We picked both our kids' names right from the start of each pregnancy, before we had even confirmed them. I worried we'd been too hasty and chosen names way too easily, we didn't even need a shortlist, it just happened. Picked a name out of thin air and liked it.

I guess when each child was born it took a little adjustment to get to know them, they were new entities in our world regardless of any name we had selected for them. They were loved, deeply, but we didn't know them. Some people say a baby shows their personality from the moment they're born, but I don't see it.

I agree with those few who said your child will grow into their name. You could call your boy "rock" and he could be a hardcore skater punk, a softly spoken artist, a hardball lawyer, a mad scientist, a brain surgeon, an electrician, a maths teacher... The name is flexible and will bend to suit your child, not the other way around.