Before I became pregnant—before I was even sure I wanted to be a mother, really—I knew I would name my child Ellis. There’s family history behind it, but I also loved the literary connection (Emily Brontë’’s pen name was Ellis Bell).

But then I found out I was expecting twins. 

It never occurred to me before that I might need two names, but I found the challenge exciting. The search started small, at first. I casually scrolled through baby name lists, lurked in various Reddit communities, and asked a few friends and family members what they liked.

When that didn’t yield results, I asked my parents and mother-in-law to send family records. I kept going deeper down the rabbit hole, even dragging my husband to a local cemetery to spend an afternoon looking at tombstones for unexpected “vintage” names. I reached out to baby name consultants I followed obsessively on TikTok, desperate for their suggestions. Still unsatisfied, I considered giving up all control and letting my husband just surprise me.

I knew I was overthinking the whole thing and taking it too far. But as a writer, I couldn’t let go of the feeling that words matter. That a name can shape who we are, good and bad. My daughter, Ellis, would have a name that held so much significance. Didn’t my son deserve the same?

I was seven months into my pregnancy when I had an idea: What if I let him have a say? Would a psychic be able to connect to my unborn baby and...simply ask? 

As it turns out, I’m not the first person to do this. The two psychics I ended up working with both told me they frequently see pregnant clients. Not so surprising when you consider that one in three Americans say they’ve experienced a psychic moment, according to YouGov Omnibus.

The Internet and social media have normalized interest in once taboo topics like astrology and belief in the paranormal, something that became more than clear to me when I was pregnant. Anytime I shared my due date, the response was almost always, “I love Libras!” 

Elizabeth April, a clairvoyant, intuitive psychic, and the author of You’re Not Dying You’re Just Waking Up, says it’s absolutely possible for parents-to-be to be in conversation with their child before the little one arrives earthside.

“Psychic or not, I believe that we can all connect with what I call baby beings, or little baby spirits,” she says. “Typically, when you’re contracted to have children, those spirits will be around you for life so a psychic or medium can tap in and see what souls are attached to you and wanting to come through. And yes, sometimes they’re very opinionated on names. Sometimes they’re just like, hey, whatever goes.” 

She points to herself as an example: When she was 18, April was in a deep meditative state when a little boy came into her consciousness and said, “Hi, mom. My name is Bodhi.” It wasn’t a name she’d heard or considered before—but when she gave birth years later to a son, she knew immediately what his name would be.

“I had to Google the name,” she says, laughing. “But it was great because he even gave me the spelling. It’s spelled like the bodhi tree, which means enlightenment or awakening, which, of course, is totally my vibe.” 

If your future child doesn’t have an attachment to a name, April says, you can still ask a psychic or medium about their disposition to help influence your decision. “Even if the psychic doesn’t give you the direct name, tapping into the personality can really match one to their vibe,” she says. “Like, ‘Oh, she is whimsical and loves nature.’ Or, ‘He’s super artistic.’”

That’s what happened to me. The psychics I worked with both said my son didn’t have a particular name in mind, but that he liked the idea of something formal—names that “conveyed strength” and “had some weight,” in their words—with the option for a quirky nickname. Interestingly, they also were aligned in describing his personality: an old soul, smart, a natural leader, introverted but with a great sense of humor. 

Dear departed loved ones may want to weigh in on your baby name too. A parent by the name of Carissa tells me she was considering hyphenating her child’s last name to honor her late grandmother when she saw a medium.

“They said, ‘What’s this about your child’s name? She’s saying, ‘You don’t have to do that,’” Carissa says. “It kind of validated things for me, because I had been going back and forth.”

But according to April, you don’t really need to meet with a psychic or medium to learn if a name is the right fit or not. “I believe everyone has intuition,” she says. “A lot of the time, we have to ask ourselves these questions and then just be really open-minded and patient enough to listen to the answers.”

Is there a name that keeps coming up at seemingly random times? Did you hear a name and immediately get a positive feeling in your gut? Pay attention, April says, because those could be signs you’re on the right path. 

“I want to empower the individual not just to go seek advice and psychic readings, but to find those answers from within,” April says. “And to know that they are more connected to their children, born or unborn, than even a psychic could be. It just takes a great amount of listening to tune in.”

And just because you talk to a psychic doesn’t mean it’s law. After hearing so much about my son’s personality and name preferences, I asked if my unborn daughter had thoughts on being named Ellis. “She doesn’t really like it,” one said bluntly. The other was a little softer in her approach, telling me that she kept seeing flowers whenever she connected to my daughter. “She may end up nicknamed after a flower in some way,” she predicted.

We’ll see if that comes to pass—for now, I can’t picture calling my children anything other than their given names, Ellis and Harrison “Sonny” Earl.