Every couple will answer this question differently.  For me the moment that makes each ceremony I conduct special is when a couple exchange their promises.  This moment seems to exist in a bubble and no matter how many guests are present they look at each other and everyone else is forgotten.

It is a moment in which you glimpse the strength of love and the bonds which will bind their hearts.

I never get tired of seeing this - the look of true love.

A name is so important because it is usually the first piece of personal information we share with others. As we grow and develop our own unique personalities our name grows with us.

So when thinking of a name for your child how do you start ? 

Do you look at how the name will sound when next to your surname ? 

Do you think of other people who you know with this name ? 

Do you look at the meaning of the name ?

Do you consider how the name might be shortened ?

Each has it's merits and each has it's drawbacks.  As a teacher of many years I found that when thinking of a name for my boys I was often drawn to making a comparison with children I had taught.

When pregnant with our first child my mother-in-law began to despair at our tardiness in selecting a name.  She bought a book of baby names to assist, however being rather mischievous we selected a name which we knew would not find favour and referred to our baby throughout the pregnancy by this.  Imagine her relief, when having met our son, we  decided to name him Steven !

Countrywide the most popular names used to register  births are Oliver and Olivia but there were over 63,000 different names registered. 

Happy Naming. 

Recently, whilst researching popular children's names for a ceremony when I stumbled across the National statistics site.  Here it is possible to look at the trends in babies names over the decades.

The most up to date published figures are for 2017 and are based on over 679,000 live births.  

I started by searching for my own name and found that only 30 girls had been named Christine in 2017. 

Top boys names are

• Oliver
  
• Harry
  
• George
  
• Noah
  
• Jack

Top girls names are

• Olivia
• Amelia
• Isla
• Ava
• Emily

Looking further it seems there are also regional differences for instance the most popular boys name in North West London is David.  The name Hari features strongly in Wales but doesn't make the overall top 100.

There were 63,000 unique names registered in 2017.

All of which I find quite fascinating.

I remember my youngest son was known as "Baby O'Malley" for over a week for despite having a shortlist none of the names seemed to fit once he had arrived.  However, he has been very happy with the name we eventually settled on and it has served him well.

So did you have any dilemmas when choosing your child's name ?