Googling for Baby Names? Old. News.

David Berkowitz writes a Search Insider column today that covers some old news. The idea of running a Google search before you name your baby. I mean sure, it's "new" news if you're the Boston Globe or the Wall Street Journal but surely I'm not the only person that did that very thing years ago before naming my own children?

I grew up a Jennifer in the 70s and 80s. In my graduating class of 170 people, there were 9 of us. I can't recall a single class in 12 years of public school that didn't have at least one other Jennifer in it. In fact, when I attended Ohio State University, there were three (yes, THREE) "Jennifer Evans" that were enrolled at the same time. (One of them, not me, had horrible credit and I spent a lot of time answering phone calls from creditors that did not believe there could be more than one Jennifer Evans.)

So, when I had my first child, I was bound and determined not to give her a trendy new name that would leave her in the same position I was. I already had a name in mind (the main character of my favorite book) but like any good search marketer would do, I made sure to run a search on Google to see how many other Elnora's there were in the world. The answer? Not many. In fact, most of the Elnora's that I could find were from ancestry sites and obituaries. I ran across less than five Elnora's that were under the age of 60.

It wasn't long before I headed off to buy www.elnorawren.com as well. You'll note, I was smart enough to use her first and middle name rather than her first and last name. That way, even if she gets married and changes her name, the domain will still "fit."

Mostly? I just thought it would be cool if she could have the email address me@elnorawren.com when she was old enough to use email. How's that for tech-cool among school age kids?

Hey, I have to feel like I'm ahead of the trend on *something*.

Now, I do wonder if I should take David up on his suggested "name optimization tips" and try to get all of you guys in on a Google Bomb...

7) Googlebomb your baby's domain around the phrase "world's cutest baby," "future Nobel laureate," or "Harvard class of 2025." It reminds me of an old joke, where a parent is asked how old her children are and responds, "The doctor is three and the lawyer is two." The scary thing: some parent is reading this column right now and starting such a Googlebomb.

Yeah, I admit it, I'm the "scary parent" reading the column...

After all, Elnora is adorable...(Emmitt too, but since he's only 8 months old, my work on optimizing his name doesn't fall into "ahead of the curve" territory.) Her site doesn't get updated (since I use Flickr and PicasaWeb now) but at least the domain is there if she ever wants it.