Our Top Ten Baby Name Finders
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Here’s the TLDR list of our top ten baby name finders:
Motherandbaby.co.uk Baby Name Generator
Babycenter’s Baby Names
Pampers Baby Name Generator
Nameberry
FirstCry Parenting
Babyname App
SchoolMyKids Baby Name Finder
Mama Natural Baby Names Finder
Netmums Baby Names
Nymbler
If you’d like to learn more about each one on the list, read on!
So, you’re having a baby – congratulations!
What are you going to call your baby? Have you got a name yet? Have you chosen a boy’s name and a girl’s name? What about their middle name? These are probably things you’ll be hearing a lot throughout the course of your pregnancy until you settle on a name – along with numerous suggestions from friends and family that might make you shudder.
But how do you find the right name for your new baby boy or baby girl?
Many people buy or borrow baby name books to find inspiration for baby names. Many go down the rabbit hole, researching names on the internet to find something meaningful. Many people name their baby after someone – maybe a grandparent or someone they felt close to or want to honour. Many people choose their baby’s name just because they like the way it sounds. Others choose names steeped in lore and history.
Did you know that there are several theories for the origin of the name Arthur? Made popular by the stories of the legend of King Arthur, it is theorised that it could derive from the Celtic word, Artos, which means Bear. Other sources suggest it has evolved from the Roman name Artorius following the Roman occupation of Britain. One other theory suggests that it comes from the Latin Arcturus, which comes from the Greek Arktouros. Arktouros is a star near the constellation Ursa Major (the Great Bear) and means Bear (Arktos) Guardian (ouros). The star, due to its brightness and location overlooking the constellation Ursa Major, was considered the ‘guardian of the bear’, or ‘leader’ of the stars within its own constellation, Boötes. The name would have devolved to Art(h)ur when borrowed into Welsh (where the King Arthur mythology is said to originate). However the name Arthur originated, we think all these theories suit the King Arthur mythology well, don’t you?
Whatever your reason for choosing the name you eventually settle on, remember that it’s your baby, so you (and your partner if applicable) should be the one to choose it. Don’t let anyone else dictate what your baby should be called and try not to let anyone else’s opinion of your choice affect how you feel.
Baby name generators
If you’re stuck struggling to find the right name or fed up with the numerous helpful suggestions offered to you, baby name generators can be a great tool!
Baby name generators can help you find the perfect name to suit your surname; find a name based on a particular theme such as historical, biblical, or even Harry Potter names; or help you find a unique and uncommon name to help your child stand out from the crowd.
Whether you’re looking for a first name, middle name, or both for your child, we’ve compiled a list of the ten best baby name generators out there today.
These name generators will help you come up with a choice of names that match any given criteria. Some even let you filter by popularity or match first and middle names together.
Motherandbaby.co.uk Baby Name Generator
The baby name generator on the Mother and Baby website is very easy to use with thousands of names to choose from. You can browse all the names alphabetically or search using the categories they’ve provided such as ‘Unusual’, ‘Cool’, ‘Biblical’, ‘Vintage, and even ‘Disney’ and ‘Harry Potter’. And, once you’ve chosen a category or letter to start your search, you can then filter by ‘Boy’, ‘Girl’, ‘Unisex’, or ‘All’.
Babycenter’s Baby Names
The name generator at babycenter is a little more advanced than the list format from Mother and Baby. There are a number of different ways that you can search for your potential baby name. You can choose a simple ‘top 100 names’ list by gender, create a list that excludes the top 100 names if you’re after something a little less common, or you can perform a deeper search.
The name finder at babycenter lets you filter by origin or theme, what letter you’d like your name to start and/or end with, anything you want the name to contain (such as your own name), and how many syllables the name has. It even lets you input the meaning you’d like the name to have (such as strong or graceful). Or, if you’d like to be inspired by something, there’s a section called ‘Inspiration’ with articles and name lists like “baby names inspired by outer space” or “baby names inspired by cities”. There’s also a section that lets you browse baby names by theme – including a gender-neutral list, and a section that lets you browse baby names by origin – Arabic, Italian, Latin, Celtic, and so on.
Pampers Baby Name Generator
The baby name generator on the Pampers website is a bit of an inbetweener between Mother and Baby’s generator and Babycenter’s. It has a more in-depth choice of filters than Mother and Baby, but less options than Babycenter. Pampers allows you to search by gender, theme (such as cute, flowers, literature, mythology – you can select multiple), origin, length, and first letter.
However, you do have to register or log in to the Pampers website before you can see a full list of all the names – it will only show the top 5 results if you don’t. But there are some benefits to registering with Pampers.
