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A baby name can be harder to choose than many people realise. It's very easy to pick one that you like yourself but quite often this can clash with what your partner has in mind. I hope this article will help you with the reasons for your choice.

You have to remember that you will never be able to choose a baby name which will please everybody, the main thing is to choose a baby name that is right for you and your partner, not for your friends or family, it's your baby after all.

Rather than picking just one baby name, try to think of 2 or 3 for both a girl and boy. You may find that as the time draws nearer, you may go off your first choice; possibly you might meet someone you don't like with the same name. Even if you know what gender the baby will be due to scans, it's still wise to pick baby names for the opposite gender as scans are not 100% full proof.

If you can't agree 100% on a baby name with your partner, and it is also important to you to tray and go some way to please parents, then you could think about using their choice for a second name. If the name is only one syllable and the other choice has two then you may find your partner will agree it is best as a second name anyway.

This is another consideration for the baby name, does is flow when spoken, try saying it out aloud and see how is sounds. For example, Christina May flows well whereas Christina Alexandra is a bit of a mouthful. Also make sure that the baby name is easy to pronounce, it can be very irritating if you have to keep correcting people.

Another problem is the baby name may rhyme with another word which kids may pick up on at school, someone called Duke might be called Duke the Puke for example. You may also consider whether the name takes on a new meaning if joined to the surname. Classic examples are Ivor Biggin or Rusty Bracket.

If you want a baby name that is unique then you may want to invent one of your own, it could be an amalgamation of two other names. However, don't make the name too wacky, it may sound good now but your child may not appreciate it when they are older. For the same reason, be careful of names that are suddenly fashionable.

You may want to look up what the name actually mean, this is especially important in say the Chinese culture where they put as much importance on the meaning of the name as to how it sounds. What may have a nice sounding name could have a very strange meaning indeed, or vice versa.

Bear in mind that a baby name can determine how they will be perceived before somebody meets them. If say you are meeting somebody called Charles or Bartholomew, you may expect them to look and speak differently to if they were called Dave or Nick. Try and pick a name which you think will suit your child and their environment.

In this day and age of email, it could also be a consideration to choose a name which isn't hyphenated, email address can often be spelt incorrectly as it's not always clear whether the name should be hyphened in the address or not.