mum said
cutest kids - Amy Sim
name that baby The name you give your bundle of joy will have to see them through all stages of life. While Daisy-Boo might be oh-so-sweet at two, at 22, she’ll be wishing she was called Plain Jane.
babes of bendigo All children are beautiful, so let’s see yours! Send us a photograph of your cute kids and we’ll put them on show...
The names you give your child will be used every day for the rest of their life. Affectionately, first and second name together when they are in trouble, softly when they are sleeping, loudly out the back door when it’s time for tea. But what about seeing them through their older years? We spent, like many other soon-to-be parents, hours pouring over baby name books, reading newspaper birth notices and searching the net. We were looking for the perfect name for our perfect bundle of joy. We wanted something different, but nothing to laugh at, something individual, but nothing to spell each time she was asked her name and something that really just fit our child. And I don’t think we are alone in our search. Baby name books and websites make hundreds of thousands of dollars each year, which I find ironic considering in 2008 Jack and Emily were the names chosen by most parents once again.
Charlie Mortimer - 1
Cooper Perry - 2 1/2
So we started off with a list of the names we hated. This was long. I should have been prepared for some upsets! I have always wanted a Molly and my husband Jason only knew Molly as a dog’s name, so it wasn’t the smoothest of starts. Each weekend I would read out loud the newspaper birth notices, with strict rules in place for Jason’s response. Either a yes or no. No maybes or not sures. We knew no matter what we called a boy, his friends would shorten it and with most girl’s names they would want to change it at some stage during their teen years. So with that in mind we continued on… I do confess I love to read up on all the latest Hollywood baby news, who is having what, when and with who, not to mention what that ever important name will be. I was not going to even dream of pulling a Peaches or a Zuma out of the hat, just to be different, and while Apple had grown on me I just could not bring myself to do it to my child. Some celebrity baby names remind me of the baby naming game of putting all of your scrabble pieces in the clothes dryer and picking out five letters to then make a name, like Princess Tiaamii... that has got to be from a bad hand in scrabble.
Joshua Perry - 4
My google search on baby names gave me a whole 25 millions sites to choose from so I started at the top. After hours of reading I did find a few sites that gave me some inspiration and if nothing else, some fun. www.babynamewizard.com has a great graph showing every name and its popularity for the past hundred years and www.nymbler. com lets you type in your existing child’s name and then proceeds to suggest possible sibling names that would match. We now have two gorgeous little girls, Emerson Grace and Dylan Elizabeth. These are not the most common of names and we’ve received a mixed bag of responses (most of which were not asked for!), but we are so proud of our girls’ names and the way they fit them perfectly. I love the idea of a Charlotte or a Ruby, but our girls just don’t fit those names. I wonder if they will love the names we have given them as much as we do or if they will wish for something different? “Oh, what a beautiful baby, a boy or girl?” people ask me. “A little girl,” I say, and the obvious next question...“What’s her name?” And this is where it normally goes a little pear shaped! “Her name is Dylan,” I reply. “Oh, so it’s a boy?” “No, Dylan a girl, Dylan Elizabeth.” “Oh, well I like Elizabeth,” is normally the last comment I hear before the conversation finishes with some passing tut-tuts and a “how unusual”. While there are no more babies in the wings right now if we ever do decide to have another, I will be sure to ask the lady in the line at the post office and the couple at the coffee shop for their approval before we name our baby! ■
Ella May Meharry 7 months
Neve Pinner - 1
Sunny Childs 2 months
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