Many expectant parents spend long hours poring over pregnancy and delivery books, preparing the nursery, going to childbirth classes and generally learning all they can about their pregnancy. Yet surprisingly, most decide their child's name within a matter of minutes. In fact, they may spend more time picking out the right car seat than they do selecting their child's given name.

Now granted, sometimes a child's name is dictated by long-standing family tradition that says all first-born males must be named Walter and the second George. But the use of family names -- at least throughout the United States -- is not nearly as common as it once was. Consequently, parents are often free to select what they want, and the choices are staggering, more than 50,000 common choices and spelling variations. At All About Baby®, we've seen just about every given name imaginable -- traditional, unusual, wild, new age, beautiful, hard-to-spell. Our suggestion is to do some research, spend the time, have some fun and come up with the ideal baby name that makes you, and later your child, happy.