When we were deciding our kids names, we established some 'first principles'. I thought that simplified the process for us a lot. Of course, these principles ar

When we were deciding our kids names, we established some 'first principles'. I thought that simplified the process for us a lot. Of course, these principles are very subjective to the couple based on what they believe etc. Sharing hoping some might help others: 1. Names should be simple and should be pronounceable by anyone (we are from india and people can't just pronounce our names) 2. No association with anything religious or gods (we both are atheists) 3. No attributions to characteristics or features (it's common in indian names where the names mean something like one with beautiful eyes, one with great smile etc) 4. Names should end with vowel sounds (our mother tongue has sounds ending with vowel sounds. i heard it's the same with italian) 5. Avoid name bias and make sure people cannot guess ethnicity based on their first name 6. Have a middle name related to indian roots Quite interestingly, our super set became quite limited with just those 6 principles. My biggest take away is, there is no such thing as a beautiful name. When we think about names (at least in US), kid is not born yet. So we think about them as an independent thing. When as kid is born, they look so beautiful to you that, name naturally sounds beautiful to you. :)