A brave Kelowna, British Columbia man and soon-to-be father is allowing Internet users to vote on the name of his future daughter.
Self-described "amateur baby namer" Stephen McLaughlin created the website NameMyDaughter.com to name his first child, who is due on April 2, 2014.
"I came home one day and was talking to my wife about naming our daughter and said 'you know, I should ask the Internet because that's what I do for a living,'" McLaughlin, who is a software developer, told CTVNews.ca on Monday.
McLaughlin said his wife didn't believe him at first, but after he registered the website's domain name, she knew there was no turning back.
The first-time father and his wife, who has two other children from a previous relationship, however, have some rules about the baby naming process. Although McLaughlin says he's so far been surprised by the number of "quality" names that are topping the list, he and his wife will ultimately make the final decision.
"Alas my daughter shall not be name WackyTaco692. Sorry guys the wife wouldn't go for a free for all," (sic) McLaughlin writes on his website, which has the tagline, "Cause I wasn’t already crazy enough…"
As of Monday afternoon, more than 52,000 votes were registered on the website. Among the list of front-running "traditional" first names are Amelia, Charlotte and Leslie. Less conventional names include:
- Cthulhu
- Laquisha
- Megatron
- Zelda
- Not Zelda
Leading middle names include Mae, All-Spark, Rose and Le-Dash-A. Internet users can also submit their own suggestions for a first and middle name.
"We actually have a friend championing all names Zelda related," McLaughlin writes on Reddit, where he's answering questions about the baby naming process.
McLaughlin says once the voting is over, he plans on archiving the website and all the votes to show his daughter when she's older.
