The big story of last week was the birth of the latest baby in the British royal family.  Throughout the week there was much speculation about what the child would be called, before the news broke that the third heir to the throne was to be called George.

When pondering the name of their first born, it’s probably safe to assume that William and Kate didn’t take the step taken by a Florida couple.

Shelby Nystrom and her husband Joshua too the interesting approach to crowdsource the naming of their new child.  They form part of a growing trend called Belly Branding, whereby pregnant couples open up the naming of their child to the cloud.

“I read about the whole concept of having friends and strangers alike participate in helping me name our child…it looked like so much fun!” said Shelby.  “We weren’t sure which name would be best, so we decided to crowdsource it instead and let the internet decide.”

The couple turned to a site called Baby Names, where parents are asked to enter their top five choices, which are then voted on by the crowd of users at the site and via Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.  If users aren’t keen on the five names offered they can proffer up their own suggestions.

“We published a list of our favorites, but some of the voters submitted names we hadn’t even considered.”  the couple said.

With over 1,000 people casting their votes, there were some inevitable weird suggestions.

“One choice was Tombrady, all one word. I have to say, at that point, my husband and I got a little nervous. Pats fans are loyal, I guess.”

The trend is not a new one, but it represents a further peculiar step down the path of opening up yet more of what was once private to public scrutiny.  Whilst the sites are undoubtably popular, with thousands using them each month to generate feedback on their ideas, I can’t help but think it kinda sad that we have to seek external verification for something quite so personal.  It would be nice if we could have the courage to do things without such cloud approval.