The best baby names are totally subjective, but you could benefit from knowing how to choose the best name for your baby. Naming your baby could be one of the most important decisions of your life, and it could be the most important decision of your child's. Half of the work of naming a baby is creativity, half is wisdom, and the other half is personal taste. Oh wait that's three halves. Babies don't get much say, so you are going to have to do your best to give your baby the perfect name.

Johnny Cash sang a song called "A boy named Sue," about a dad who knew he wouldn't be around to make his son tough. So he gave him a name that would get him in fights. Maybe you've thought about the kind of names your baby will be called at recess. Do you want your child to be picked on because of his or her name? Hopefully you are not as cruel as the dad in Cash's song. Regardless, choosing your baby's name is one of the first most important decisions you will make for him or her.

You probably aren't reading this to choose an awful name, you want the best for your kid. You want to choose a name that will give your child a good start. You want a name that exemplifies positive qualities. You probably want a name that isn't too popular. Whatever you are looking for in your baby name, good research and a little creativity can point you in the right direction.

Depending on what you are going for you can use data trends to help make a good decision. I found some great baby naming data and discussion in an unlikely book. The words "baby" and "names" aren't in the title. And it's written by an economist and an New York Times author. Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner (2005) wrote, Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything. They explored the data of California's birth records which included demographic data that sheds light on how people choose names and other interesting correlations. Levitt and Dubner posed the question, "So does the name you give your child affect his life? Or is it your life reflected in his name?...and most importantly, does it really matter (p.165)?"

The authors did not write the book to help you name your baby, and I am not going to tell you all their interpretations, you will have to read it yourself. I will, however, provide some options to guide your baby naming decision.

I have sectioned off options to allow you to make the best baby name combo to fit your needs. So it's like baby name shopping as McDonald's.

Levitt and Dubner (2005) found that rich parents name their children differently than poor parents. Interestingly they concluded that it seems the most popular names originate as less popular names from the upper class, who are also more educated. "There is a clear pattern at play: it starts working its way down the socioeconomic ladder (p.185)."

So if you want to name your baby a low income name, simply give them a name that has run its course. If you want to give your baby an upper income name you will have to be a little more original. We'll get to predicting that later.

Most Common Low-End White Girl Names (Levitt 2005)

1. Amber
2. Heather
3. Kayla
4. Stephanie
5. Alyssa

Most Common Low-End White Boy Names (Levitt 2005)

1. Cody
2. Brandon
3. Anthony
4. Justin
5. Robert
   

First of all,popularity is always changing to some degree. There seems to be some recycling of names. Levitt and Dubner explain that people expect that pop stars influence baby naming, but this isn't the case. Their example is that Brittany was popular before Brittany Spears arrived to stardom, which makes her a result of the trend.

There seems to be correlation between income and education in naming. So there are similarities between the poor and less educated names. Just as there are similarities between rich and educated names. This is probably due to the fact that the more education of the parents the more income, generally.

Most people reading this are probably going to go for "trendy," but not super popular, or totally unique. Otherwise you wouldn't care enough to read this. If you are going for trendy, you simply need to look at your neighbors who have a little bigger house in a nicer neighborhood. If you use a name they use, then you will have a "trendy" name for your baby. It will probably become popular in a few years.

If you live in the nicer house in the nice neighborhood, then it is up to you to set the trend. Or maybe you aren't upper class, but want something original. You can name your child as a trend setter too. Here are some simple suggestions to get you on your way:

1. Use a last name as your baby's first. Levitt (2005) predicted the most popular names of 2015. It included the last name of yours truly. Yep "Flannery" was a predicted most popular girl name for 2015. My name is Irish by the way. If you want more proof think of all the little Madisons running around now. Why not use all the founders' names: Washington, Franklin, Jefferson, Hamilton, etc. Be careful not to give your chile an unattainable name to live up to. Others that were mentioned were: Quinn, Anderson, Jackson, McGregor, Cooper, Finnegan, Bennett.
   
2. Use names that were popular when your grandparents or greatgrandparents were named. For example Levitt predicts the reemergence of Max, Oliver, and Ansel. This is a great way to honor your elders by keeping their name alive.
3. Look for less popular names from the Bible. Peter, Matthew, James, John, David, and Methuselah are all popular names from the Holy book. O.K. so Methuselah still isn't popular. That doesn't mean it won't be in the future. Here's a list of names from the Bible.

Whatever you decide to name your baby, the name probably has more to say about you than your baby. Most people don't wait to ask their kid what they want to be named when they can talk, thank goodness. Otherwise we would have a bunch of kid's named after Disney characters. Anyway, you name them and then they live with you for 1/3 of their life, so give them the best start you can. The naming is probably the easiest part.

If you don't like any of the names that have been around for centuries, then it is always an opiton for you to name your baby creatively. Just make up a name. This will probably become more of a trend as the computer age has caused people to make up aliases and avatars with interesting names. It's easy and simple. Here are some examples:

• Jimnitike
• Hurntow
• Worshwash
• Gipu
• Hacklue
• Whinathon