Thanks for all your comments yesterday! Our giveaway is turning out to be great fun. We’ll announce the winner tomorrow (FRIDAY) so don’t forget to check back! For all of you who signed up to follow and left your awesome comments, but don’t get your name picked, check your e-mails because we’ll be sending you a 20% off coupon for our etsy shop. Just to let you know we care. 🙂
Now, keep reading because I would like some advice today.
I have been thinking about baby names. Usually, previously, I have had no trouble in this area. My husband just lists off names until I hear something that doesn’t totally bug me and then we use that name for our baby.
Miss 8 has a crazy unpronounceable foreign name that is actually super meaningful to me. And she shares my middle name.
Miss 6’s name was the only one that didn’t bug me and she shares my mother’s maiden name for her middle name.
Miss 4 has the ultimate family name. With her first name we covered two generations on my husband’s side and her middle name covers two more.
Miss 2 has a cutie pie name, again, the only one that didn’t bug me while pregnant with her, and she shares her middle name with her aunt and my father-in-law.
Our plan is to keep the name a fairly closely guarded secret until we actually have the baby so we will have something fun to announce. Especially since we always have girls and planned c-sections. We need some element of surprise.
Anyway, the point of this rambling is that this baby will be coming in a week and a half. Right after the ultrasound my husband mentioned a name that surprisingly didn’t bug me and we have been planning to name her that. Sounds like there’s no trouble, right? But there is trouble, because for some reason I keep having this nagging worry that there is some family name she should have, some meaningful important thing that I am missing. I can’t totally commit to the name! And I can’t get my husband to worry about it with me! He just smiles and says we’ll know when she’s born. But that has never been the plan before- I like to have the name totally planned!
So, the question is, do I go with a meaningful family name that I have not decided upon at all and just hope it will come to me in the moment, or do I go with the usual plan- the name that doesn’t bug me while pregnant??? Comments and advice would be appreciated. If you have kids, let’s hear how you named them. If you don’t, throw in your two cents anyway, I’d love to hear your name preferences. 🙂
Adelle for an awesome aunt? Mary after a great grandma? Meghan has the same meaning at Madge so that’s how she came to be Meghan. Joseph is named after his two grandpas. James and John are family names. Good luck!
I was named after my father (Ned)…have never been really wild about the name…but it’s mine, what can you do?? They were waffling on Nedra or Elizabeth (after my maternal great-grandmother…I could have handled that, although I would have to be called “Libby” – no other shortened version would have suited me). They compromised by making my middle name Janet (after my maternal grandmother). On line I’m Jansy – but that’s my choice……..hmmm, is there a point to all this, you ask? Yeah there is…unless the “random” name is one that really, really SPEAKS to both of you, I’d go with the family name. I’m really into heritage lately, perhaps because I’m almost “family-less” now.
We were doing some family history last night and I like your point- I want my girls to feel tied to the family and to know they’re part of a long chain of people.
I’m like you and gave my boys the only name that didn’t bug John or I, turns out their names have the same meaning, one is Hebrew and the other is Greek. Guess we only have one name we agree on! My parents used to put a list of names in a bowl and draw one out, one time we kids drew it out, and that was the name. You could try that with family names! It would only be a problem if you really didn’t like the name! Good luck!
I guess Dan and I could try that- I can’t let the girls have anything to do with it. They pick out wild things or just make up words and beg us to name the baby crazy stuff. 🙂
As a massage therapist who specializes in prenatal massage, I get involved in a lot of baby name discussions. My advice is always this: pick something that there won’t be 4 of in the classroom, but that a teacher can pronounce when they get to it during the first roll call, and stick with your theme – if all your girls have less common names & you name one Sue, she’ll spend years in therapy wondering why she got the boring name. . .
Laura, I didnt’ know that you specialized in prenatal massage! Too bad we don’t live closer, I would have to try it out. Funny that you say that about the 4 in the classroom thing and the teacher pronunciation – we have done both of those things to two of our girls already. oops! Live and learn I guess. 🙂
Having a meaningful name is important, but I don’t know that it HAS to be a family name to be meaningful. I have a why that I share with my boys about their names, and that is what they love. Maybe the meaning behind the name is more of what you are missing. In my family, EVERYONE but me was named after someone- mine they just liked, and I was expected to be a boy anyway, so I think it was a last minute choice. I DO like my name, and think it fits me better than any family name that I have seen.
We try to tell our girls what their names mean, too. We have a pretty good mix so far of family names and otherwise but they all like to hear why we picked them. I don’t know why I’m having such a hard time with this one!
I think Chloe is adorable 🙂
You already know that your siblings are a mix of family names and just names that we both loved. So just go backwards and look for a name that you just fell in love with when you were growing up and see how it fits.
You could combine the name that didn’t bug you with a family name.
I used to spend hours pouring over the baby name book. And I would make lists to read to David (only in the last month) and he would tell me the one that didn’t bug him. How it rolled off the tongue (or didn’t), whether it sounded like a disease (or not). I totally failed in the common name department with almost all of them, even when we thought we were being original. Except for Kiley, the names all have Biblical ties and after Kiley that was sort of an unconsious goal. I didn’t realize it until afterwards but all the kids have a different first initial, which at our house makes it super easy to mark things like underwear, hats, water bottles, etc. Kiley and Micah were names that I picked out during my pregnacy with Kiley. I just like them and thier meanings. We just had to hold onto Micah for a few years. Naomi just seemed to fit her, but there was no way we could pair her up with a Ruth. That just wouldn’t work. Elizabeth is a name I have loved since Kindergarten. I wanted to name all my dolls Elizabeth. Zachary just seemed to fit him. RebekahAnn was very specific. She told David before she was born, what her name would be, the color of her hair, her weight, everything. I didn’t believe that he knew all that stuff when he told me, but when she was born, everthing was right on. With Olivia we were trying to be unusual, but it didn’t work. Do you know how many Olivia’s there are out there? #5 on the most popular baby names for girls for at least the last two years. And I always wanted to use the name Sarah and I finally got to with the last one. The only specific family name we used was Micah’s middle name.
Now that I’ve rambled on forever, just know that whatever you pick will be her name. And you will use it every day and it will come to mean her. Her family connectivness (is that even a word?) will come from you and what you teach her. I have an unually pronounced name that I love despite having to explain it to people all the time. David has a name that tons of other people have and he likes his name just fine. I’m sure whatever you choose will be wonderful.
I like hearing how you thought of all your names. What an amazing story about RebekahAnn! That would certainly be helpful if the baby just came and told me what her name was. 🙂