Being pregnant is a wonderful blessing, there is no greater feeling then knowing you are about to be a parent. With this child comes many things, including more responsibilities, more joys, heartaches, and a lot of feelings that you may have never felt before. One of the most important responsibilities you have as a parent comes even before your child is born: naming him/her.

Baby names start getting thrown at you from everyone once the announcement that you're pregnant arrives. Grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, coworkers, friends, just about anyone you know or come into contact with will want to give you ideas for baby names. However, do not feel the need to name your child daughter Fredricka, or your son Gothermeir, because you grandmother's, great uncle or aunt had that name and no one else has passed it down. Well, no one has passed it down for a reason, but you do not want to tell her that, just simply state, “Thank you, we will add that to our list of names to consider.” This way you will avoid saying you hate those names, and you can forget about them. If your worried that she will be mad when you don't use one of those names, don't be because 9/10 times when the baby is born everyone forgets the name they suggested and starts ooing and ahing over the name you chose.

If a name someone offers up does interest you then do add it to a list of names, but still do not feel obliged to use it.

Baby names come in all different styles and it is up to you to choose the best name for your child, remember this will be the name that he or she has forever. It will be the name that will takes him/her through babyhood, to toddler, to elementary, then middle and high school. This name will also be the name that he/she will use at college, to date, get married, and when he/she becomes a parent, other parents will call them. So this name needs to be chosen carefully with the idea that it could be used at any stage, because Bunny, or Candy, may sound cute for a baby, but as an adult it sounds more like a stripper.

But relax, this sounds like a lot but you have time, in fact, you have over nine months to think about it and over 4 to think about gender specific baby names. Plus if you do find yourself drawn to an unusual name like Butterfly, or Seven, then you always have the option of giving a more classic first name and then a unique middle name, or vice versa. Like you could do Catherine Butterfly, She could go by Butterfly as a kid and then change to Catherine when older, or even a nickname like Cat, Kathy, Catty, or as a teenager she may find it super cool and go by Butterfly still. Who knows, but at least she has an option of a classic name for when she gets married or gets a job.

When choosing the baby name just think “Would I want to be called this for 90+ years?”