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When to Choose Baby's Name

When Did You Choose Your Baby's Name?

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Some parents have a name picked out for their baby before they even learn they're expecting. Others wait until the nurse arrives with the birth certificate papers as they're receiving their discharge instructions from the hospital. While there's no "right time" to pick a baby name, moms, grandmas, and even strangers have plenty of thoughts on the matter.

This morning, on her last day in the anchor chair before giving birth to her first child, Today's Savannah Guthrie revealed that she still doesn't have a name picked out for the child. "A name is so important," she said. "We kind of have a short list for a boy and a short list for a girl. But we both want to look at the baby (first)."

She's not the only one who wants to see the child before naming it. With my first son, we were dead set on his name (and a female version because we didn't know what we were having) by the midpoint in my pregnancy — but we didn't tell a soul, because we didn't want their opinions! The second time around was a bit more difficult. Like Savannah, we had a short list, but we didn't give our son his actual name until we held him in our arms — and miraculously, we both said the same name at the same time!

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