SOME STRATEGIES TO USE BEFORE YOU TRADE IT IN FOR A NEW ONE.

When we are faced with deciding what to eat from a restaurant menu that offers everything from all-day breakfast to chicken fingers and fries to filet mignon, some of us become virtually paralyzed. You’re at a table of 4 and your meal comes, the one that you put so much thought and consideration into and of course, you want what your friend is having instead. There is so much too choose from. I think that the same can be said for baby names, but you can’t always send it back or come back next week and try something different.

Today is one of those ‘holidays’ like “National Donut Day,” “National Bubblebath Day,” or ”National Handwriting Day.” There’s a ‘holiday’ for everything. Today’s ‘holiday’ caught my attention though. Today, March 27th, is “National Joe Day”—a day for those of you out there that don’t like your name.

When looking to choose the perfect name, the resources are endless. Baby name books and online baby-naming tools and resources are plentiful (a search for baby name books at Indigo.com yielded 478 choices and at 995 amazon.com). Then there is the desire to be different. Babies are also being given names that might have come from browsing a dictionary or map. I see names come across my desk that sometimes have me thinking “is that a person, place, or thing?” As I said, the resources, the choices are endless.

With choice, however, can also come regret.

“I love the name I chose and so did the parents of the five other Sophies or Sophias in my daughter’s class.”

“My son’s name is always mispronounced. So frustrating. I like the way it sounds when we say it.”

“In an effort to give our son a traditional name with a twist, we changed the spelling and added a (silent) H. I’m tired of spelling it for people and I think he will be too. This is the one time in my life that I’m wishing I had listened to my mother.”

Got regret? Here are some things that you can do without going on the record:

• Use the middle name. You chose the middle name for a reason. Try it out.
• How about initials? If I went with my initials, I’d be CJ. I kinda like that.
• Choose a nickname that fits. Miley Cyrus was born “Destiny Hope” and was always called “Smiley” because she smiled so much. She shortened it to Miley. Voila.
• How about a variation on the name? Alexandra, for example, could be Allie, Lexie, Alexa, Lex, Zandra. Jacob could be Coby, Jake or Jay.
• Go with it. Remember why you chose it in the first place. Decorate your baby’s room with a few special pieces that are personalized.

Have you regretted the name that you chose for your baby? Do you regret the name that you were given by your parents? Please share your coping strategies and help out some other’s suffering from Naming Remorse.