When it comes to choosing your baby’s name, it’s mum who (nearly) always has the final word.
Choosing the name your baby will carry throughout its life can be a fraught business. But researchers have found that mothers have a far bigger say in the final decision.
It also emerged that the average couple consider 12 different names before selecting their favourite, but one in four don’t make their final decision until after the baby is born.
Out of the study of 3 000 participating parents, 1 000 admitted that they fell out with their partner over their newborn’s name.
Faye Mingo, spokeswoman for www.bounty.com, said: “The name game is a debate which often lasts the whole nine months of the pregnancy and causes the most upsets as couples fail to agree on the best name for their new born.
“It’s understandably one of the hardest decisions mum and dad will ever have to make – largely because we do judge a person by their name before we’ve even got to know them.”
As well as finding a name both partners like there are other factors parents have to take into consideration when choosing a name - like nicknames, what they will be called in the playground, how the first name will sound against their surname, and so on.
The study found that 15 percent of couples argued regularly during pregnancy over what to call their child.
And for indecisive parents, the new arrival remained nameless for an average of 11 days.
It also emerged that seven out of 10 parents struggled to choose their baby’s name because they wanted a name which did not clash with their surname.
The same number wanted to avoid bad nicknames while 42 percent didn’t want any name associated with a celebrity.
A third of parents said they wanted their new baby to have an original moniker, while 21 percent didn’t want the name to be shortened or changed.
Incredibly, one in 10 parents ended up drawing names out of a hat, and a further 14 percent opted to toss a coin as a final decider.
A quarter of parents-to-be were just as likely to consult their work colleagues about baby names as their partners.
And when it came to the final decision, a fifth of new parents named the baby after their favourite colleague or friend, while 37 percent included a family name.
Four in 10 took into account names approved by the grandparents, and 52 percent avoided names of all friends and their children. - Daily Mail