« welcome to the big 3-0 | Main | parenting 101 - baby talk »
the naming dilemma
By heather | May 30, 2008
For some couples, picking baby names is easy. We are not that couple.
I remember my sister-in-law confidently announcing the names they had chosen for both boy and girl. I was blown away by the fact that not only was she NOT going to find out the sex, but that they had chosen names without consulting any books, asking opinions, second-guessing, or lying awake at night! And they did it when she was barely 4 months pregnant!
(In retrospect, my other sister-in-law was also pregnant at the time, so maybe it was a mark your territory peeing on a tree name kind of thing. Which didn’t seem to matter in the least because Alex’s cousins have rhyming boy names - i.e. Jon and Ron.)
When we first started thinking of names for Baby 1.0, I devoured every baby book and magazine while simultaneously combing the Internet for advice on the perfect name. Brett and I each created separate spreadsheets where we listed every conceivable baby name that we could find from all subject matter. The we sat down, eliminated and merged, and finally came up with a master list. It still had 50 names on it.
We agreed early on that even if we chose a name we weren’t telling anyone until the baby was born because NO GOOD could come of sharing.
We figured if we told anyone there would be only three possible outcomes: over-enthusiasm, hesitant approval, or flat-out disagreement.
Over-enthusiasm - “OH MY GAWD I LOOOOOOVVVVVEE IT! EEEEEEE!!!” My reaction: You like it too much! You’re going to steal it! You’re pregnant right now aren’t you?
Hesitant approval - “That’s….nice…” My reaction: You hate it! Why do you hate it? We thought it was puuurrrfeeeect!
Flat out disagreement - “Why did you pick THAT?” My reaction: Who do you think you are? I don’t care what you think I LOOOVE this name!
See? No good comes with sharing.
(Funny enough, we get the exact same spectrum of reaction when giving people tours of our house. We get to the master bedroom, which is painted orange a warm and lovely color called “Pumpkin Toast”, although with paint colors my reaction is pretty much indifference.)
We eliminated a few more names. Finally I sent my friend Megan a list of at least 20 first and middle name combinations and she picked Alex Aiden. (And I can’t remember if I ever told Brett that I did that because Megan swore to disavow any knowledge of any baby name list. But I did it because we NEEDED HELP.) Even with the outside help we went into the hospital with three or four names and didn’t pick one until a day later.
Baby names are today’s topic because I’m getting asked now at least once a day if we’ve picked a name yet.
To which I want to reply, “Do you KNOW ME AT ALL? Of course I haven’t picked a name!”
Or better yet I’ll reply, ”Yes, it’s Xavier Alexander, after my first Cabbage Patch Kid” just because it will be fun to watch them think, “Isn’t she having a girl?”
So when the ‘What kind of baby names do you like?’ quiz popped up on BlogThings this week, I knew it must be fate. Here was the answer to my dilemma!
You Like Names that Are Retro and Fashionable |
 You like names that are from the past but becoming modern again.Names with a strong history are very appealing to you.You’re a big believer in giving children very adult sounding names.You’re not a fan of nicknames or newfangled spellings.Some female names you might like: Audrey, Emma, Fiona, Georgia, Isabelle, Naomi, Rosemary, and VeronicaSome male names you might like: Brendan, Colin, Ethan, Jared, Kenneth, Martin, and Nathaniel |
What Kind of Names Do You Like?
It’s not too far off, at least two of the girls names are on my current spreadsheet.
Except seriously? Martin? Don’t you know me at all?
Topics: baby stuff, this is why |
May 30th, 2008 at 12:56 pm
I hated being asked. Use a name a day whenever you and Brett are talking about Baby 2.0. That helped us eliminate quite a few.
Vicki’s last blog post..Friday 13: I Am Not A Dance Mom
May 30th, 2008 at 1:24 pm
I am boring, I like classic names. I did almost name Andrew after my grandfather, so he would have been Daniel, but Jim has a cousin with that name. My whole thought process is if you are the one pregnant, you get first dibs on the name and I still think you should name her the name you really want to…popular or not.
You prefer quality names that have stood the test of time.
You don’t like anything that’s trendy today and outdated next year.
Names are important to you, and naming someone should not be an social experiment.
You are the type most likely to name someone after a family member.
Some female names you might like: Andrea, Elizabeth, Hannah, Julia, Marie, Nicole, and Victoria
Some male names you might like: Aaron, Benjamin, Christopher, Jonathan, Matthew, Thomas, and Zachary
May 30th, 2008 at 4:48 pm
You’re still not gonna tell us are you?
Not cool!
Miss’s last blog post..Almost 3 years later?
June 5th, 2008 at 10:20 am
Love this. Obviously.
Swistle’s last blog post..Name Update