Top 5 Baby Name Blocks- July 20, 2010
So, we still have no name for our daughter. It is my understanding that the Federal Government, specifically the Social Security Administration, really likes for you to name your baby. Plus, we gotta get this kid her own number so Mama and Daddy can cash in on our little 2010 tax deduction. Yep, I said it. Don’t act like you haven’t thought it.
But, we’ve run into some snags. I’m now convinced there is NO SUCH THING as the perfect name. Something is weird with every name on our list. No, we’re not sharing any names. We want it to be a surprise. (Apparently a surprise for us too.) We also don’t want opinions. But, on my blog I can post all the opinions I want. (Nah, nah, nah, nah, boo, boo!)
Our top 5 baby name blocks-
1. Agreeing- Ladies, remember when you were a girl and you had a crush on a boy and you would put your name with his last name, imagining if you married him one day? It was probably after the page in your notebook where you had played M.A.S.H. that morning on the bus. In that game, sometimes you had to think up names for your kids and stuff too. I loved thinking of names for my hypothetical children! I pulled names from books, or my babysitter’s soap opera. I’d make lists and draw little hearts around them. Check your 5th grade diary. I bet you have some there too.
Well, apparently boys didn’t do this and the first time they think of names is when they are grown men and their wives are pregnant. They often don’t like the name you had your heart set on at age 11. So, we’re working on finding the right name for both of us. I want Greyson and I to agree. It’s the first gift we’re giving our daughter.
2. Too common- Amy is popular. It was one of the Top 10 girl names in the 1970’s. I missed that decade but, there were one or two school years I was forced to be “Amy T.” because there was an “Amy B.” in my class. But, all the Amy’s born in the 1980’s had nothing on the Jennifer’s. I cannot keep count of all the Jennifer’s I’ve known in my life. Many of them quickly changing their names to Jen, Jenn, or Jenny to differentiate themselves.
Now, I feel like every baby girl born in the last year is Emma, Isabella, or Ava. (They pretty much were. Take a look.) Here’s the thing. There’s a reason these names went viral. They’re great names. Just like Jennifer is a beautiful name too. I have mad love for all my Jens. But, I’m not sure I want an Emma D.
3. Too unique- Ever said to someone, “What’s your name again?” “Oh, is that a family name?” “How do you spell that?” That may be because their parents just made it up. I feel terrible when I have to ask “What’s your name again?” It’s obvious those people get annoyed when everyone they meet mispronounces, misspells, and generally gets their name wrong.
Then you meet a Mayghann who gets pissed when you spell it Megan. Sorry! I mean, it is a weird spelling.
I love it that parents take time to name their kids something unique. It’s very special for a lot of people I know who love their names. That’s great, but I’m not sure I want my kid to deal with the spelling/pronunciation hassle.
4. Family names- We love our families. Like them? Not always. But, we love them and it would be nice to name our daughter after family members. Eh, maybe not. The names of our female relatives are pretty low on the cool meter.
Which is better, Olga, Gladys, Dortha, Mabre, or Lucille? Yes, those are actual names of some of our relatives. (Lucy has become rather chic. We’ll add that one to the list if it doesn’t crack the Top 10 in 2010.)
5. Name recognition– I’ve been keeping an ear out for names, and reading name blogs and message boards. I’ll find a name I like and then realize some bimbo from some reality show has that name and it ruins it for me. Or someone will say “My sister Janedoe and I…” Then I’ll stop listening. Wait. Your slutty sister’s real name is Janedoe. We always called her “Doe” well, “Hoe” behind her back. Then that name is also out.
I’ll probably never find the not-too-common-not-too-unique-family-inspired-non slutty-name we can both agree on. But, my quest continues. While there’s no such thing as a perfect name, I think we can find a name perfect for our girl.
What name blocks have you run into?
Disclaimer: I’m sure I’ve offended you or someone you love with this. My apologies. But honestly, I’m not talking about you. These are just my thoughts. This post is not about you or your name. Relax.
