Relationships4 min(s) read
Mom asks the internet for help naming her baby and is shocked by the responses
A pregnant mom has taken to social media for name suggestions for her baby and is overwhelmed by the outpouring of creativity.
Jayci Underwood is a 34-year-old Arizona-based content creator and stay-at-home mom who boasts 144K followers on Instagram and 527.8K followers on TikTok.
Pregnant with her third child, Underwood has been sharing her journey with her followers, offering personal moments and relatable family content.
As she and her husband prepare to welcome their baby boy, the TikToker decided to take a unique approach to one of the most important decisions of parenthood: choosing a name.
The Daunting Task of Naming a Child
For the mom, picking a baby name is no small feat. “It's the most important thing ever,” she tells PEOPLE exclusively.
“It’s something that they’re gonna be known by the rest of their life. It’s not something that most people change often, and it’s not an easy change. So it feels like it’s such an important job, and I want to really take my time and think about it," she added.
When she wasn’t scrolling through name lists with her husband, Underwood sought inspiration from a variety of sources, including ChatGPT, baby name books, and social media.
A Surprising Discovery: Paid Baby Naming Services
One night, the content creator stumbled upon something surprising: TikTok creators who charge to name babies.
“I saw that there are a couple of creators who literally name babies for people. You can pay them to do it. I didn’t even know that was a thing,” she says.
Intrigued, she explored the idea of hiring a naming consultant, but then decided to give it her own twist.
Instead of paying a professional, Underwood chose to engage her social media followers in the process by offering $500 to anyone who could come up with the perfect name for her baby boy.
“It would be super good engagement, ’cause who doesn’t love to win a prize for basically no effort?” she explained.
“It’s just something that, whether you’ve had a baby or not, everyone has a notes list of names you loved or the ones you would’ve used. So I thought it’d be a fun way to A: give back to my audience, B: make it interactive, and C: hopefully get a dang baby name out of it."
The TikToker is no stranger to running fun giveaways for her followers, but she never expected the overwhelming response she received.
“I knew there would be good engagement, but I could never have predicted this,” she admits.
"We spend almost every night trying to go through them, and I feel like I’ve read so many names now that I’m just not gonna name this baby. It’s gonna be the first baby without a name.”
What Kind of Name Is Underwood Looking For?
The stay-at-home mom admits she’s drawn to names starting with R or S but isn’t interested in anything too common. “I wanted a unique name, but I didn’t want an annoying unique name or one that was too crazy,” she explains.
She also added that a big part of the naming process is finding a name that works as "both the name and the nickname".
Her son Kovey James, for example, goes by “KJ,” and her daughter Quincy has several playful nicknames like Q, Quinn, and Quince.
In addition to this, Underwood shared that choosing a name is about more than just how it sounds when the child is young.
“I don’t own my children,” she said. “One day they’re gonna go out into the world, and the majority of our relationship will be them as an adult and me as an adult."
"You want to give them a super cutesy name when they’re five, and it works, but will it work at 35 in a business setting?
"Especially with a boy, you want something that feels strong and masculine. It feels like a heavy responsibility, but also so fun at the same time," she added.