A pregnant mother is often asked if she has “picked out a name yet.” In the Culture of Life, every person has a name. Delaying the practice of naming until birth only reinforces the idea that we don’t have a person there until birth. A name should be chosen and used as soon as one discovers she is pregnant. Until the child’s gender is known, two names can be chosen — one for a boy and one for a girl. The key is the timing of the decision. The names should be chosen as soon as the pregnancy is discovered, or even before that. As soon as the gender is known, one of the two becomes definitive. Every person has a name, and that includes the unborn.
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I agree that every child deserves a name, but I’m not sure picking them out immediately is practical. I think of many cultures–including Judaism–when a child is not named until a certain period after birth, and cultures where young men and women receive new/additional names at significant events. Even in our culture, it is common for names to be added to or changed with adoption, marriage, or first communion. Birth is not the beginning of life, but it is a significant event. My children had a last name when they were conceived, and I have chosen a name for the children who we lost very early on, but while we started thinking about names when we found out about the pregnancies, we have made changes before the child was born and that’s okay. I also understand the perspective of those who want to see/meet their baby “in person” before making a final decision.
This time around, we chose a name early on which we plan to use until we know the gender. Then we will pick out the name we plan to actually use on the birth certificate. For now we are calling our baby Melchizedek, but we’re not sure yet what we will choose once we know the gender. Silas and Leah are my top choices at the moment…
So I would say yes, the child deserves a name, but a child who does not have a name is still a valuable human being, and I don’t think there’s any hard limit to choosing a name after finding out about the pregnancy, or any problem with changing one’s mind about the name before the baby is old enough to recognize it.
very exceptional thought you raised, and there is no question about the child name. I wonder who do think its against.