The Best Baby Naming Sources

Oh man, do I love naming. My dream job was naming lipstick and nail polish colors, that is until I became pregnant. Then my all time favorite thing to do was name babies. The only problem was my dumb husband was weighing in with his opinion. “What do you mean you don’t like that name?! That’s the best name on the planet!” Once you mixed my hormones in with my outrage, you can imagine that I was about as pleasant as a cat in a bathtub.

I scoured every book, every site, and crossed referenced it with Google searches to make sure we weren’t naming him after a serial killer, Rhymezone to make sure my baby’s name didn’t rhyme with “mucous” or “twat,” and domain registers to purchase their name as a .com so someone couldn’t buy it and say horrible things about them when they were 17  (I read an article and went off the deep end).

It was a science I tell you, and a small miracle we ended up with any names at all, let alone two we actually liked. So I thought that I may as well share my OCD tendencies with you in case you are in need of a good baby name too.

Here are some of my favortie Baby Naming Sites:

Nameberry

A feature that I really love about this site is that if you search a name it gives you all the forum board results as well. So, you get a feel for what people are considering along with that name, middle name thoughts, variations, etc. I also like how they make the more popular names larger in a search result.

Baby Name Genie

This site is fun. It’s more for the easy-going set and not for the highly-strung like me. There’s a great name generator right at the beginning where you simply plug in your last name and it spits out a suggestion. There’s a cool middle and first name generator where you have either name decided on but need suggestions for the other. You can create a poll for your name so people can vote on which one they like best. Although, the thing I loved the most has to be the Test Drive feature. You plug in the name you’re considering and it generates everyday situations where you’d use that name “Hello, Wellington Inc. this is Jacob” or “Hey Jacob. How are you doing?” I love it.

Belly Ballot

With this neat site you pick 5 favorite names for your BellyBallot, then you invite friends & family to vote on them. It looks like you can win stuff on this site too which is pretty cool. If nothing else, you can throw a name in there to really poke the bear to get your family all riled up, like “Should we name the baby: Michael, Mitchell, Adolf or Atey-Eight?”

Baby Name Wizard

I was obsessed with Baby Name Wizard and even tried out their expert version. You can read the review I wrote on them and confirm just how crazy I am about baby naming.

Nymbler

This site is really cool. They present you with a bunch of names and you click all the ones you like the look of, then you hit “find names” and it generates ones that are in a similar vein – it’s kind of eerie how accurate it is. The longer I tinkered with it, the more I loved the names. Plus, you can block names you really don’t want if you hate the name of an ex-boyfriend or whore cousin.

Oh Baby Names

If I had found this site when I was pregnant I wouldn’t have left my office and would have been bottling my urine like Howard Hughes. It’s got everything: names by popularity, origin, uniqueness, celebrity, you name it.

Each name has a break down of historical origin, popularity, famous people and/or their children, and historical figures, just to name a few. I think one of my favourites though is the cultural reference section. It lists all the literary characters, songs and children’s books that include the name. Even if you’ve already named your baby, it would be a wonderful place to get some gift ideas.

Baby Name Books

Even though sites are great, sometimes you like a good ole book to peruse and underline. Here are some of the best ones:

The Baby Name Wizard: A Magical Method for Finding the Perfect Name for Your Baby

“This book has so many name choices. I love it! I like the fact it has sibling suggestions and ratings of when it was the most popular.”

Beyond Jennifer & Jason, Madison & Montana: What to Name Your Baby Now

“Bought this to get something different. It gave some interesting background and sorted names by categories rather than alphabetically like other books, which was a nice approach since we could see names that were similar to ones we liked.”

The Name Book: Over 10,000 Names – Their Meanings, Origins, and Spiritual Significance

“A friend introduced me to this book and it has been a great resource, I especially love the biblical meanings and references for names. Everyone wants to look up their name and it’s great to personalize notes and gifts for your loved ones! My family has some unusual names and we found them all in this book!”

The Baby Name Bible: The Ultimate Guide By America’s Baby-Naming Experts

“This is the baby name book for anyone wanting more than just meanings behind the names. The authors tell their opinion of the name, if it is rising or falling in popularity, meaning, and variations.”

Cool Names for Babies

“Out of all of the baby name books that I went through, this was one that stands out. It does have a lot of trendy names in there but that’s part of the point of the book. If you’re looking for more traditional names, there are tons of books that will do that for you. This one can point you in directions that you might not have thought of and I think that’s a good thing.”

Baby Names Made Easy: The Complete Reverse-Dictionary of Baby Names

“Even after your kids are named and grown, you will find yourself picking this up and using it again and again. We use it whenever my daughter needs to name a stuffed animal. I find myself giving a copy of “Baby Names Made Easy” to every person I know who is having a baby. It’s so much fun to browse and find out the meaning of names you use every day!”

Bring Back Beatrice! 1,108 Baby Names with Meaning, Character, and a Little Bit of Attitude

“I appreciate how this book flags names that have strong, good associations but aren’t too common. It’s much easier to go through than other baby books I’ve read.”

Are there others that you’d add? Lemme know!

Related: Ultimate List of Names for Grandparents