"So, do you have names picked out yet?"
I must get asked that question a couple times a week, most recently by the two pregnant ladies at the pool who had just said they were looking for ideas and that my children all have such interesting names. I see what you're doing there....but no, we have nothing definite planned.
The Computer Guy and I tend to lean toward more off-beat names and then settle on something a bit closer to normal. We've been told that our baby names are all over the place, following no discernible pattern. I'd agree with that. I've never once thought, "the children are named 1, 2, 3, and 4....I wonder what would sound good with that." I know people who do, it just doesn't occur to me. We tend to think of each new person as an individual and think about what name we like for them.
The truth is, I do have a name I'm feeling comfortable with for #7, provided she's a she and not a he (we find out in 3 weeks), but it's a bit out there. I prayed about guidance for names, because I'll be honest with you, I'm running out of fresh ideas, so I asked God for a suggestion. I got a pretty clear answer, and while it's possible He's messing with me a la Horatio, it's possible that He's serious. It's not a name that was ever on my radar....ever. I mentioned it to my husband who reminded me that while God can suggest things, we still have free will. So, I told my teenager who usually shares my off-beat appreciation for things. She's not sold on it. Then I found out that a person with that name had her cause for sainthood opened on the date of conception. Could she be offering to look out for our newbie?
Am I losing my mind? Possibly. The thing is, we have one girl name I like and he's not sure that he cares for. He has a girl name he likes that I think is way too common. We have a couple boy names we're tossing around for fun right now. Because this is one of the fun parts of parenthood. We get to pick their names. For a moment in our imaginations, they can be anyone we want them to be before we settle down to who they are.
In the past, we've told people the names we were considering only to be forced to listen to diatribes against names we loved and advice on what names would be a better choice and why. We're on #7. Just this once, it would be nice to get to pick one and use it without a chorus of opinions. I'd like to just say "this is our new baby, ________." People can roll their eyes and whisper about it behind our backs, but I doubt anyone will say "really?" to our faces. That will just be his/her name and the world will smile back, because it's hard not to smile when you look new life in the face.
So, this time we're going it alone. We're keeping it to ourselves and maybe from the children (because they blab, the big-mouths). I can guarantee you only one thing, it won't be Horatio.
19 comments:
We never tell our name choices prior to birth for that very reason... people generally won't criticize your name choices (to your face) after baby's already arrived.
We don't find out the sex before birth either. Drives my family nuts. (Just an added bonus...)
Yeah, I'm hoping to go with off-beat names for all future children as well. I don't want my kids to have the same names as everyone else!
Now I am super curious. :) But I am with you... people feel the need to give the most um, unhelpful, opinions before the baby is born. I doubt we'll share our name list.
Don't blame you a bit! This time around for us, we've shared with family and some friends, but mostly not shared. I have however learned just how big of big-mouths the kids really can be! :)
Heh, I found a way around that-- when folks ask if we have a name for the kid yet, I say "sure, we came up with a list of four girl names and four boy names before we even got married."
Of course, I don't mention that the girl name for Kiddo#2 wasn't on the list at all....
I might be tempted to tell them Horatio- girl or boy.. we really like it. Probably stop most in their tracks. :) But i'm mean like that.. and poor Jack probably would have left the hospital with NO name had it not been against the rules.
I can totally see your point on this. Working with kids has left an extremely LONG list of names that fall into the category of 'NEVER' should we ever be blessed with a baby. So, I have already decided that no one will know our name choices ahead of time, because I know how hard they will be to make. I sure hope The Man is OK with that - ha!
We made this mistake. My whole family told me they hated something (actually, they said "ewwwww" in unision) So, we went it alone too. It's fun! And, then you know you have picked a name because that is what you and only you as a couple have discerned. Plus, it's fun! Prayers!
I think Larry is an awesome name, by the way. Just sayin'!
How about Fox? ^.^
Will your readers get to know or will she always be #7 to us? :-)
Good choice Mama...you're seasoned now!
When people ask if we have a name picked out, I just say "Yes" and smile. More people know this time around (mainly because I've had the name picked since the last one was an infant) but I haven't told the kids either. Learned my lesson last time that toddlers can't keep secrets. Besides I like that this gives us something to announce when he gets here, since everybody already knows it's a boy. :)
You know how I feel about the whole name thing!! People don't know how to be nice, or courteous any more, therefore you get to keep the info to yourself! I can't wait to hear what the girl name is! (since I will likely never get to use one myself...) You could always tell people random Sesame Street names, Grover, Elmo, Grouch, Gordon, Big Bird. You know, give em something to comment on, it would work best if you were totally deadpan about it too.
Miss you!!
You go girl! Of course, you can always do what we did (after making the mistake of telling the name with #1), "We are going to call her/him SPOT!"
We never divulged names before birth. And we got in this silly pattern (by accident at first) of all the kid's names having an "h" as the 4th letter. Meghan, Joshua, Nathan, Zachary, Mathias, Rachel, Esther and Noah. Nature seems to have shut us down now, and none too soon as we were having trouble finding the right names that we both liked there towards the end!!
Sharon
Just do me a favor and don't name your kid anything on this site.
Well, we have been telling our names because we are set on them and I guess I didn't think that much about it. I am second guessing that decision for many of the reasons you brought up. Case in point, our girl's name is Elizabeth and I like the nickname "Libby" but most definitely NOT Liz, or Lizzy - no offense to those out there with those names, just not for us. Anyway, recently my step-grandma asked about the names and I answered "Elizabeth and probably use the nickname Libby". Her response - "Oh no, Libby is a totally separate name. Elizabeth is beautiful, but if you decide to go with a nickname, you should use Liz, or Lizzy." I almost fell off the couch. I just smiled and nodded....I was speechless. Oh well, if we have a girl, I am sure she will call the baby by whatever name we use. I am not worried, it was just so funny!
my mother in law isn't catholic so she has taken offense at alot of our names. with the first, henry, she said "that's a grandpa's name" and i said "Godwilling, someday he will be a grandpa."
then with our third, maximilian, she just shook her head. when we were pregnant with our fourth and hadn't thought of names she said "if you think of a name i don't like again, i am going to buy a dog and name is that name."
we named him george aloysius after birth- she didn't approve. now we hold our cards close to our chest. she jokingly asked if our next was to be named "bosephus". she has no room to make fun! her mom's name is nellie(which i kind of like) but her mom's twin was named dellie! and her mom has a sister named dimple!
Post a Comment