Spread it around:
Jennifer is my favorite name ever. Of course, we didn't name either one of our daughters Jennifer…wanted her to be an individual! Of course, we named one Katherine, and she goes by Katie. Guess how many Katie's were in her kindergarten class? SITS sent me by, and I'm glad they did!
90210 Emergency
I agree that there is no "perfect" name when you are actually naming a real child. (as opposed to naming hypothetical MASH kids). We never had some magical moment when our boys' names appeared in the stars. For both of them, the names came up in conversation, we kinda liked them, and then we let it sit for a while. We kept considering other names but would always come back to the "winners". And eventually those names stuck. My basic rules were not too common but not too weird, not able to be easily shortened, and not rhyming with anything silly. Travis and Justin, there you go.
Both of us did have first picks for names that the other did not like. I liked Isaac. Eric liked Ian. If we ever had twins we'd have named them Ian and Isaac. But since they came one at a time we compromised on names. Cause what if we had an Ian but never got an Isaac?
BTW, I love your blog. You are a great writer – your daughter will enjoy reading this someday!
We definitely had some trouble with people not "getting" the name we picked. Our daughter's name is Isis. We found it in a name book. I was actually just going through & picking out names I had any interest in & saying them out loud & my husband was going, "yes." "no." "eh…" stuff like that. Well, I said "Isis." And he pauses for a second, then goes, "I LOVE that!!!" And somehow it stuck. She was Isis from then on. Our families thought it was too weird & wanted us to pick something normal like Sarah or Emma or Elizabeth. It's just not us. Our choices other than Isis were Sonora, Willow, etc. They were all different. We liked Isis because it was different, but it was a real name & apparently it's an Egyptian goddess – which I didn't know when we picked it, but I found out soon after because most people recognize the name.
Anyway, I agree that I didn't want my kids to be one of 5 "so & so's" in class. There were a lot of Josh's in my classes & a lot of Jessica's.
Overall it has to be something that you & your husband love & are happy with. I think so many kids now are being named really different things that it won't seem weird to have a weird name.
I really liked the site Nymbler. Have you looked at that? You plug in names that you like & they give you similar names. http://www.nymbler.com/
Hubby wanted to name Damian, Davian. So he could call him Dave for short. My father's name is Dave. My mom hates him. So, that was out.
Hubby wanted to name Natasha, Lisa. There was a slutty girl that went to junior high with me named Lisa. So, nope.
Natasha was his second choice. Yay!
My daughter Sabrina has been referred to as Sabrina H. only once and she starts 7th grade in September. Sometimes, you get lucky.
I hated my name in school. Everyone called me Vineta, Vanilla, and Bonita Applebum. Sheesh.
Don't worry, it'll come to you.
I'm having a similar problem trying to choose a name for my not-yet-conceived daughter, nevermind that I don't even have a man in sight to knock me up. Ah, the carefree life of a single mom!
Naming my son was a breeze: I had promised my grandfather my firstborn would be named after him, and I did. Thank god my grandfather wasn't called Aleicester – then again, I probably wouldn't have promised in that case.
Enjoy your pregnancy! It's a blast! I can't wait to do it again, seriously.
Ah, naming babies. Not easy. Well, sometimes. With our 1st, we took 2 years to conceive and had a girl name and a boy name picked out before he was born. His name is Samuel (Sam for short). We didn't know anyone named that, but now there are 4 kids named that in our playgroup. Oh well!
It was harder w/our second and took much longer to agree, especially on the middle name. One thing I've talked about with my sister is that you sort of choose your 'naming path' when you name your first. If you name your first Sam or John, you're probably not going to want to pick Leaf or River for your second. Same with the other way around.
Hope your pregnancy is going well!
Since I am a Jennifer and was traumatized by being one of SEVEN in my first grade class, we agreed that we wouldn't pick names in the top fifty list.
We also had the added challenge of picking names that both of our families could pronounce. They still struggle with Penelope.
This website is good for predicting future popularity:
http://www.babynamewizard.com/voyager#
(Lucy is 101 now, but seems to be rising quickly)
Visiting from SITS #31DBBB – Wonderful list post! I am so with you! I HATE the baby naming process! Hands down it is my LEAST favorite thing about having a kid. It's such a huge responsibility to "do it right"!
