Craft is picking a point and knowing the cost: correction labour at the unique end, cohort-blending at the classic end.
Do not let a site sell you “unique” as a personality upgrade.
Steps
- 1Define classic for your languages
Saint, grandparent, generation poem, or 1990s classroom.
Classic is local.
- 2Define unique for your ears
New root, new spelling, or just off-peak.
Be honest about which.
- 3Pull a dated file
See where the shortlist sat in a named SSA/ONS/KOSTAT year.
No live throne.
- 4Price the labour
How often will the child spell it?
Unique’s real currency.
- 5Price the blend
How many in a class of 30?
Classic’s real currency.
- 6Lock a reason you can say
Honour, sound, kin slot — not “so they will be special.”
Specialness is not a mechanism.
Checklist
- Pole chosen on purpose — Not by mood.
- Year on any rank — Always.
- Neighbour names listed — Lieberson check.
- Spelling-unique vs root-unique — Know which you bought.
- Bias context — Emily/Lakisha still applies.
- Handle check optional — Do not let Instagram pick the baby.
- Kin classic respected or refused — Consciously.
- No luck unique — Rare strokes are not a feature.
Pitfalls
- Unique by misspelling a classic — You pay labour and still sound like the peak.
- Classic as moral high ground — Tradition is a taste, not a halo.
- Chart chasing — Off-peak now is on-peak for the next cohort of copiers.
- Inventing a current #1 to rebel against — Rebel against a dated, sourced band or skip the drama.
Tools
- SSA/ONS/KOSTAT year tables — The only honest pole-measurers.
- A Matter of Taste — The theory book.
- Classroom thought experiment — Thirty coats, one hook — how many same names?
- Pronunciation labour tally — A simple unique-cost metric.
If you cannot say which cost you are paying, you are not choosing — you are hoping.