If you are currently pregnant, let me offer some words of encouragement before you try to pick a baby name. First, breathe and take a seat. You're probably tired and really, there's no point in standing right now anyway. Second, if you are worrying even half as much as I did about every aspect of pregnancy and motherhood, please accept my sympathetic Internet nod. I totally get it. I've been there. The list of things to concern yourself with during pregnancy feels impossibly massive and massively impossibly. In addition to the health of the being inside of you, the list of diet restrictions is insane, and you can't even partake in one of my favorite ways to release stress (riding giant roller coasters, obviously). On top of this, there is the undue pressure to come up with THE MOST PERFECT NAME EVER because your baby's future may or may not depend on it. (OK, I should probably remind you to breathe again right about now.)
When it comes to that last stressor — picking a baby name — you can at least rely on the fact that there is some comfort in knowing that there are so many resources out there when it comes to naming your baby. There are books. There are websites. There are articles. There are so, so many articles, you guys. Should you determine that these readily accessible resources are not cutting it for whatever reason (hey, this is your journey), here are a few more baby-name resources you might not have considered yet:
Names Of Great Singers Of The Past
If you want your child to know what it's like for everyone to be jealous of them, the retro hint of glamour that comes with a formerly famous name just may be the trick.
Yearbooks
Essentially catalogs of all the popular names from your childhood, and of everyone who knew you during your most awkward years, how could skimming them during your fragile pregnant state possibly go wrong? Side note: Feel free to consider the yearbooks of other people. Reading them probably will be fraught with less emotion.
Movie Credits
Are you looking for a quick way to scan hundreds of names from the comfort of your couch? Look no further than the last three to five minutes of any of your favorite films. Make sure your remote is in hand, and that your pause finger (thumb?) is at the ready.
Magazine Mastheads
Yes, please. This is actually my go-to way to pick names when I'm writing fiction, but I think it would transfer very well to real life. I'm talking pages and pages of professional-sounding names printed clearly on glossy paper for your perusal.
Deep In Your Family Tree
This reminds me, I've got some genealogy research to do...
History Books
Back in the day, I was a pretty good student. However, this doesn't mean I've retained names of every forefather or historically boss lady. A flip through some textbooks or encyclopedias (do those still exist?) may give a refresher beyond George, Abraham, Amelia, Eleanor, and Clara.
The Phonebook
Just kidding! Who has a phone book these days? I think ours is propping up the table that our Victrola sits on.
Old School SSA Lists
Did you know that the Social Security Administration website has a database of names that's searchable by year? That's right, you can browse names from your own birth year, your partner's birth year, Justin Bieber's birth year, or any other year of importance (after 1879). Actually, the year doesn't even have to be important, no one's going to judge you.
(Also, note that it's really hard to find an entertaining GIF to represent the SSA, so please accept this Leslie Knope one. She is, after all, one of the greatest government workers of all time.)
Floriculture. That's right — Floriculture.
Where else do you think classics like Violet, Rose and Katniss came from?
Images: Paramount Pictures; Giphy(9)
