What's in a name? Part 1

"What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet." William Shakespeare Romeo and Juliet

"It just couldn't smell as sweet if it were called a thistle or a skunk cabbage." -Anne of Green Gables

Take the name poll >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
As you can see there is a poll on what type of name we're going to choose for our baby. I have to say that is one of the most exciting parts of having a baby for me. It seems like such a big responsibility to name a person. Did you ever think if your life would be any different if you had a different name? I always wanted to have a name like Kimberly or Ashley or Kelly when I was little but I've been happy with my name for a long time now. In the back of every journal I've ever had I've written a list of names I've liked. Before we had kids Matt and I talked about names, but I knew I wouldn't be able to really think about it until we had a baby on the way.

So the name debate/obsession began. I spent the first half of pregnancy voraciously researching and discussing names. I would stay up so late every night doing extremely outrageous things like making graphs of name popularity over time, taking notes on projected popularity for names, different nicknames and spellings, the multiple meanings and origins of names. Now I realize that most people name a kid just fine without this kind of research but I found it fascinating- the science of names. Where they come from, how and why names become more or less popular, famous people with names... For example Matthew has been in the top 10 every single year since 1972. While Erin doesn't even appear until 1947, peaked at number 18 in 1983 (2 years before I was born), and has been gradually losing popularity ever since. Did you know both our dad's names John and Evan come from the same root and mean God is Gracious? Obviously the most important criteria is that Matt and I both love the name and we're 95% decided on a name that we had talked about before this research even began. We had 4 girl names we both liked. We only had 1 boy name so I'm just hoping no one chooses it before we have a boy.

So what is the name you ask?
We're not telling.

Now why aren't we telling the name? It's a tricky question and I'm not sure I'll always do it this way just because I'm tired of everyone giving us such a hard time. EVERYONE asks you about the name. There are 2 main reasons I want to wait. 1) Everyone has an opinion on names (too long, too short, too traditional, too weird) etc. Everyone has different good and bad associations with names based on who they know, movies, books, their own name etc. 2) I know myself. I'm too sensitive to not care about people's opinions. It took Matt and I so long to feel good about a name that I don't want to go through that again every time I say the name and see their face or hear a comment good or bad. I figure after she's born everyone will have to like it (or pretend to) because that will be her name and even if they give comments it will be too late.

So tell me what you think about your name. Those of you that have named children how do you do it? Why did you choose what you did in the name poll? I've probably built up way too much anticipation for the name at this point but it's been kind of fun to keep it a secret.

I'd have to agree with Anne not Shakespeare. I don't know if I would feel like the same person if my name were something else but that's probably how everyone feels about their name.

Just a side note- none of the example names in the poll are any of the names that we discussed seriously. The names were all in the top 1000 for 2007 except Chawanda but I had to add that for Cody's benefit. Part 2: explaining our baby's name statistics and origin that I took so long researching.
*** For name popularity this is my favorite web page http://www.socialsecurity.gov/OACT/babynames/index.html