Should You Put the Name Before the Baby?

I’m always amused to see the different timetables that our forum visitors put on choosing baby names.

Help! Only four weeks to go and no name!!, one expectant parent will panic.

Others only feel urgency around baby names when the labor pains kick in, while some berries have their baby names complete with middles lined up years before they’re expecting, and still others are vacillating about the name months or years after their child’s birth.

But the big division over the timing of settling on the final baby name seems to be: Before or after the baby’s born?

Should you have the name decided and ready before the baby’s arrival?  Or should you wait until you see your child to pick a name that fits?

What should come first, in your opinion: the baby or the name?  And how did that play out in your real experience?