More money than sense?
Expectant parents are paying upward of $1,500 to a “professional baby namer” who picks the perfect moniker for their child.
Taylor A. Humphrey, 33, helped name more than 100 babies in 2020, raking in more than $150,000 from cashed-up couples.
Some panicked parents are even turning over an eye-popping $10,000 so that Humphrey can help them settle on an impeccable name for their offspring.
“If you look at the most popular baby names, it’s such a telltale sign of our cultural values and our aspirations,” Humphrey told The New Yorker in a profile published Monday.
The New York businesswoman — who does not have any children — bills herself as a “passionate writer and storyteller” who is “adept at branding, marketing and social media.”
The NYU grad previously worked as a matchmaker, fund-raiser and event planner. According to her LinkedIn profile, she is also a “reiki practitioner” and has “written two feature-length screenplays, and one TV pilot that explore religion, spirituality, science, futurism and the unconditional, enduring nature [of] love.”
However, Humphrey said she has always been obsessed with baby names and finally found her true calling when she established her “What’s In a Baby Name” business in 2015.
Depending on how much expectant parents pay, Humphrey’s services “range from a phone call and a bespoke name list to a genealogical investigation” with the aim of unearthing old family names, as reported by The New Yorker.
Recently, the innovative entrepreneur chose the baby name Parks for a couple who had their first kiss in a town called Parker.
Meanwhile, Humphrey also advised an anxious mother who was considering changing her young daughter’s name — Isla — because it kept being mispronounced. She was compensated for telling the mom to stick with the Scottish moniker.
Humphrey also runs a popular TikTok account, where she often offers free advice.
The businesswoman said she is frequently approached by parents who are having their third or fourth child and have apparently run out of names.
In a recent video, Humphrey advised a mom who was expecting baby No. 3 and needed a name to flow with those of her two older sons, Emmet and Miller.
Humphrey’s top picks: Grady, Wilson, Waylon and Fletcher.
While some may accuse couples of laziness by siphoning off their baby name decision, Humphrey insisted that the paying parents are simply anxious perfectionists.
And if they don’t settle on her suggestions for a first name, she said they often end up as middle names.
“Sometimes you see a name like Brave on my list and you think, ‘I’m just not going to name my kid Brave,’ ” Humphrey told The New Yorker. “But it might be worth putting on a maybe list as a thought for a middle name.”
