My approach was more personal at first, I would choose the child that emailed home the most from college as if they had the most interest in keeping in touch with their family

After a few times of having no kids email home, I let my boyfriend choose who gets to take over the house or I do look for whether they want to have children or not as well as their jobs.

In one family however, I always name one little girl after her mother if she looks exactly like her and she takes over the home.