The most popular baby names in Arizona last year were Liam and Olivia. Followed by a few other blockbusters: Mateo, Emma, Mia, Noah and, of course, Oliver. Colleen Slagen’s job is to avoid them.
Slagen is a professional baby name consultant. Her business is called Naming Bebe, and it has taken off so much in recent months, the former nurse practitioner quit her day job to help parents-to-be come up with the perfect names for their little bundle of joy.
The Show spoke with her more about the art of finding the perfect baby name — not too popular, not too weird — and making a business out of it.
She said it all began with a family friend who put together a sort of market analysis of the baby naming industry for her that helped her take it from hobby to career.
Full conversation
COLLEEN SLAGEN: He said if you really want to make a business out of this, you’re going to have to basically show your face on social media, which I did not have any interest in doing.
Fast forward, I mustered up the courage to start posting some of the consultations I had done, and I think it was a little bit of right place, right time. I had some viral hits, and about six months later, I quit my job to fully invest my time in this business.
LAUREN GILGER: Oh, man. So that went fast. A little bit of a viral internet stuff will go far and fast, yeah? I mean, talk a little bit about why baby names? Like how did this become a thing that you were interested in? It seems like a made up thing or like it's out of left field, but, in fact, this has been around for a long time you say?
SLAGEN: It really has. I remember being interested in baby names from a super young age. My sister and I, we had diaries — as many children did — and I mostly filled them with baby names, not feelings. We would just play games. If you had seven kids and they all had to start with letter A, what would you use? And we would fill entire notebooks with these games.
I owned several baby name books. I was actually at my parents’ house this past weekend with my kids and my husband, and I was looking through one of my old baby name books. I think it was from 2002, and I had a piece of paper in there with all my favorite names.
But I think part of it is a little bit idyllic. Like, I guess some girls dream about their wedding and others dream about what names are going to be on their holiday card once they have kids.
GILGER: I can see, it's like MASH on steroids. I get it. It makes sense.
SLAGEN: Oh, yes. I was a big MASH girl.
GILGER: Okay, so tell us, like, where do you come up with names? How do you search things? Do you look at books? Or are we way beyond that now?
SLAGEN: No, I do look at books. I still love baby name books. I definitely use the internet. My friends are little minions out in the wild who report back to me when they’re at a children’s birthday party, and my ears are always alert. At the park, when I take my kids to swim class, when I check them in. I am taking a long time so I can scan the entire list of names to see what’s out there. I look at restaurant names and street signs. I’m just always kind of looking for inspiration.
GILGER: So why — I always wonder this — why do you think certain names take off? Like why do you think there really are clear winners and losers in baby names every year?
SLAGEN: Yeah, I think that remains one of life’s great mysteries. Some of it is that familiarity breeds likeness. But what initially starts it, it’s hard to say.
For example, the name Olivia. For people who aren't intentionally engaging in social media accounts with baby names or reading books or aren’t baby name obsessed, they’re getting ideas from being out in public or seeing what names are being used on their social media feed by friends and family.
And so, you hear a name and you like it and oftentimes you’ll get a positive association from things you’re hearing. And I think that's the case with a lot of cultural trends too. A lot of fashion trends you may poopoo at first and the more you see it, you'll be like oh, OK, I kind of like that.
GILGER: It takes off, yeah. Okay, so tell us how this process works. Like I know, at this point, you're turning away requests, right? Like this has become such a big thing. People are really seeking this out. What do you do with a family when they come to you and say, OK, we need a name?
SLAGEN: So I send them a — I think it's now — 15-question survey. From basic questions like what are your siblings’ names? What’s your last name? To stylistic preferences like what are names you like? What are names you like, but that one partner has vetoed? What are names you like, but you can’t use them because your cousin already used it? To sort of the nitty-gritty, like are there certain sounds that you want to avoid? If your last name starts with O, you might not want a first name that ends with O.
And then I sort of give them a open question at the end to tell me a little bit about themselves, and I get to work. I first give them feedback on their top contenders — I think it’s a really big piece of it actually, is just getting a objective and professional opinion about their top names.
And then I create a list of recommendations that I sort of break down by category. And I include information about popularity and sort of my rationale as to why I think it fits in their titling set or would appeal to their style. And then, of course, naming is subjective at the end of the day.
So very likely on the list they receive, there are going to be instant no’s from one partner or the other. And so at the end, I include a list of what I call honorable mentions. So, names I considered but didn’t make top 10.
GILGER: Okay, do you recommend a lot of the same names all the time? Or is this really, pretty depending on what those folks want?
SLAGEN: It definitely depends on what folks want. I’ve talked to other baby name consultants, and some of us will say, “Oh, sometimes we feel like we're in an echo chamber.” Because through our content, you've got a sense of what our style is. And I think then people are drawn to you if they have a similar style.
So, I definitely get some consultations — especially on the boys side — where people are less likely to get creative, I would say, with names. There’s some repetition. But I’ve never created two lists that are the same.
GILGER: So give us the two extremes here. Like what are the most common requests you get from folks, like what types of names they're looking for? What are some of the oddest?
SLAGEN: I would say the most common request I get is sort of — I call it the Goldilocks name — where it’s not overly common, but it’s familiar to all. So I think a name that is having a moment right now is the name Margot. And I think that really exemplifies that category. I think August for boys is a familiar name, but it’s not very common. Graham, I think, is another example for the boys. As far as unique requests, I am about to work with somebody who — she will not name her child something that she's ever heard before.
GILGER: Wow. That could be hard.
SLAGEN: So I’m looking forward to that one. And then I — oh my gosh, I wish I remembered the verbiage this person used. But her inspiration was Game of Thrones and Addams Family. So names with sort of a dark feel to them.
GILGER: So specific, so specific. OK, so then the last thing I will ask you, Colleen, is your favorite names right now. Like what are your wishes, like you wish you could get everyone to jump on board these certain names?
SLAGEN: I mean, I'm absolutely obsessed with the girl named Nelly. Now, I would use a formal name and nickname to Nelly because that’s more my style, but I'm obsessed with it. I think Greer is such a cool name that is super uncommon. Kit is another one for girls that I love. I was recently talking to somebody about the name Lenore, and I think that’s a style that's sort of emerging, these main character names. I think it’s so pretty and so nickname-able.
I could go on and on and on. I would say the other name, where if I were renaming a sibling set, that I would probably use is Philipa with the nickname Pippa.
GILGER: So cute. Colleen Slagen, thank you so much for joining us to talk this through and good luck coming up with that name that she's never heard of. I appreciate that one.
SLAGEN: Thank you so much for chatting.
