Parents agonise over kids' names

British parents spend hours agonising over their children's names long before they are born. A new survey from the Abbey bank shows that the parents spend a whopping 45 hours on average thinking about what to call their child. That's an astonishing 30 million hours every year.

Just under one-third - eight million parents - believe that picking the right name is crucial in imbuing their child with confidence while a further two million think the right name will aid their offspring's chances of success later in life.

'There is no doubt that children's names reflect people's aspirations and parents believe names can affect career prospects,' said Abbey Banking director Steve Shore. Though in a none-too-subtle bid to link his bank with parental choice of nomenclature he added 'The same is true of choosing a children's bank account. Picking the right bank with a good rate is crucial.'

Parents are now finding it so difficult to pick the right name that over a quarter of them (28%) are looking to baby names books to help, with less than half that number relying on the traditional method of naming baby after a family member.

A further 10% of parents cheerily confess to naming their babies after a famous person or celebrity.

Latest surveys show Grace, Ruby and Olivia as the most popular names for girls with Jack, Thomas and Oliver leading the way for boys.

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