Choosing a name for your child is anything but easy. A name is not something you just put on personalized baby clothes or on baby blankets to spice up the nursery bedding. The name won’t just be another piece from decorative cork boards as a baby wall decor; it will stay with your child for the rest of its life! So… no pressure at all, right?

If you can’t make a final call from a list of baby names, try to lower the stress and make it fun. If this list can’t push you in the right direction, you can decide in that precious moment when you’ll be staring into your child’s eyes for the first time.

Friendly scores

Share your list with friends who know you and have them scoring the names from 1 to 10. You can also observe their immediate reaction and keep a scoring table of your own. Watching people making grumpy faces of your favorites can help you ditch a few names. Compare the two scoring lists and you’ll get yourself a winner.

Make believe

Try out a name for a few days and see how the name sounds. Try to imagine a conversation with your child, or add the name into conversation with others, saying something like: “Would Anna like this nautical furniture for her nursery?” or "Do you think Henry will become a musician like his father?”

Ink them down

Write all the names from your list with the last name included and see which of them is more suitable together. You can even go further by designing invitations for your child’s 5^th birthday and see which name looks better to you or your partner.

Going back to traditional

If your head hurts from all the unique and modern names you’ve added on the list, you can always put that list aside and go back to a traditional family name. It doesn’t have to be from the immediate family, you can research as deep as your relatives memories go. Choosing an old name will add emotional significance to the already wonderful life event.

There is a way to use all the names from your list. Tell yourself you’ll have as much kids as names on your list and you’ll use all your favorite names.

Just in case, have some spare gender-neutral names; you might end up with all boys or all girls.