Tuesday, February 19, 2008

The Name Game

The responsibilities associated with becoming a parent start well before delivery. Truth be told they start well before conception. However, for many parents the pressure starts mounting right around the time you come to the realization that you actually have to name the little person growing inside you and that this isn't an easy task.

As you know, the Hoos and I have opted not to find out the gender of Bun. While I wouldn't say this makes our job twice as tough, it does at least require us to have both male and female names at the ready. When I was pregnant with LP, I knew that if we had a girl she would be named for my grandmother. We only needed to come up with a middle name and a boy name. I say "only" but it was still not easy.

This time around we need a new girl name and we need to reevaluate boy names. The Hoos is just starting to warm up to the process. I have had to tell him at least a dozen times that "Waldorf Garchunk" is not a suitable name for a little boy (apologies to anyone out there who has this name, I am sure it fits you perfectly). He was joking, of course, but I have my work cut out for me.

In addition to making up fictitious, ridiculous names, the Hoos likes to lampoon any name I come up with. His comments range from "NO! That is the name of a pudgy kid that eats paste in the corner in nursery school" to acting like a kindergartner and making up juvenile nicknames, i.e., Fat Pat or Hairy Gary.

I have found myself listening closely when other people introduce themselves to see if I like their name. And the Hoos and I might be in the middle of a totally unrelated discussion when one of us throws out a "How about THIS NAME". And I test out names on LP to see a. if she can say it and b. if she "likes" it. In fact, last night I told her a name and I swear she repeated the name and said "I like that." The Hoos heard it too!

Not that we are not looking for validation or recommendations from our friends and family on names. Ultimately our kid will love it or hate it and blame us for any problems regardless. But hopefully, just hopefully, we will pick a winner...And by "winner" I do not mean a name that spends the next 10 years in the Top 10 of the SSA name list.

5 comments:

KiKi said...

Taekwandoa? Atticus Charles? The possibilities are unlimited...

Perhaps go the way of the Phoenix family? Summer, Rain, Liberty, River, and Joaquin.

Or use this helpful site to find a wonderful, oh so appropriate name. Like Crystal Shanda Lear.

Happy searchinb.

Robyn said...

Hubby and I had the SAME conversations when we were pregnant w/Bear (we didn't know gender either). We had 2-3 boy and girl names each and waited until Bear was born to get a look at him and see which one fit. I think we chose perfectly and I'm sure you will too!

A's Mom said...

I actually went through my geneology chart on my mom's side of the family to get some ideas. We chose one that actually had a German meaning to it because my husband is part-German... and he really liked being stationed in Germany... and he really wants to go back. It was a no brainer.

Tiffany said...

To me one of the hardest things about having a baby is picking a name! Once that is done everything else is easy - I would rather go through labor than have to pick a name again. I really wanted to name Lily, River but the idea was vetoed by hubby. Good luck!

Anonymous said...

My great uncle used to tease my mom and tell her that if she had a boy she should name him Oscar Herman and if she had a girl should name her Penelope Candace and call her Penny Candy.

Neither of which are on the top 10 on the SSA lists. ;^)