With Christmas just a few days away, many people will be looking forward to family celebrations. Others, though, will be counting down to new additions to their families.
The festive season is a special time to welcome a newborn into the world and parents might be trying to think of a name that honours that fact. Now, Allison Banfield, of parenting website ProudHappyMama, has come up with some suggestions that will fit all year round.
Allison said: "If your child is born around the holidays, giving them a festive name can be a lovely way of honouring their birth at such a special time. However, many parents may find it off-putting to have wholly Christmas-inspired names for their kids, because it can limit the creativity and tradition that comes with naming a baby.
"There are now trends where babies are given the most Christmassy names possible - and this includes Chestnut, Tinsel, and Santa. However, this may not be suited to every family who wants to find a name that can be separated from famous festivities. With this in mind, I thought I would suggest a few names that are still reminiscent of the festive season, but that can also be seen as individual and special names in their own right."
Here are Allison's suggestions:
Avery
Meaning ‘Ruler of the Elves’, Avery is the perfect name for any child born during the holidays. This is because it harks back to Christmas themes with elves and magic, but it could also pass as a non-festive name too. It actually comes from French/English origin, and it was ranked the 18th most popular name in 2019.
Natasha
While this name directly translates to 'birthday', it was thought that the birthday in question was actually a religious one, so the meaning now follows 'born on Christmas'. However, many people are unaware of the origin of Natasha so it can be considered a subtle yet lovely nod to a holiday birth.
Michael
As the Chief Christmas Angel, and the 14th most popular baby name, Michael is definitely one of the favourite names of all time - not necessarily because of its Christmas connection, but because of the diversity that it allows when it comes to nicknames.
Jack
This name has one very specific reference to the holidays - Jack Frost. Perfect for any child born in the winter (because of its icy association), it is incredibly popular and has remained in the top 50 list of baby names since 2000, where it now resides at number 21.
