It’s been awhile since I had a baby – 13 years to be exact.
And boy have things changed.
The Austin startup Belly Ballot puts a whole new twist into what’s in a name for baby.
Belly Ballot, which bills itself as a social startup, lets expecting parents survey their friends and family via Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest on the name for their baby. They compile a list and their friends and family vote on their favorite name.
Tip of the hat to Taylor Benefield with TriNet. We met for coffee earlier this week at Juan Pelotas in downtown Austin and he told me about Belly Ballot.
I have to say I think it’s a rather clever idea.
“Parents today are very social beings,” Lacey Moler, co-founder of Belly Ballot said in a news release. “We love apps and sites that allow us to interact with friends on a daily basis. Important decisions are no exception.”
Moler, a mother of three and a former private equity analyst, got the inspiration for her company from her baby shower in 2009 in which she handed out a list of top five boys and girls names on cards to friends and asked them to mark their favorite ones and drop it in the “Belly Ballot Box.”
Since its launch earlier this year, thousands of parents have created a Belly Ballot, according to Moler.
And if you need some inspiration to compile that list of names, head on over to Nameberry, which aggregates lists of the most popular baby names. The number one boy’s name is Jacob and the number one girl’s name is Sophia.