I've always felt that names are very important.  We identify people through a connection of their name with their face.  People form an opinion, be it good or bad, by the type of name a person has.  Names even seem to sometime help shape a person's personality.  Naming your child is something that affects them for the rest of their life.  A lot of thought and care should go into choosing your baby's name.

Naming a child can be very intimidating.  If you find it hard knowing where to start when searching for the perfect name for your child, keep these tips in mind:

• Be sure the initials do not spell something or stand for something that could be unpleasant.  For example, the initials STD, HPV, HIV, would be horrible.  Sometimes bad initial combinations are less obvious.  My grandfather loved to wear monogrammed shirts, but his initials were CBS.  Every time my mom had a shirt monogrammed for him, it looked like he worked for the CBS television stations.  Sometime initials spell something that could lead to teasing.  For example, SAD, CAT, BAD, BED, BAR, and similar combination should be avoided.  Also consider avoiding initials that make a word that is misspelled such as DED (like dead) or DAM (like damn), because even these combinations can result in teasing.

• Be sure the name won't result in teasing.  All sorts of names can fall into this category, like bizarre or made up names, names that sound like bad words, names that are strongly associated with someone in particular, etc.

• I know that many people want unique names, but I advise avoiding made up names or strange spellings.  I used to be a teacher and children with unusual names or spellings are constantly having to explain how to pronounce or spell their names.  It embarrasses them, and often times other people unintentionally form a negative opinion about someone with a strange name or strange spelling.

• Take special care that a boy's first and middle name flow well with his last name.  Where as most girls will someday marry and carry their husband's name, a boy will always have the same last name.  By the same token, make sure that a girl's first and middle name don't create bad initials or associations with the last name (I once knew of twin girls named Dixie Land and Candy Land), but do not get too hung up on how the first name flows with the last.  Most girls will live more of their life span with their husband's last name than they will with their maiden name.

• Don't choose a name for one particular stage of life.  Choose a name that is suitable for a baby, child, teen, and adult.  So many times I see expectant parents talk about how a name is so cute for a baby or young child.  But what about when that child is 16, 36, or even 66?

• It is popular to make siblings names match...maybe they all start with the same letter, have the same syllables, or the same number of letters.  Before limiting yourself on naming siblings, remember that your kids will not always be together.  When they grow into adult hood they will be off on their own, so choose names that grow with your children and can stand on their own.

Congratulations on your pregnancy.  Be sure to check out the other sections of Thriving Mom's Baby Name Help for even more naming ideas and advice.  Also, don't forget that you can create a poll with your favorite naming choices to get the opinions of visitors here at Thriving Mom.