The date was Jan. 11, 2006. The place was an eternal marriage and family institute class. The topic of discussion—baby names. 

BYU-Idaho has a good number of married students, some of whom are preparing for little students of their own. Giving names to the little tykes isn’t always as easy as ABC.
Adam and Lisa Casper were the cause of the eternal marriage class discussion of baby names. Their baby boy is due Feb. 15, and he needs a name. Dad likes the name Easton, after a baseball bat. But mom doesn’t want him to be called “East.”

The couple searched on the Internet for baby names and found a “bazillion” Web sites. The baby’s middle name will be Dee after his grandfather Casper, a popular method for keeping family names in the family.

Jamie and Amanda Meikel, friends of the Caspers, have a one-year-old daughter named Kyla Dawn. Her middle name also came from her grandfather. The Meikels liked the name Kiley. Unfortunately, a cousin beat them to it, so they just modified the name.
Many couples enjoy choosing names. Most parents have the name chosen before the baby is born. Kyla was one such baby. Her mother said her personality fits her name.
“I would estimate that 90 percent of the parents already have the name picked out,” said Nicole Cragun, a registered nurse in the newborn Intensive Care Unit at the LDS Hospital in Salt Lake City, Utah. “And they very rarely change it.”

Some of the most popular names Cragun has heard recently are Riley, Eden and Adelynne for girls; and Kayden, Bradin and Brock for boys.

“Everyone is all about spelling names as though they can’t spell,” Cragun said.

Along with the most popular names, Cragun has also heard some outrageous names such as Heaven, River and Meconium. Meconium is a term for an infant’s first bowel movement. “Some people are very creative,” Cragun said with a slight grimace.

Cragun’s husband, Kevin, served a mission in Germany and said, “Parents in Germany have to pick names from a name bank. If they want to make one up they have to get it approved.”

Although the Caspers do not have to have approval from the government for their son’s name, they do have to agree with each other.

With the many names suggested by members of the institute class, the couple has more options than they expected to find.

“If I let you name him Easton,” Lisa teased. “I get to name our first girl!”