Having a baby? Then you must be spending a lot of time trying to choose the baby’s name. Confused about picking the right one? Quite understandable. After all, this name will hold good throughout your little one’s life. Did you know that although there are millions of baby’s names, majority of boys have their first name as Thomas, William or John and majority of girls carry the name Mary, Elizabeth or Anne. You definitely don’t want to your baby’s name to be so common, do you? So here are a few tips about how to go about choosing the right name.

As a first step, you can write down the things or qualities you like in a person. You can take your cue from the names of flowers, places, famous people or something that holds some meaning for you. List down the names you like. If you have named your baby after a famous personality, make sure you tell the child when he or she grows up. They would feel honored.

You can choose names from your family too. Naming your child after a grandparent is one way of honoring a loving relationship.

Once this is done, play with different combinations of the name and see how it sounds. It should pleasant to the ears and should carry a meaning. You shouldn’t feel uncomfortable while calling out the baby’s name.

If you are choosing a boy’s name, keep in mind that names with a single syllable and a single short vowel sound give a masculine feel. Names like Jack, John, Carl and Ron. Feminine sounds are those with single syllable and soft vowel sounds that are long like May, Joan and Jane.

If your family name is long, you should keep the baby’s name short. If you want a unique name, then try different spellings of the name; gives it a touch of the exotic.

Check out the combinations of the initials. If the baby’s name is Carl Adam David, then the initials would be CAD. You wouldn’t want people making fun of your little boy by calling him a cad.

If you have a surname that is common like Brown, Jones or Smith, Jones, it would be a good idea to give the baby an unusual first name like Lucinda or Dakota.

You can try new combinations for arriving at your baby’s name. You can take the first syllable from your name and your spouse’s name and combine it to get a new name. When the baby grows up, he or she will love it when you tell them how the name was derived.

Check out various websites on trends in naming babies, nicknames, meanings, history, religious significance and derivations of names you have shortlisted and then make the final choice.