When parents prepare to welcome a new addition to their family, one of their main priorities - aside from making sure they have enough nappies and have a the cot built in time - is picking a name for their baby.
While some may deliberate over naming their baby after their favourite Game of Thronescharacter, others start the name-giving process months in advance by nicknaming the mother's baby bump.
According to a recent study of 1,500 mothers and fathers conducted by online parenting community ChannelMum.com, during pregnancy nine out of 10 parents opt for an alternative moniker for the baby bump.
Some of the most popular baby bump names among the parents included nicknames such as "Button", "Sprout", and "Pebble".
The study also found that it took the parents an average of 12 weeks into pregnancy to come up with a nickname for the baby bump.
“Choosing a bump nickname is a modern rite of passage where the child really starts to feel like an individual person," said ChannelMum.com founder Siobhan Freegard.
"Becoming a parent starts long before your baby is born and naming the bump is the first step to bonding with your tot."
More than half of the parents polled stated that they continued to use the nickname that they chose for the mother's baby bump after their baby had been born.
One in 20 parents said that their baby bump moniker influenced the name that they eventually gave to their child.
When it came to the inspiration behind their baby bump nicknames, thirty per cent of the participants said that the blurry image of their ultrasound scan helped to inform their decision.
Furthermore, 61 per cent of the parents said that they chose a name for the baby bump so that they could stop referring to it as "it".
Here are the 25 most common baby bump nicknames, according to the survey:
- Bean
- Little Man/ Little Miss
- Jellybean
- Pickle
- Squishy
- Bambino
- Button
- Sprog/ Sproglett
- Sprout
- Monster
- Bug
- Beanie
- Thumper
- Pebble
- Cupcake
- Dot
- Angel
- Thumbelina
- Grape
- Peach
- Spawn
- Tadpole
- Prawn
- Chickie
- Snowflake
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