Guides to choosing a name
Thirteen hand-written guides. Not name lists: the questions that come up before, during and after the choice.
Choosing a child's name is not a list problem, it is a fit problem. The name has to sit well with the surname, survive the nickname school will invent, work when someone calls it across a playground, and still say something about where the family comes from.
So none of these guides tries to repeat what a list of a thousand names already does. Each one takes a specific decision and goes deep: how sounds meet between first name and surname, how sibling names hold together, what happens to your name in an English speaker's mouth, what your country's registry will actually accept.
Where there is tradition without evidence, and numerology is the clearest case, the guide says so plainly instead of selling certainty. And whenever a decision can be tested, the text hands you the tool that tests it: surname harmony, the filtered generator, the nicknames a name is likely to attract.
Where to start
You are right at the beginning
Start with the complete guide. It covers sound, meaning, origin and rarity, and ends on the practical tests worth running before you commit.
Read the guideYou already have a name in mind
See how it behaves next to a middle name, next to a sibling's name, and in the nickname that will eventually stand on its own.
Read the guideThe name will cross borders
A name that sounds lovely at home can become something else in another accent. There is a simple test for that, and almost nobody runs it.
Read the guideThe practical side is still open
Registration rules change from country to country, and the most common mistakes are all avoidable once you know what they are.
Read the guide
How to choose a baby name: the complete guide
Sound, meaning, rarity and the practical tests to decide with confidence.
Read the guideCompound names: how to combine two names well
Rhythm, the seam between names, and the classic traps of pairing two names.
Read the guide 7 min readNames for siblings and twins: a set with coherence
How to pick names that sound like family without becoming echoes.
Read the guide 6 min readNicknames and diminutives: the everyday name
Predict the nickname before registering: it is the name that will be used most.
Read the guide 6 min readName numerology: how it works and how to calculate it
Expression, soul and personality: the tradition, the math and the sensible use.
Read the guide 7 min readName trends: what rises, what returns and what stays
The 100-year rule, the short names that travel, and using trends without becoming their hostage.
Read the guide 6 min readUnisex names: how to choose a name without gender
Where they come from, how they switch gender between countries, and the tests before deciding.
Read the guide 7 min readBiblical and mythological names: two sources that never age
Theophoric names, goddesses and heroes: what each source carries and how to choose.
Read the guide 7 min readRegistering the baby's name: rules that change by country
Closed lists, near-total freedom and the checklist before the registry office.
Read the guide 7 min readThe most common naming mistakes (and how to avoid each one)
The regrets that repeat and the test that avoids each one.
Read the guide 7 min readItalian names that work in English (and beyond)
The smooth travelers, the ones English reads differently, and the mixed-family test.
Read the guide 7 min readNordic names that work in English (no ø required)
The short ones the world adopted, the travel spellings and the hidden sounds.
Read the guide 8 min readHow a name sounds in other accents: the test nobody runs
The letters that swap sounds, the stress that moves between countries, and the traveling-name kit.
Read the guide