- Colleen Slagen, a mom and nurse practitioner, is building her dream business thanks to TikTok.
- Slagen helps expectant parents choose names for their children, backed by data and decades of experience.
- Prices start at $250 for a consultation, and Slagen told Insider she's completed over 100 orders to date.
Even as a little girl, Colleen Slagen was already naming babies.
In elementary school, the TikToker remembers poring through yearbooks and phonebooks, dreaming up fake families and writing her favorite names in a journal for every letter of the alphabet.
Today, those passions have spawned a thriving baby-naming consultancy called Naming Bebe — as well as a sizable TikTok presence under the same moniker — for the 33-year-old mother of two, who also works as a part-time nurse practitioner.
Slagen told Insider she first dipped her toe into entrepreneurship while on maternity leave last year, offering her baby-naming services in a local mom-focused Facebook Group. In February, she started sharing her consultations on TikTok in a bid to scale the endeavor.
@namingbebe Hot girl CEO names only, please 🔥 #babynames #girlnames #nametok #babynameconsultant #babynameideas ♬ Summer day"There was a lot more interest than I expected," she said, "and then the business side of it just took off in terms of volume."
Slagen spends roughly 20 hours per week naming babies, and she has completed over 100 orders to date. There's currently a six-week wait for her services, she said, though customers can pay extra for rush delivery.
Even though she still works three days per week as a nurse practitioner, Slagen said she could conceivably work as a full-time baby-namer today — or, at least, that it "would be possible in terms of the demand."
On TikTok, where she has 47,000 followers, Slagen walks viewers through her process. Clients often request a name that goes with an existing sibling, or they'll have strict parameters around syllables, letters, and meanings, she told Insider.
In a recent consultation, for instance, a couple said they were looking for a "hot girl name with CEO energy" that would complement their other daughter's name, Spencer. They also requested that it not be two syllables and not end in an "n."
Slagen's top pick was "Sloane."
"The ultimate hot girl CEO name," she said, calling it "swift and simple but strong and alluring." Her other suggestions included Conley ("Coco is a really cute nickname") and Elliot ("a classic-sounding boy name that feels very unexpected on a girl.")
'I never thought it would be a real thing,' Slagen said of her business
Slagen isn't the only baby-namer on TikTok, which speaks to the growing popularity of the niche. And while she said the profession predates the digital age, social media has made people more excited about choosing and revealing their baby names, as well as intensified the desire for unique ones.
"It's definitely a pinch-me moment," Slagen said. "I really used to joke about, 'If I could do anything, I would name babies.' I never thought it would be a real thing."
In addition to her personal expertise, Slagen relies on Social Security's annual list of the most popular baby names, which helps parents steer clear of ubiquitous options. It also reveals interesting trends, Slagen said, such as names inspired by the TV series "Yellowstone" (like Dutton and Kayce) are exploding in popularity.
@namingbebe Crew, Krew, Crewe, Crue…what will it be next?! #babynameconsultant #nametok #babynames #babynameideas #boynames ♬ original sound - ColleenAlthough her business is still nascent, she fields many requests a week, including some strange and challenging ones. According to Slagen, one client wanted "dark, gothic names" with a "Game of Thrones" vibe. She's also been asked to change a child's name, to help name a business, and to help a couple come up with a new joint surname.
Prices start at $250 for either a prerecorded video comprising eight name suggestions or a written report of 10 suggestions along with analyses. The latter is the most popular option, Slagen said, but her most expensive package is 30 baby name ideas for $400.
While it may seem like an odd niche to the uninitiated, Slagen said customers seek out consultants because it enables them to bounce around ideas with an objective third party. It also allows them to easily keep the name a secret.
"I think I'm surprised just because it is such a personal thing and so to let somebody else in on that is very intimate and trusting," she added.
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