Baby Names for My Second Child Are So Tricky! Any Tips?

When your first child has a classic name like Abigail or Jonathan, giving your second baby a trendy or ethnic name like Roxy or Topaz just doesn’t sound right — and vice versa.

Keep all of your kids’ names popular or unique or ethnic. But, more specifically, when naming each child, you may also want to consider sticking to the same general baby name category or theme — such as virtue baby names, bookworm baby names or ancient baby names. But don’t make them too matchy-matchy, according to Jennifer Moss, founder of BabyNames.com: “Imagine how people will react. Will they laugh? ‘Oh, Meadow and Blossom. Powerpuff girls.’" She also says to steer away from two names that rhyme because they’re just too similar. “[Siblings] need their own identity,” she says.

Another way to tie two names to each other is with similar lengths or first letters. And always say them together out loud several times to get a true sense of how they sound as a combo; sometimes simply seeing names on paper doesn’t tell the whole story.

For a full list of baby name ideas, click here now.