One day, my partner and I (without children at the time) went for a walk in our neighborhood to unwind after a day at the office. We were chatting and minding our own business when a woman leaned out of her window and yelled, "Melanie, you've got mail!"

We burst out laughing. There was nothing wrong with the name Melanie, but the situation was comical. We figured the woman was probably delivering a message to her daughter, but there was no sign of Melanie on the horizon and no one answered, so we could only guess who the recipient was. However, at that moment, my partner had an "aha" moment and shared his insight with me.

He figured that that particular sentence was a perfect test for choosing a name for a child: "........(insert name), you've got mail!" If you feel comfortable yelling a certain name, it could be the winner.

Indeed, we used this test a few years later when our first baby, a boy, was born, and we already had a pretty name for him. We ran the test, it sounded fine, and we stuck with it. Seven years later, we got pregnant again with another boy, and we had no clue how to name him, but we wanted to give him a good name - one that he and we could live with, even when someone is yelling it.

Looking for the perfect name took quite a while this time, but at the end of my eighth month of pregnancy, we found it and confirmed it with this foolproof test. Long story short, the name we chose, sounded perfect for us.

Bo Janice, Editor of Instrology.com

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