Baby Naming Today: The Person Makes the Name

• Establish that both parents have the right to veto any name they absolutely do not like. After all, you want your mate to feel like an equal partner in this decision as well as many future decisions to come. Begin on common ground and name your child together.

• Think compromise. You have a first name and a middle name to work with, and if you're planning on having more children after this baby, you'll have additional opportunities for baby naming. If all else fails, try the "if it's a boy/girl—the mother/father picks the name" process. (However, avoid having one parent select the first name, while the other selects the middle name. Here the compromise tends to become the priority, when the best name combination for your child should receive precedence.)

A Word to the Mothers

If you're pregnant, you are naturally hormonal! The father-to-be may have an opposing opinion about your favorite baby-name selection, but remember, this is not a personal attack on you or your choices. Keep in mind, you're carrying this child, and Dad doesn't have much say in the whole pregnancy experience. Naming your child is one of the most meaningful decisions concerning your unborn baby that requires his input.

As desperate as you may be to choose baby's name, it is imperative that you and the baby's dad move into the realm of parenthood as partners. If this is his first child, be sensitive to the metamorphosis of the man becoming a father. Contrarily, if your partner seems ambivalent about the chosen name, consider that he is overwhelmed with the concept and still in acceptance stage, or he may simply trust that you will do a wonderful job and is choosing to focus his time on your baby's college tuition fund! Whether he's opinionated or ambivalent, you are hormonal, so take it in stride.