Baby Names
22 Places To Find Baby Name Inspiration That Will Make Everyone Cringe
It feels like just yesterday you broke the exciting baby news to your parents that you were expecting. The sequence of their dropped jaws, stunned faces, and glass-cracking screams of joy replay over and over in your head. You loved watching their excitement build up to the point they realized they’re going to be grandparents. You pat yourself on the tummy for making their dreams come true. Your mom is already scanning your body to see if you are carrying high or low.
This is the first of hundreds of tell-tale myths she tests on you to figure out whether you’re carrying a boy or a girl. You pose for her amusement and let her have fun assessing the gender situation. Interestingly, she keeps referring to her future grandchild as a ‘she’. This may be a good time to tell her you and your partner decided to not find out the sex of the baby and will be using a doula to deliver. You hear your father’s New York accent in the background of the imagery, “What’s a Doo-lah�
The generation gap becomes more evident as the growing maternity weeks pass by. The organic debate between you and the in-laws is exhausting, your mother-in-law can’t understand why you stopped dying your grays and why a gourmet ‘placenta’ meal is being discussed post-birth.  You love role-playing what a modern, laid-back mom you are going to represent and the hip names you already have picked out for your child.
Those blissful thoughts quickly fade when your father reminds you, it’s always been a family tradition to use the first initial of a name from a relative that has passed on. Then, he slips in that his Aunt Fanny, has been gone for years and no one has claimed the “F†initial. Your mom shoots your dad a dirty look and shouts, “Frida!†The entire family has been warned never to name a newborn after a high-school ex! Hoping to find the right baby name before its arrival will be challenging, but you are up for the task as long as it won’t make your parents turn red-face each time they hear it.
Here’s a helpful list of 22 places to get baby name inspiration, and how to avoid the awkward conversation from ever happening.
