Baby Names

Eight of the best sites for baby names. Know of another site that should be listed here? Leave your suggestion at the bottom of this page. (Related searches: Top 100 Baby Names, Baby Boys’ Names, Maternity T-Shirts)

1. Baby Names World - Claims to have 25,000 baby names, meanings and origins for you to search, including search by boy / girl, meaning, origin, and categories such as African American names, Arabic names, Biblical names, Celtic names, Greek names, Hawaiian names, Hebrew names, Hindu names, Indian names, Muslim names and more. Also offers advice on how NOT to name your baby. (www.babynamesworld.com)

2. Baby Names Hold - Search 25,000 baby names and their meanings, including both boys and girls names, as well as unique / unusual names, celebrity baby names, and baby names with origins or popular usage in certain groups, such as Irish baby names, Indian baby names, Black / African-American baby names, Japanese, Spanish, Italian, more. Also offers articles on how you might choose a name and naming trends. (www.babyhold.com)

3. Popular Baby Names from the Social Security Administration - You can find plenty of lists of popular baby names, but this is probably the only list that knows for sure what people actually named their babies. Search for any year between 1880 and this year and you’ll find the top 1000 boys and girls baby names in the United States. You can also find the top 5 names by U.S. state dating back to 1980. (www.ssa.gov)

4. Nymbler - “Your Personal Baby Name Assistant” Site allows you to pick up to 6 baby names you like from a large list and then based on your initial preferences it suggests other names you might like. In addition to this unique way to get names customized to your likes/dislikes, there’s also a blog that looks at trends in baby names. (www.nymbler.com)

5. You’re a Nobody Unless Your Name Googles Well - May, 2007 story on at least one couple searching for a baby name that can’t possibly get lost in the shuffle within search engine results. (online.wsj.com)

6. It’s Is OK to Legally Change Your Baby’s Name - October 30, 2007 post from a mom whose daughter just wasn’t an Emma but absolutely was a Caroline, and so she and her husband legally changed her name months after she’d been born. (mom.buttermouth.com)

7. Peyton Vs. Brady: The Baby “Battle” Name Game - October 23, 2007 blog post looks at the increasing popularity of the names Peyton and Brady since NFL quarterbacks Peyton Manning and Tom Brady rose to stardom. (www.cnbc.com)

8. Names Go for a Sex Change - October 29, 2007 blog post on the phenomenon of baby names being strictly one sex and then crossing over, such as Taylor, Kim, Leslie, Peyton, etc. Also mentions that some countries force parents to pick from a standard list of names, with no overlap between male and female options. (danagoldstein.typepad.com)