Personalized Name Song Challenge

With a name like “Imogene” it’s important to learn how to spell your name correctly at a young age. We hear a lot of “Emma Jean” and a lot of “Imo - what?” when introducing my daughter to someone new. So it was great that at 2 years old, she could spell her own name to set the record straight!

Age 2 might seem young to be spelling your own name -- My daughter is certainly bright, but she wasn’t a reading or writing 2-year-old. The simple and beautiful thing that taught her how to spell her name? Her very own name song. I made it up one day, and after singing it a bunch while doing everyday things together, it became her own! 

The words are simple: 

I-M-O-G-E-N-E, That’s how you spell Imogene.

I tried adding a second verse, but it didn’t really stick. All we needed was the first verse. Sometimes we just sang the first verse twice through. Friends and family got such a kick out of hearing Imogene sing her name song, which actually surprised me! To me it was just another of the many songs that we sing day after day. But to them it demonstrated a neat skill that kids aren’t normally expected to have until age 3-5 -- and it was cute to boot.

Spelling your own name is an important early literacy skill - creating a name song for your child is just one way to help your child take steps in their literacy journey - music and literacy support each other beautifully! If you’d like to learn more about the three stages of learning their own names, check out this helpful article from Jamie at Play to Learn Preschool.

I’ve now taught my 2-year-old son his name song (E-R-N -- E-S-T, My name’s Ernest, That is Me!) and he’s starting to sing it, even though we haven’t worked much on letter recognition. I’m excited to sing the song with him more and see him connect the dots as we play with magnet letters, draw his name, etc.

Elizabeth made up a super cute, longer name song for her daughter Charlotte with a catchy beat that allowed more opportunity for singing about Charlotte and her interests - and her whole family loved jamming out to Charlotte’s name song, improvising, etc.

C - H - A - R -  L-O-T-T-E

Her name is Charlotte!

Charlotte Cora Nixon!

Charlotte Cora….

C - H - A - R - L-O-T-T-E

Her name is Charlotte!

And she loves horses

Charlotte Cora...

Ok, we’re ending with a challenge and an offer to help. Take whichever one you’d like:

Challenge: 

Make up a name song for your kiddo! Make up your own tune, or even use a familiar tune that fits. If you are a musical parent and think this sounds fun, go for it! I recommend singing through several options until you’ve found one that you really think will stick. 

Offer to help: 

If the above challenge sounds terrifying or overwhelming to you, ask us for help! We’d love to make up a name song for your child! The only thing we’ll ask for in return is permission to share the song! Send us an email ([email protected]) or a DM (via IG or Facebook) with your kiddo’s name, and we’ll post your kiddo’s song in our stories.