Data-Driven Baby Naming

Jack Smith shares how he innovated the baby naming process by waiting a year to name his child, inspired by Asian cultural practices and data-driven decision making.

"I researched and found that as long as both parents consent within the first 12 months, you can change a baby's name without going to court in Hawaii. You just fill out a form and have a notary come to your house.

I didn't want to be rushed to pick a name before leaving the hospital. My wife, being Korean, cared more about the last name due to their cultural traditions, so we made a deal - the baby could have her last name but I'd take the lead on the first name.

We put 'Baby' as the first name on the birth certificate. I got a call from the Department of Health a week later to confirm, and they said there had actually been 1-2 other people who'd done this before in the past 10 years.

I was inspired by Southeast Asian culture where they have this ritual when the baby is a year old - they put items like a stethoscope, law book, etc. on the floor and let the baby crawl to whatever they want. It's supposed to indicate their future profession.

So I thought - what if we did that but with different names? Let her pick her own name. I figured it would also give her an interesting fact about herself later in life - 'I picked my own name.'"