Former Victoria’s Secret model and Project Runway host, Heidi Klum gave birth to her fourth child on October 9th.  Proud musician father Seal, and Mom couldn’t help but release a touching tribute regarding the birth.

“It’s difficult to imagine loving another child as much as you love your existing children,” Seal writes. “Anyone who has a family will tell you this. Where will one find that extra love? If you love your existing children with all of your heart, how then can one possibly find more heart with which to love another?

On Friday, Oct. 9, 2009, at 7:46 p.m., the answer to this question came in the form of our fourth child and second daughter,” he continues. “Lou Sulola Samuel was born, and from the moment she looked into both of our eyes, it was endless love at first sight. She is beautiful beyond words and we are happy that she chose us to watch her grow over the coming years.”

Quick check on Google didn’t return any hits for possible meaning or origin of  the unique moniker “Sulola” but I myself like it.  What do you think of the  name?

Lou Sulola joins older siblings Leni, 5, Henry, 4, and Johan, 2 1/2.  We hope to get a glimpse of this cutie soon!

My husband and I didn’t want to name our babies with common names. We pored over every baby name book, list, Web site, you-name-it, and agonized over choosing their names. Nothing too common, nothing too familiar, nothing an ex or a boss or an enemy had been named, nothing “celebrity weird“… what had once been a fun game to play with each other, suggesting silly names or names of towns we might be driving through while on a car ride, suddenly became a chore.

People would ask us, what are you going to name the baby? At first, we hedged a little, saying we weren’t sure yet or that we had a list of names we were considering (both of which were true). Then, as the question became increasingly stale, and the well meaning suggestions more annoying, we started having some fun. Instead of just giving a non-answer, we would say the most off the wall name we could come up with: Satellite if it’s a boy; Galaxy if it’s a girl. Or maybe it was the other way around … Either way, we had no intention of naming our babies those names, or even telling people what we planned to name them once we decided. It became a very personal decision and one that we didn’t want to share with anyone else.

Three days before I would give birth, we sat in a booth at a local burger joint and jotted names down on the paper place mat. From the waitress’s name to the name of the car parked outside of the window, we considered everything. Every name ended up being vetoed – except for two. We hemmed and hawed, debated and reasoned, and it wasn’t until our first born arrived that we finally decided on a name. We had to see her before we knew what we were going to call her. And it ended up being one of those two names

She’s two years old now, and we’re still happy with the name we gave her. She has grown into it and made it her own. Someday she might have the same challenge, trying to name her own baby. I just hope it’s not Galaxy.

When I grew up, I was plagued with a boy name. My name is Alexandra, but my friends have always called me Alex. I hated it. I was so ugly, my mom made me keep short hair, and my name just didn’t help. When I finally did outgrow the boy look, I still had trouble with my name. Once in middle school, a substitute teacher wrote me up for trying to sit in the “wrong” seat in class. (By the way, ‘Alex’ and it’s variants is a very popular girl’s name lately.)

But on the the other hand, I had four friends named Amy and three named Jennifer. What I always wanted for myself was a normal name–something that didn’t make me feel like a weirdo for having a boy’s name, but not such a popular name that I had to use my last initial all the time.

Needless to say, I wanted to be careful while choosing names for my children. When I was pregnant with my son in 1996, I lived in Korea. I was 23, married a year and a half, and none of my friends were having babies. So when my husband and I started talking about names, we really didn’t have any outside influences. I told him I had always liked the name Jacob for a boy. It flowed nicely together with our middle name choice, and so Jacob was our boy name. I had never personally known a soul named Jacob, but I thought it sounded nice. Classic, but not too old fashioned. We weren’t as sold on a girl’s name. We had two (Anja or Grace) and said if it was a girl, we’d just have to look at her and decide what fit. My best friend’s name was Tanja, but I certainly didn’t know an Anja or a Grace.

We had a boy. His name is Jacob. And like I said, I had never known anyone else with that name.