Nameberry
Nameberry is an entire website dedicated to finding the right name for your baby. It has various lists that could help you choose the perfect name for your baby such as their Popular Baby Names lists, Unique Baby Names, Baby Girl Names, Baby Boy Names, Gender Neutral Baby Names, and more. It also has subsections splitting baby name lists into categories such as Nature Names, Vintage Girl Names, Bible Names for Boys, and even Nonbinary Names and Badass Baby Names.
But the jewel in the crown of the Nameberry website is its baby Name DNA Analysis tool. The Name DNA Analysis tool provides you with a series of questions to help “analyse your style when it comes to different qualities of names.” There are 2 parts to the tool. The first part consists of 57 questions, some of which seem a little out there. The second part asks you to choose whether you like certain names or not. Once you have completed both parts, you are given your baby name DNA profile, which outlines which DNA type (or types) you fit into (there are 8 types in total) and what that means. You can then view your name recommendations or create an account to view a percentage breakdown of your profile mix.
FirstCry Parenting
Now this one is a little different to the rest because it’s an app!
Created as a way to gamify choosing your baby’s name, making it a little more fun, the babyname app works a lot like a dating app. You and your partner both download the app and connect to one another. Then the app will display names on each of your screens. If you like the name, swipe right, if you don’t, swipe left. If you both swipe right, it’s a match! If you both like the name, it’ll be saved.
Available on both Android and iOS, the babyname app is a good way to make choosing a name fun, especially if conversations around names can get a little heated between you and your partner ;)
SchoolMyKids Baby Name Finder
Claiming to use “the largest list of baby names available”, the baby name finder at SchoolMyKids allows you to search lists of potential baby names by a variety of filters. They have lists for baby names by Nakshatra, baby names by religion, baby names by numerology, baby names by Indian origin, and baby names by quite an extensive list of other origins.
One of the best things about the SchoolMyKids baby name finder is that when you click on a baby name it gives you a very detailed breakdown of the name. This breakdown gives you the meaning of the name, the gender it relates to, the origin, syllable count, Pythagorean numerology, Nakshatra, the religion it is linked to if applicable, and more. It even tells you how to spell each name in sign language, braille, morse code, and even nautical flags!
Mama Natural Baby Names Finder
The baby name finder at Mama Natural has some nice simple lists to choose from such as an A-Z list of names for girls and the same for names for boys, as well as popular girls and boys names. But Mama Natural have also written a good article below these lists filled with helpful tips for finding the perfect name, such as sounding the name out loud or singing Happy Birthday with it.
There is also a good baby name search tool on the page too. The search tool lets you do a quick search for a particular name or a more advanced search that lets you choose several filtering options. You can filter by what you want the name to start with, gender, whether a name is more or less popular (in the U.S.), origin (with a fairly extensive list), meaning, or minimum and maximum number of letters or syllables you’d like it to contain.
The best thing (we think) about this baby name finder is the information it provides on each name. It can give you a detailed meaning of the name, the origin, a chart detailing how many babies have been given that name per year in the United States (yes, it is an American based website), diminutives of the name, variants of the name, and what names sound similar.
Netmums Baby Names
Being the mammoth parenting resource that it is, there is no surprise that Netmums have a dedicated section on their website to help you find a baby name.
The Netmums baby names page lets you browse baby names by letter, origin (although more limited options than some of the other baby name search tools), and gender.
But the beauty of the Netmums baby name finder is the sheer volume of baby name related articles available on the site, which they have listed in sections. You can choose “32 double-barrelled or hyphenated baby names” or “baby names inspired by the lion king” in their “Baby Name Inspiration” section. They also have articles to help you choose a name from around the world such as “45 favourite Arabic baby names” and “30 Irish baby names”. There is even an article titled “20 baby names inspired by coronavirus…” in their “Baby-naming Trends” section.
Nymbler
And last but by no means least, the Nymbler name generator is a little different to most of the above.
Nymbler is more like a true name generator in that it is not comprised of different lists of names. You begin by choosing whether you are looking for a girl’s or a boy’s name or whether it doesn’t matter (choose “surprise me”). Then Nymbler will provide you with a selection of names in clouds around a stork carrying a little baby bundle (cute). You can click on each name to see some information about the name and select whether you like it or dislike it. Every time you select “like”, Nymbler will save that name to your “faves” list, which you can view at any time by clicking “faves” at the top. You can also view more names inspired by a particular name you like by selecting “Explore [name]”.
Over time, Nymbler learns the type of names you prefer and starts providing more names it thinks you will prefer based on your choices.
Whether you want a name with a specific meaning, would like it to contain a specific number of syllables, want to delve deep into a name’s meaning, or want to have a little fun searching for a name, these search tools should help.
Once you’ve got your baby name sorted, that’s another major thing ticked off the list in preparation for your baby’s arrival!
If you wanted to tick another part of your prep off, why not browse our travel systems?
Oh, and one more little tip for choosing the perfect baby name – consider what the initials may spell ;)