Matt Edmondson shares how his baby-naming hack almost backfired (and it’s a lesson we can all learn from)

Choosing a baby name is not easy and radio presenter Matt Edmondson has shared the baby naming method that no doubt caused him some sleepless nights.

There's so much pressure around getting the perfect name for your newborn that parents have tried to get baby name inspiration in a variety of ways, from space-inspired baby names and Disney baby names to getting your pet to pick a name by playing fetch with a tennis ball but you wouldn't want to find one you love only to discover that it's one of the 40 baby names that are banned around the world.

We caught up with dad-of-two and BBC Radio 1 host Matt Edmondson at the Toy Fair and he told GoodtoKnow how his baby name prep almost backfired when naming his daughters Ivy, six, and Willow, two with his wife Bryony.

Matt, who previously shared his genius parenting hack for picky-eaters, explained, "Over the years I kept a list of notes on my phone of the names I liked, yeah (before I thought of having a family) and I had them for both dogs and babies but I didn't separate the list, so I come back to it years later and be like I don't know whether I thought this is was a cute name for a baby or a cute name for a dog."

Nevertheless, his 'baby/dog' list did come in handy as it helped him narrow down choices for their newborn at the time. Matt said, "My wife (Bryony) also had a list and when we were having our first child, we just read through the names. And, like, yeah that's also on my one' whittled it down to ones that are on both our lists and then chose Ivy." Phew!

And while we've not come across many dogs named Ivy, chances are that was a baby name. But even having settled on the traditional baby name Ivy, Matt had some initial reservations.

He shared, "There was one name, and she (Bryony) liked the name Isla, which I think it's a very beautiful name but the nature of my brain is that if I hear any word my brain is like 'What does it rhyme with' How many syllables does it have? What does it sound like? Does it sound like something else in another language? Isla for me sounded like the Italian (accent) for 'I will' like 'Isla just pop the kettle on' and I was like I'll never be able to get that out of my head.

"But I actually had the problem with (the name) Ivy originally, because I was like Ivy, it's like an IV (intravenous) drip, but she was like 'shut up I want that name for her'."

In other family news, here are the baby names going extinct in 2024 include Michelle and Amanda - is your name on the list? and the meanings you never knew behind 25 very common baby names revealed – is yours on the list?