More Parents are Turning to Highly Trained Specialists for Help Choosing a Baby Name.....

Minneapolis, MN - As pressure grows to choose the perfect name for their new baby, more parents are turning to highly trained specialists for help.

New parents, shown here holding their daughter Phacoma Marie, chose to use the services of an emergency baby name consultant after they forgot to come up with a name themselves

"As the due date approaches, expecting parents have a long to-do list when preparing for the big day, not the least of which is coming up with a name for the baby," emergency baby name consultant Weather Carlson explained. "But a lot of parents put off choosing a name until the last minute or simply forget to do it. Then they panic and freeze up, which is where I come in."

As hospital-based emergency baby name consultants, Carlson and her colleagues are available day and night to help new parents. According to Carlson, there is increasing pressure to pick a name that won't go viral for all the wrong reasons. "Social media has become such a prominent feature in the day-to-day lives of parents, and they don't want to be forced to turn off their comments because of a boring and uninspired baby name. It's a big decision with potentially lifelong consequences for the entire family."

"Babies are notorious for their lack of respect for other people's time," Carlson revealed. "They can be born at any time of day or night so we have to be available in the hospital 24/7 because time is of the essence. We call it the golden hour, the time when a baby's name is most likely to take. Even after 20 years of doing this, I still feel that rush of excitement when my pager goes off. It isn't always easy, but we train for this and it almost always goes well. Almost always."

Emergency baby name consulting is a collaborative effort. Carlson says that the name she provides to a family is always based on the most up-to-date research, but ultimately the parents have to agree with a choice and give consent. "It always stings a bit, but I don't take a rejection personally. I love what I do but it's a job and doesn't fully define who I am as a person. I have the parents sign a waiver to document that they understand the potential risks of refusing a recommended baby name and I don't look back. Okay, I look back a little. I worry about the future for some of these kids."

Carlson believes that determining the perfect baby name is more of a science than an art, but that doesn't mean it isn't a creative process. She advises parents who have decided to forego professional help to keep it simple. "You want a name that is unique without being complicated or overwrought. If you just wanted a name that no other baby has, you could make it 50 letters long or throw in a few numbers, symbols, or even an exclamation point, but that would come across as desperate and forced. Just take a common name and tweak it, for example, such as turning a Beckett into a Breckett or a Barbara into a Brabara."