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Grace, Gregory ... Google?

A Mom Reflects on Choosing a Baby's Name in the Computer Age

By Jennifer Reynolds

Now that Google is king, choosing a name for baby has never been more important. As the Wall Street Journal pointed out recently, if you're not googleable, you're nobody.

Sadly, I am a case in point. When I was born in 1958, I had a very unusual first name, Jennifer, and a weird last name, Crabb. During elementary school, the teasing years, I wanted nothing more than to be Debbie Wilson or Susan Anderson. In a strange way, I got my wish. The name Jennifer skyrocketed to the No. 1 position in the 1970s, and stayed at the top of the charts for nearly 20 years. And I traded the surname Crabb for Reynolds when I got married in 1987. Voila, my wish had come true: I now had two common names!

Then Google came along, and thanks to my uber generic name, I ceased to exist – at least in cyberspace. This is not a good thing for a business owner and freelance writer. Moral: Be careful what you wish for.

If you have a common last name, it is important to choose an unusual first name for the new little person you have not yet met. There are many first-time parents who thought they were choosing a fantastically undiscovered name, only to send the child off to preschool where he was known as Jake No. 12.

A great way to find out the hot names to avoid is to ask a teacher. "For the 22 years we have been in operation, we have always had Christophers and Michaels," says Patti Miller, director of Old Union Nursery School in Rose Valley, Pa. "In the 1980s, we had lots of Jessicas. A few years back, it seemed that every little girl was named Emma or Hannah. Now, we have two Graces, two Avas and we're beginning to see a lot of children named Carter, Aiden, Sophia, Lily and Grace. Avery is becoming popular for both genders."

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