Ok so I know it has been a ridiculously long time between drinks. I know that most of my audience has probably grown old and died between blog posts...but much has been happening and I have not the time tonight to go into details.
Suffice to say that we are once again choosing names to apply to a small member of our family yet to be born. This time we are choosing female names.
You would think that choosing a couple of names for a small girl would be easier than choosing a name for a small boy. You would think. But no.
Choosing a name for Bede was relatively easy. We always liked the name and I had done a thesis on the historical figure of the Ven
erable Bede, and the name means 'prayer' in Old English. Our first son was always going to be Bede.
But when we fell pregnant I choked. I thought "can you really name a kid Bede in this day and age?" We looked at all the other ideas on our list and came up with nothing. But when he was born, he was Bede. It was that easy.
This time it's not so easy. We had a boy's name all picked out (even though I wasn't wild about it, I could live with it) but could never agree on a girl's name. Female names are fraught with emotional baggage. Specially for a teacher who went to a single sex school. So chances are every name has a face sitting behind a desk in a classroom. And chances are every name has more negative associations than positive.
So we both have our preferences. And both of us have non-negotiables. It makes it very hard to come up with viable options. And since we know it's a girl, it means we have to come up with something...I know we have a few more months but I like to be prepared.
My need to be prepared is one of the many reasons I needed to find out what we're having. Some people want to be surprised at the birth and hear the Dr say "It's a ____"... I figure it's a surprise whenever you find out what it is, so I'd like to know now thank you very much!
Tell me, how did you choose your child's name? Did you go with a Biblical name? A family name? The name of a particular celebrity/friend/influential person?
i'm still reading! have no name ideas tho
ReplyDeleteWe don't know what we're having but our daughter has chosen our girls name - if was something she just came out with one day and we were stuck, so we were delighted when we realised it worked with our surname and was also something we both really liked. Is sort of biblical when you translate from the greek! I really hope we get to use it!
ReplyDeleteCongratulations! I have had girls names picked out since I was 14. Fortunately, I still love all of them (I'm a fan of very classic names). Unfortunately I'm done with the baby-making and don't have a girl to bestow a name on.
ReplyDeleteBut boys names? It never, my whole life, occurred to me I would have a son. When I found myself pregnant with #1 I wanted Alexander, but over the months, I forgot about it and wanted Jordan. My husband wanted Ethan. I was trying to get jordan alexander and he was trying to get Ethan James.
I accidentally (in our 'arguement') switched it and said but "Alexander Jordan is perfect). We looked at each other and he was named. (I regret his middle name now, but it's too late to change it. I wish I'd used Edward, my father's middle name and another classic name to go with Alexander).
#2 was easier. I wanted Benjamin and Joel wanted William. We joked that we'd have to compromise on Samuel, the only name on our lists that matched up.
I had an ultrasound that Joel couldn't make it to. I stared at the screen, and unbidden "Hello Baby Sam" came out of my mouth.
I didn't even tell Joel. That night, he scanned the ultrasounds pics for me. I got such a shock when I opened the file. He'd named them (mostly as a joke) Sam's first pictures.
So Samuel Thomas kind of named himself. :D
I always wanted Evangeline because I just love the name and the meaning...we hope she will grow up to tell others about Jesus. Eric loved it so there was no decision needed. Juliette was named last minute walking across the carpark into maternity because I had gone into labour two weeks early and didn't have the name decided. We had two final choices so I asked Eric to pick one so that the baby had a name when she arrived and he chose Juliette. Juliette is after the ballet Romeo and Juliet because I LOVE ballet and that is one of my favourites. We chose the French spelling to go with Evangeline. My sister and I have a greek and french name so it is nice that the girls have a greek and french name. We don't shorten either although Evangeline calls herself Angeline.
ReplyDeleteDave and I had out boys name picked out before we even started trying for a baby, after his grandfather and mine, and so it was inevitable that we were going to have a girl! We could not agree on a girl's name for the longest time, mostly because I loved heaps and Dave loved none. One night I was reading him my list to see if he liked any and Mia was the only one that he liked and so Mia it was!
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