Choosing a name for your baby is a big decision. After all, it will affect your child for the rest of his or her life. (No pressure.) But now new services are available to take the stress out of making this choice.
According to the Toronto Star, parents are actually paying experts to name their babies for them. And it’s not cheap! One Switzerland-based agency, Erfolgswelle, charges over $29,000 for every baby it names – a process which takes around two to three weeks.
Erfolgswelle’s naming methods involve combing through a name’s history to make sure it doesn’t have an “aggravating past” or any ties to brands.
Other agencies have similar methods, but charge much less and have a quicker return rate. New York company My Name For Life, for instance, only charges a few hundred dollars and will spend 30 hours picking out the perfect moniker. The agency also chooses its names based on different criteria, such as popularity and likelihood for success.
While hiring a professional to name your child might sound odd, these companies have actually found success in Europe and the U.S. since they began cropping up a year ago.
Considering that there have never been more baby name options for parents, it’s not hard to see why a mom- or dad-to-be would decide to hire an agency. Baby name regret has also become a real issue among parents, which is another reason why some may turn to professionals.
In 2012, baby name expert Laura Wattenberg noted an increased number of parents who regretted the name they chose for their child.
“There isn't hard data, partially because I don't know of any accessible data on name changes,” she said. “But as a percentage of my mail… remorse from parents who have already chosen names is rising.”
This isn’t the first time we’ve heard of parents using creative methods to pick a name. Back in 2014, one couple asked the Internet to help name their child. And in 2015, one dad-to-be started an online petition to back support of naming his son Spyridon over his wife’s name choice, Michael.
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