Gone are the days of flipping through a book to name a baby; now some parents pay for the privilege of having someone explain the process to them.
Expectant parents are paying for the convenience of having a curated list of names given to them before welcoming their newborns.
After you complete the questionnaires, baby name consultants will provide you with pages of possible names, all for very little money.
Nickname lover Colleen Slagen, 34, is charging expectant parents hundreds of dollars to help them pick the perfect name after launching her business, Naming Bebe, in January 2022.
Colleen says she has always had a deep love of names and spent her childhood looking through phone books and baby name books.
Nickname lover Colleen Slagen, 34, is charging expectant parents hundreds of dollars to help them pick the perfect name after launching her business, Naming Bebe, in January 2022.
Now, the naming enthusiast has turned her passion into a profitable business, charging $350 an hour and earning a whopping $63,000 a year.
The Boston native said the business started as a “fun hobby” alongside her full-time job as a nurse practitioner, when she first returned to work after being on maternity leave following the birth of her daughter.
However, her inventive business exploded after the mother and name enthusiast began sharing her baby name ideas on TikTok, with a huge response to her services.
“I think a lot of people have a pretty clear idea of what they want, but they want an outside opinion,” said the mother of three, who keeps the names of her own children private. The New York Post.
Colleen accepts 15 clients per week and delivers a list of potential baby names to them within six weeks, followed by a six-page PDF.
While choosing a name for a baby seems like an easy task, Colleen’s clients can be picky and often have very specific requirements.
She told The Post that some of the requests she’s received in the past are that the name was only used 25 times in the previous year or that it has specific sounds.
Colleen also offers a $75 service, where she will answer a question about a name and post it on social media.
Morgan Timm, a childless Midwesterner, also earns about $37,500 a year from naming consultations.
On their website, they list examples of questions that include asking them to list names with a certain number of syllables, nicknames that go well with a sibling’s name, or similar alternatives for a name they can’t use.
The expert uses baby name forums, books, data from the Social Security Administration and other sources to find options that perfectly fit the criteria.
But she’s not the only one making money by naming babies.
Midwesterner Morgan Timm29, also earns about $37,500 a year from his name consultations.
Morgan, who has no children, has about 25 clients a month and charges $125 per client.
She gives parents 15 pages of potential names, listing the nicknames she recommends and why.
“There is a lot of interest,” he told the outlet. “A lot of people are looking for that unique, original name, but one that is not weird or strange.”
Colleen uses baby name forums, books, Social Security Administration data and other sources to find names that fit the perfect list (file image)
In May, the most popular baby names in the U.S. over the past decade were revealed, and social media propelled a number of new entries to the top of the list.
Liam and Olivia remained the most popular names for boys and girls in 2023, marking the seventh and sixth years each has held the top spot.
Last year, Emma and Charlotte took second and third place as girls’ names, while Noah and Oliver were second and third as boys’ names.
Only one new name appeared on the top 10 list for 2023, with Mateo joining the list of best boys for the first time, coming in at number six.
While some names have stood the test of time, the Social Security Administration (SSA) reported that social media stars have influenced new parents’ name choices more than ever.
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