Families Find Baby Name Ideas, Meanings, Origins & Celebrity Names at FamilyEducation's NameLab

Families Find Baby Name Ideas, Meanings, Origins & Celebrity Names at FamilyEducation's NameLab

BOSTON - Aug. 4, 2009 - With the kick-off of the annual August "baby boom," hundreds of thousands of about-to-be new parents scrambling to find baby name ideas can turn to FamilyEducation's NameLab, which offers numerous resources for families. Using this interactive online tool, prospective parents can browse names by origin and popularity as well as by celebrity baby names. They can also research the meaning of names that they are considering.

"A name is the first thing parents give their children and, in the long run, one of the most important," said Jess M. Brallier, publisher, Family Education Network. "FamilyEducation's NameLab puts the tools for working through the process of picking the perfect name at prospective parents' fingertips, while providing them with expert advice and guidance on the importance of a name as well as fun facts about naming trends and origins."

The site features the top 100 baby boy names and top 100 baby girl names, based on Social Security Administration statistics. Using the unique Name Tracker tool, parents can view and compare the popularity of names to get a sense of how many "Jonathans" might be in their new baby's kindergarten class or just to learn how popular their own names have been over the years. By entering additional names, families can compare the popularity of their names and the names of their friends and other family members.

Parents who want to move beyond the most popular names of "Emily" and "Jacob" and are looking for a name that will make their child stand out from the crowd can use NameLab's Build a Name tool to generate baby name ideas and test different name combinations. Their efforts can be saved on the site and emailed to friends and family members for their feedback. NameLab's Name Categories tool helps parents brainstorm name ideas for their new arrivals by providing lists of names that were inspired by groups such as animals, jewels, literary characters, the silver screen and presidents' kids.

NameLab's Family Name Search lets users explore the history of surnames to be sure that the name they are giving their baby works with the meaning of their surname or to get a deeper sense of their family's roots.

People can find out if their names match their personalities by using the site's Renamer Tool. For example, "Michael" might discover after submitting the traits of "creative, funny, gentle, intelligent, manly, protector, smart, strong and wild" to the Renamer Tool that the name "Charles" or "Kevin" better suits his personality.

In articles on NameLab, such as "What's in a Name?" experts offer soon-to-be parents guidance on the importance of the names that they select for their babies and the impact that they can have on the people their children become. Other articles delve into how to pick a middle name and advice for naming multiples. Quizzes on NameLab challenge parents to think about their naming style and test their knowledge of celebrity baby names and overall name trivia.

About FamilyEducation
FamilyEducation is the leading online publisher of practical parenting guidance, expert family advice, printables, skill-building exercises and activities for children. FamilyEducation.com is dedicated to educating parents and parents-to-be so they can raise healthy, educated and well-rounded children.

FamilyEducation is part of Pearson, the world's largest integrated education company. Pearson's other primary operations include the Financial Times Group and the Penguin Group.