I get bored just looking through the A’s. No wonder names like Aiden, Ava, and Alexis are popular-people just give up and take one of the first few they come across (I like those names, by the way-I’m not bashing them at all- I have friends that have named their kids these names, and I like them very much

I love looking at different lists and unique names. Anyone out there have some good places to look for names or names that you like? If you have a name you want to keep for your own kid, by all means, keep it to yourself, but if you are just bursting at the seams with awesome names, could you share a couple with me? I need a starting point, I guess, some good names to get the ideas flowing. There are a few guidelines. It has to go well with the name Nafziger (duh), and we won’t tell you if we are going to use that name or not. We keep the name a secret until after the kid is born. We will tell you what we’re having if the ultrasound reveals it to us, so the choices will be narrowed down to just boy or just girl names after that, but until then, all names are fair game. So, let me know… the baby name hunt is on!

Hmmm…should there be a prize? I think if you actually help us find the “perfect” name, you should get a reward! Hmmm…what to do? How about we have you over for dinner? (provided you live close enough to do that!) Challenge on! Happy name hunting!