I'm pretty infamous around my forever church friends about wanting to have 8 kids when I was younger, and I had names for all of them. I don't remember most, but I do remember wanting a boy named Austin Bentley, and a girl named Sisera Barak.
What can I say? I was 11, and an idiot.
Now that I'm faced with actually naming a child, the choices become a little more important. I would rather eat dirt than name my kid Austin, and Bentley is a dog's name. And Sisera Barak, besides being weird and a name my husband would NEVER agree to, is named after Biblical characters who weren't exactly savory in their actions.
The middle name would definitely be Jeanne, no matter what. Ashley and I are both having this. Mom's middle name was Jeanne. Grandma Hume's middle name is Jean, and Mamaw Campbell's name was Jeanetta. Then, on Nick's side, his Grandma's middle name is Jean, his sister's middle name is Jean, and his aunt's middle name is Jean.
I had
* It could not end with an "-en" sound. I already have to deal with being AllisON WaltON, and the repetitive nature of that.
* I wanted it to be a name not in the top 100 names for the last several years, which eliminated my top name immediately. For a long time, I wanted to name a little girl Sydney (after the butt-kicking amazingness of the Alias character), but it's one of the most popular names for the last several years. I don't want her being one of 18 Sydneys in her Kindergarten class.
* I have several names that were eliminated because of past students.
* I didn't want to end up with any goofy initials.
* The middle name (if a girl) would be Jeanne, after mom, so it had to sound good with that--which immediately eliminated all names starting with G or J.
* No goofy spellings.
* Several names are eliminated because they are already in our family.
* I didn't want anything *too* girly--no Victorias or Gabriellas for me.
Making a choice with Nick has proven difficult, as well. Nick is a man with little original input, but lots of opinions. What I mean is that he doesn't give any suggestions for what to name our little girl, but he definitely employs veto power at a moment's notice. For instance, one of his main requirements was that our child not be named after a movie or TV character (well, drat). While seemingly impossible, he did say that we could get our name from a movie or TV show (because, let's be honest, almost every name has been used at one point or another), but it couldn't be an obvious one--like naming your son Mason because that's what the Kardashians did--and Phoebe and Monica were definitely out.
These are names that were rejected by Nick or I for one reason or another:
Sydney - Aforementioned veto because too popular and a TV name.
Felicity - Nick thought it sounded too frou-frou.
Maire (pronounced My-rah) - Nick really hated it. "We're not Irish."
Jada - Nick thought it was too ethnic of a name for us
Veronica - vetoed because of Veronica Mars
Cecily - Nick said it sounded like a city in Italy.
Iris - He just didn't like it.
Schuyler - He hated the spelling.
Lorelai - vetoed because of Gilmore Girls
MaKenna - I vetoed because it is too popular.
Harper - this was a frontrunner until I learned it is the fastest rising name in popularity. Darn you, Beckham family!
When I say that Nick rejected these names, most of the time it is an immediate rejection--I am talking, within the first 10 seconds.
So, when I said one name in particular, and he didn't veto it right away--and then said, "That one is okay." I immediately thought, "That's the one!!"
It sounds great with our last name, and flows well with Jeanne.
It hasn't been in the top 1000 names in the last 100 years.
It's girly but not too girly.
It is based on literature, but not a character's name. And it is based on literature that helped shape my growing up experience, so it makes it even more precious.
My dad liked it.
I love the meaning of the name.
Thankfully, the few people that I have tried the name out on have really liked it, and not deemed it "too weird".
and most importantly, Nick didn't veto it!
The *only* problem with this name is that Nick and I didn't really decide on the name together. It really was me coming up with it, and asking Nick what he thought. However, he hasn't really come up with any other names (like, really. None.), and he does like the name. How important is it that we do it together? Most people that I talk to have had similar situations--that is, one person comes up with the name, and the other person just agrees. But I do want Nick to feel like he has ownership and that it wasn't just a decision of mine.
Nick is hesitant to tell people the name. He thinks "it is too early" and that "we have plenty of time". However, I did ask him if we could just decide that it was the name, but not announce it to everyone, to which he said, "That would be okay." I feel like that is an acceptance. But, out of respect to him, we are not announcing it yet. I would really like to (because I am excited about it), but we're still waiting.
Now I am just praying that our name doesn't get chosen by Wills and Kate, or Kim and Kanye. I'm pretty much screwed then.
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