10 steps for coming up with the most gorgeous and unique baby name

Baby names, or more specific, picking a GOOD one, has become somewhat of a sport. 

Everyone is at it – and the stakes get upped the whole time. Gone are the days when you waited until you were in fact with child to find a name. Now we pick our baby names years in advance, and then spend the intervening time (between name picking and actually having a baby) guarding it like a crazy in case someone (whoever gets pregnant before you, basically) might like it too and end up stealing it. It totally happened to me once and I still feel somewhat sad having lost such a GREAT name. (If you are reading this, you know who you are, you filthy name thief!) Bitter? Me? Anyway, a lot of the world's weird and unique names are now – after years of everyone just competing to see who can get away with the most bizarre one – taken. But fear not; there totally are ways to make sure you come up trumps when it comes to unique baby names. The trick is to stop looking for that perfect moniker and instead INVENT it yourself. You heard me, mamas. Get your thinking caps on. If I can give you a few helpful and inspirational hints.... : 1. Name your child after a cool colour or plant Not Blue (as that is taken already, thanks, B!), but how about a colour like Cyan? Or Slate? Oh, and forget about Willow or Rose if you want to go down the botanical route, you need to think outside the box. Thistle has got a nice ring to it...? Or, for the season that is in it, Pine? 2. Go to Ikea Not to pick up more stuff (you don't need THAT, put it back!), but to gather name inspo among all their Scandi place-named stock. How about a little Malm or Expedit running around? 3. Go unisex – but the other way OK, so it has become perfectly acceptable to name girls using boy names (Hello Wyatt and James, we are looking at you!), but how about turning to tables for an extra unique moniker? I am thinking Mary for a boy, or how about Stella? Gender bending is all sorts of cool when it comes to names right now. 4. Add in some extra letters (silent ones are GREAT!)