One of the hardest things to do when you’re expecting is naming your child. When you're expecting your third child I think it’s even harder. Even the Toronto Zoo enlisted the help of the general public to name their latest bundle of joy.  Help from 14,000 people, that is! Incase you didn’t know already, the polar bear cub’s name is Humphrey. Its Germanic background means “peaceful warrior.” I think it suits him just fine! And my kids are trying to be helpful but really, do I want to name my child Super Ninja Warrior? Or Blueberry Muffin? Before my daughter’s parent/teacher interview I quickly scanned the list of children’s names that were hung outside the classroom door. I saw some decent names but we have a big family and most of the names I liked were already taken. My son chose the names Finn and Jake. If those names don’t mean anything to you then you haven’t been watching Teletoon lately. They are the main characters from the cartoon Adventure Time and although I truly like those names, I can’t imagine naming my child after any character from that cartoon. You just have to watch it to fully understand what I’m talking about. One of them is a talking dog. That is all. The first time around we chose our son’s name based on the fact that we liked the name Maxwell. But the meaning? It literally means “Max’s well.” The second time around we went with a more meaningful name. Our daughter’s name is Malaya, which means ‘freedom’ in Filipino. She’s proven to be rather independent so she’s truly living up to the meaning of her name. We’ve still got several months to go to choose a name so we’re not under the gun. Yet. Choosing baby names is daunting. Whether you’re going with baby naming traditions or just going with your gut – it’s a hard task. And it’s funny, we’ve had several people ask (or tell) us that we “have” to go with a name that starts with “M” since our other two children’s names start with “M.” Talk about pressure! This baby naming thing is hard enough! I want to know: How did you choose to name your child? Do you have any baby naming tips? Image courtesy shlomoniousmonk/FlickrCC