Choosing a name for a child is one of the most exciting and daunting tasks for expectant parents. This name will be a part of their identity for their entire life. My partner and I were recently faced with this wonderful challenge. We wanted a name that was not only beautiful and meaningful, but one that also felt like it had a special connection to us and to our family as a whole. We had a shortlist of names we both liked, but we were having trouble making the final decision. To help us in this loving but difficult process, we decided to enlist the help of a very unconventional consultant: a love calculator.
Our idea was to use the calculator to run a "family compatibility test." We weren’t looking for a scientific answer, of course. We were looking for a fun, ritualistic, and meaningful way to help us connect with our list of names on a deeper level. We wanted to turn the decision-making process into a game, a sweet ceremony that was just for the two of us and our future child.
Our process was simple. We sat down together with our list of candidate names. Then, using our favorite love calculator website, we tested each name against both of our own names. For example, if one of our favorite names was "Oliver," we would first test "My Name and Oliver," and then "My Partner’s Name and Oliver." We would then add those two scores together to get a "total family compatibility score" for that name. We did this for every name on our shortlist, carefully recording the results.
This method was fantastic. It transformed a potentially stressful decision into a playful and absorbing activity. We were no longer just debating the merits of each name