The Perfect Baby Name

by Rick Epstein (Albemarle Family Magazine)

Naming a baby is like selecting the perfect title for a book when you don't even know what it's about.

Here are a few tests:

1) The Playground-Taunt Test.
Any 5th grader can identify the biggest smart-alec in the class. That's your consultant. Give him 5 bucks to work his magic with your likeliest names.

2) The Personalized-Toothbrush Test.
Little Ulysses or Zephyr will be dissapointed when they go to the store and cannot find that little personalized bike-sized license plate with thier special name.

3) The Front-Porch Test.
Take the name you're considering and yell it form the front porch as if summoning a child to dinner. Consider carefully before barking, hooting, or hissing: Mark, Ruth, or Seth.

4) The Follow-up Question Test.
Think twice before giving a child a name that will require a follow-up question or discussion every time it is said.

5) The Are-We-Looking-For-Trouble? Test.
Try to picture the kind of person who would be named what you want to name your child. (i.e. Freedom Rose, Buck Johnson, etc.)