Baby Name: Charlotte

Canadian software developer Stephen McLaughlin and his wife Alysha have put up a website, NameMyDaughter.com, where you can suggest and/or vote for a name for their unborn baby girl, due on April 2.

Here’s what Stephen said about the decision to create the site:

I came home one day and was talking to my wife about naming our daughter and said, “You know, I should ask the Internet because that’s what I do for a living.”

The caveat, of course, is that the couple “will ultimately be making the final decision” regarding their daughter’s name. Meaning that the site is really no more than a great big suggestion engine that happens to be getting a lot of traffic right now, thanks to Reddit and some press coverage.

Well played, McLaughlin family. Well played.

But it’s an entertaining site nonetheless.

As you’d expect, the internet-suggested names are a mix of serious and silly. The day I created the this post, Amelia was the first name with the most votes. Now that I’m writing it up, the top choice is Cthulhu. Other first names with a lot of votes include Charlotte, Olivia, Camille, Sage, Megatron, Pond, Streetlamp and Stormageddon. Also, both Zelda and Not Zelda.

For middles I see Mae, Rose, Grace, Renee, All-Spark, Le-dash-a, Salad, and Of-the-sea. (Of-the-sea is actually kinda awesome. I’ve voted for that one a few times.)

What first-middle pairing do you think the McLaughlins will end up choosing?

What would you choose if you could name this baby?

Update: And the name is…not Cthulhu. Amelia Savannah Joy McLaughlin was born April 7.

P.S. The McLaughlins live in the British Columbia city Kelowna, which is not just a place, but also a baby name.

Sources:

• Suen, Fan-Yee. “Cthulhu? All-Spark? B.C. dad lets Internet weigh in on name of daughter-to-be.” CTVNews.ca 13 Jan. 2014.
• Dewey, Caitlin. “Letting the Internet name your baby is actually a pretty good idea.” Washington Post 22 Apr. 2014.

Image: Screenshot of NameMyDaughter.com