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- Michelle Casey, 42, helps parents agonising over what to call their kids
- What started as an Instagram side project has now become a side hustle
- She’s helped countless families name bubs
Here Michelle tells her own story in her own words.
Cuddling my baby sister, I took a look at her face and knew who she was meant to be.
‘We’re going to call her Amy Laura,’ I announced, choosing my middle name, Amy, and my best friend at the time’s name, Laura.
‘Perfect,’ Mum and Dad said. I was stoked to have given my sister a gift to wear for a lifetime.
As I grew up, I was always reading celebrity baby announcements or lists of popular baby names.
Gaining work in banking and real estate, when I dropped tools, I’d be back into a baby name book.
‘That’s your personal bible,’ my husband Greg joked when we were expecting our first child.
‘ I was always reading celebrity baby announcements or lists of popular baby names.’
With Greg being an avid surfer, we took inspiration from Australian pro surfer, Taj Burrow, and the beach town we loved. ‘Hello Taj Byron,’ I cooed when our cherub arrived in 2010.
Come 2013, naming bub number two was trickier as Greg shut down all my suggestions. But Taj, then three, stepped in.
‘It’s baby Kai,’ he insisted.
In 2019, with a little girl on the way, we’d short-listed Oceania and Indigo, and they were the names the boys got used to. Only after she was born, we threw the boys a curveball. ‘We’ll call her Aria,’ Greg and I said.
‘What?!’ Taj and Kai cried, but soon got used to it.
With our family complete, on a whim I started an anonymous Instagram account, Grow Little Wildflower. I shared names, writing about the kind of person I imagined a ‘Willow’ or a ‘Wilder’ would become.
Within months, I had people commenting – some even thanking me for inspiring their baby’s name.
READ MORE: Baby miracle: Pregnant with two bubs…in two wombs!
‘I’ve since assisted thousands of parents to name their little wildflowers.’
Two years later when I put my face to the account, parents began reaching out for help finding a moniker that was intentional and beautiful. So I made it my mission to guide parents through the responsibility of naming a human.
Devising a questionnaire asking about their ideals and their vibe for name styles – such as cottage, fairytale, or classic – I offered services such as a $77 ‘name nudge’ or a more intensive $197 consultation.
After a creative brainstorm, I provided 50 tailored potential names.
Once down to their top 15, I’d research origins, meanings, and nicknames, then record a voice message, as hearing a name triggers a unique emotional reaction. ‘The final choice remains yours.’ I’d always tell parents.
I’ve since assisted thousands of parents to name their little wildflowers.
READ MORE: ‘A Stranger Gave Me A Baby’
READ MORE: My newborn weighed over six kilos: Meet Brisbane’s biggest baby!
‘It’s a privilege to help parents choose a name’
I’m still obsessed with trends. Currently in the era of the ‘100-year rule,’ vintage, nostalgic names such as Walter, Josephine, Dorothy and August feel vibrant and fresh again.
I’m seeing nature-inspired choices like River, Sky, Ivy or Meadow, and ‘boy names for girls’.
‘We’ve narrowed it down to Stevie, Scottie or Frankie for our girl,’ one couple said.
Some are influenced by pop culture, such as the Biebers’ choice of Jack Blues, highlighting the blend of traditional first names with ‘edgy’ middle names.
Then there are symbolic names like Story, Poet, Journey or Love.
I caution about ‘name regret’ which can stem from rushing the decision or succumbing to outside pressure. And my advice is to keep the choice to yourself until after the birth.
Now Taj is 15, Kai, 12, and Aria seven, and as she names her dolls things like ‘Dossie Scarlett’, I see my eight-year-old self. Even then I realised that a name is the beginning of a story.
It’s a privilege to help parents choose a name.
Visit @growlittlewildflower
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