It´s All in the Name

What’s in a name? Ask designers and retailers of personalized baby and children’s gifts and they’ll tell you that the name is the game to get into.

“Personalization has always been part of any décor purchase, whether it’s the full name or a monogram,” explained Jamie Lentzer, owner of Jamie’s Paint and Design and creator of Name Tiles. Making the child the focus of the product is an area of retail that has kept its momentum since a surge in the late ‘90s.

“Personalized gifts make a lasting impression and many are cherished from generation to generation,” said Shannon Connolly, online retailer and owner of Bonny Babies. “They show the recipient that you took the extra time and thought to choose a special gift just for them.”

Books, music, videos and software use both original and established brand names to make their products special. Personally Yours Books, for example, is able to take a child’s name (and sometimes even his or her picture) and create a variety of fun products for children to play with or watch. One of the biggest sellers is a personalized Dora the Explorer “Whose Birthday is it?” VHS or DVD where the child becomes the special birthday person that Dora and her friends try to find. Another great personalized offering is “The Everyday CD,” a music recording that uses the child’s name throughout the music.

Even though a personalized gift isn’t a new idea, the trends that are keeping sales up are certainly moving with the times. “Designs and products that are more modern are most popular,” said Shelly Kennedy, owner of Drooz Studio and an artist who specializes in personalized lithographs, paintings, rugs and other wall hangings. “Décor items are becoming less fussy. We have a ‘retro party’ name plaque that sells well. It is bold and fun — matching well with the new trends.”

Personalized handmade gifts are selling well, too. “The do-it-yourself personalized handprint and footprint kits are not new, but they are getting better and better — no more mixing plaster or mess from the ink pads,” Kennedy said. “These are getting extremely popular because parents love being able to personalize these gifts themselves with baby’s photo, prints and birth information. Also, personalized religious and special occasion/holiday items are becoming more widely available.”

Personalized items and toys in a nursery can be a key to language development. A study by Heather Bortfield, a psychologist from Texas A&M, demonstrated that “babies use familiar words such as their names as a sort of ‘anchor’ into the speech stream. A baby as young as 6 months can learn to recognize an individual word that follows its own name, even after hearing both words as part of whole sentences.” In addition to hearing the name over and over from the parents, it is likely that children can learn to recognize their names from seeing them daily—in their own rooms, either on the walls, blankets, toys or books.