We returned to the States when he was just a few months old. Imagine my surprise when the first person I met with a baby the same age told me her son’s name was Jacob! (He had the same middle name, too!) We soon moved to a small town with a large Amish population. Many of their boys were named Jacob, but they always choose Biblical names, so I didn’t think about it. But then we moved again, and my son started Kindergarten. There were three Jacobs just in his class…

Turns out, Jacob was the 5th most popular boy name of the 1990s, and has been the #1 most popular name in the US since 1999 (according to the Social Security Administration). How could I have been so unlucky?

Then 11 years later, I became pregnant again. When our ultrasound revealed that the baby was a girl, we revisited the names. We had generally become enamored of Grace in the intervening 11 years. We told my mother-in-law. “Oh,” she exclaimed, “I don’t like names with one syllable. I’ll call her Gracie.”

Hmm. Nope. Couldn’t do Gracie. Besides, I know how to use the internet now and saw that Grace was fairly popular (it was not even on the radar back when I first thought of it in 1996). So the name conversation started again.

At church soon after that, a friend of mine who was due two weeks before me found out she was also having a girl. “Have you picked a name?” I asked. “Yes! Anya.” Different spelling; same name. I felt deflated. How could this happen? We went with a hybrid name. AnnaGrace. I still haven’t met anyone with that name, though I know a MaryRuth, JoLynn and a few other combos. A lady in the waiting room of my pediatrician’s office told me that combined names are very popular right now. Sigh.

There are sociologic implications behind how I could have picked the same names as millions of other women without having consulted them. The same childhood media influences, etc. But the bottom line is this: most of us want our babies to have names that do double duty. They fit in while standing out.

The easiest way to know if a name is “too” popular for you is to consult the internet. The Social Security Administration has compiled a handy list for every decade and recent individual years. There are several articles right here on BabiesOnline, too! But a word of caution: recent research supports the idea that boys with very unpopular names tend to have social problems. In that light, maybe Jacob isn’t so bad.

What about you? Do you like your name? How did you choose your baby’s name? And do you mind if it’s too popular?

I am astounded at the things I am learning about pregnancy, even though this is not my first.  Today, I learned that I had angered a distant relative when I named my now 11 year old child Rebekkah.  Apparently, the distant relative wanted to name her child Rebekkah and felt I’d “stolen” her name.

This situation put me in a quandary because I felt slightly embarrassed by my lack of courtesy.  First of all, this woman has not dated in decades, so I guess I was surprised that she had even “picked” out a name.  I was even more surprised that she still remembered 11 years later that I’d offended her and felt compelled to share that with me at this point in time.

Another thing that surprised me was the notion that one must check with friends and relatives to get their approval and to make sure that no names are “stolen”.  This is my 6th child, and I honestly never knew that I’d offended people by “stealing” names.  In fact, I honestly never even knew that it was considered polite to actually check with people before naming a child.  I never even guessed that I should check with people who weren’t even considering having children…just in case.  What do I know? Not too much it appears.

I discussed this with a friend across the street.  She said that yes, she had checked with friends and relatives before naming her children.  One friend had liked a certain name that she also liked and she did ask permission to name her child that name!

Another friend, who is having trouble conceiving, has picked out names for the children she hopes will one day join their family.  She confided to me that she was quite upset when another mutual friend got pregnant “by accident” and then named her child the name that she’d picked for her son.

What do you think?  When choosing a name for your child, do you check with extended family and friends to make sure that you don’t take “their” names?  Have you ever been offended when a friend “takes” a name that you wanted for her own child?

Choosing your baby’s name can be a very emotional experience. Sometimes it’s easy. Usually, it’s not. There’s so much to consider, but the most important thing to remember is to love the name. Below is a list of baby names submitted by Babies Online Members in the past 7 days. Maybe you can find the inspiration you are looking for to assist you in choosing the perfect baby name.

Most Recent Baby Names Submitted by Babies Online Members:

Don’t see the perfect baby name above? Go here to see the Babies Online baby names section. You will find a searchable database which includes name definitions, links to the most popular baby names, most unusual baby names, and even a place for you to add your very own baby name suggestion to the list!