What's in a name?

Today the list of most popular baby names was released. The top girl's name was Emma and the top boy's name for 2008 was Jacob. I was really tickled because my mother's name is Emma. Her mother and my cousin are named Emma. No one in the next generation is named Emma, but maybe the one after-- we'll see. Naming a new baby is an important ritual. Sometimes parents name their children after a parent, or after an ancestor. Other parents want to deliberately not repeat a name in the family. Still others look for the unusual.

In naming Powerful Babble, we thought about what the content of this blog would be and what we wanted it to convey. Babies babble. But, how do they get from the sounds they make as newborns: goos, coos, burbs, cries to babbling? What about from babbling to words and then word combinations? In this blog we will be discussing news about babies and current research that helps us understand how development unfolds. I believe that the process of organization of babies motor skills, hearing, cognition, and social skills go into babbling and then shape these babbles into words. This is powerful stuff!

What about your baby? Why did you name him or her and why?