Charlie O'Brien Blog: Baby names 2018 - picking the right one

Choosing the perfect baby name is one of the most exciting, yet daunting experiences when you’re pregnant!

There are so many things that I considered...

• Not too popular, but not too out there and celebrity-esque
• Pronounceable
• How it sounds with different accents
• How it fits with the surname
• How it fits with big brother’s name
• Does it reflect our personalities and ‘vibe’?
• Do we love it?
• Does it make our heart happy?
• Will she love it as a child?
• Will she loves it as an adult and will it look good on a CV?

I had a LONG list of beautiful baby girl names and my husband Jay vetoed them all including our chosen name – Luna.

But a few weeks later I read the list again and he said “hang on – Luna, I like that.”

So we decided to mull it over.

At almost 20 weeks pregnant we went on holiday to Ibiza. One night we were outside admiring the stunning moon and decided that Luna was utterly perfect.

I’ve loved the name for for years. Not because of the Harry Potter character, or because singer John Legend and his wife Chrissy Teigen chose it recently for their daughter. I actually remember hearing it 12 years ago when footballer Frank Lampard and Elen Rivas named their daughter Luna.

That coupled with the fact that I’ve always been obsessed with space, stars and anything astronomy related (I own a telescope!) meant that it was the perfect name for my daughter.

But now it’s suddenly set to be one of the most popular girls’ names of 2018!

According to Channel Mum (who I happen to work with as well) space names – especially Luna, are set to soar this year. Bird names, Shakespearean inspired names and botanical names are also going to be the new trends.

Does it matter that my daughter will have a common name? Not really I guess. I adore it every day and that’s all that really matters. But our son, Noah, also has a very popular name.

When I took him to a football class there were FIVE Noahs, which made me a little bit sad for his time ahead at school so I tried to pick something a bit less popular this time around.

And it seems I failed!

But we love it and it suits her. We often call her Luna Belle (her middle names are Belle Diana) and I hope she loves it as much as we do.

Charlie X

Check out the predicted most popular baby names of 2018

For lots of baby name help and inspiration take a look at Channel Mum