LOL!!! This is an awesome post!! I remember having two names picked out when I was younger and I cringe at them now. The Hubble and I had a hard time agreeing on a name as well. He wanted some stripper type name and I wanted something classic. When the right name comes along you will know. I think I was 8 months before we settled on a name. It was one of those moments where the stars aligned and everything was right. We looked at each other and knew in an instant, that's the one. It will come…
Great list!!! I look forward to more from you!
Funny lady – nice post. Congratulations to you – you look great!
We knew we were having a boy and landed on a name surprisingly quickly – Evan Kenneth. I know what you mean about wanting to pick something that's not too common but not too weird. There are three Jakes in my son's pre-school class.
Good luck with picking the perfect name.
And btw, your dog may be the second coming, but my cat is fabulous. 😉
Thanks for coming by today and an even bigger thanks for becoming a follower.
All,
This is great! Good for Amy and I to know that our naming struggles (and over-analysis) is entirely normal
Thanks
I stumbled across your blog from The Bump. I couldn't agree with this post more. I'm due in less than a month and my husband and I still can't descide on a name!!
Amy, Thanks for stopping by to visit! Digg is overwhelming with all of the info and not really a step by step guide like most places I have signed up. I ended up using lifestyle educational as my niche on the bridal post. I am having hubby explore it today a little bit more. He enjoys this as much as I do. Good luck and have fun!
baby names are soo soo hard! I have two boys, I am thankful because we could not find a girl name we both agreed on. Oh well "laura" is a nice name haha your new follower
My parents considered naming me Stormy for about a week before I was born. Seriously. Stormy. Luckily when I was born they decided I look more like a Kate. Apparently Kate was a very popular name in 1978 because I was one of about 10 at my highschool. Oh well. Anyhow, my husband and I couldn't agree on a name for my daughter for a long time. Then one day I just said, "Hey, how about Maggie?" He said, "Perfect" This is a very long winded way of me telling you – just keep tossing them out there, and be prepared that when that little one is born, you may look at her and say "Hey, she is not a Stormy." I don't mean to freak you out in your pregnant state
Oh also, your blog is awesome.
This is a hilarious post! It's complicated. My boyfriend and I haven't even started trying to get pregnant yet, and I already set up a private social network for us on Ning where we share all kinds of things.
We actually have two forums for discussing baby names, one for boys and one for girls.
Okay, so that was my geek disclosure for the day.
Sometimes a name will just HIT you. You still have a good three months to decide on her name. My best advice, seeing that I will never be preggers (Thank the LORD!) is that you should just take your time. I know you do have some kind of limit, but her name is one that she will live with the rest of her life. I am honestly one to say that I love my name! I really do. Bryce is a unique fun name that has gotten me many compliments over the years. I do, however HATE having to go by my middle name because on all legal documents I have to put my first name. Also my secret first name was always blurted out on the first day of school and everyone would search around the room in search of this new student, "William Paschal" that no one had ever heard of before.
You both are so blessed and super smart ( most of the time) that I am sure that you will come up with the best name for that little beautiful baby that will be born on my birthday. *October 19th 2010* *cough* *cough*
Love you!
PS: love the quote "We love our families. Like them? Not always." hehe. How I feel most of the time. 😉
We did not officially pick our first son's name until I was holding him in my arms in the delivery room. And we did not tell ANYONE what name we were thinking of until after he was born. That way, no one could weigh in with their opinion and just accepted it as his name when they saw him.
I also had a really difficult time thinking of the "perfect" name, and I found it! One night I had a dream what his name was, it and just felt right. Of course, our second son was a different story.
But good luck choosing a name, and don't worry what anyone else thinks about it. She's YOUR daughter!
Read your post on Huffpo about how you agonized over her name. My daughter was born in April of 2010 and we also agonized. We finally decided on Ava Isabel (although I liked Isobel as a middle name but she would have nothing to do with it and Isabella as a first name) but we compromised. But what's funny is that we didn't look at popular names prior to deciding. We decided on Ava because of its classic nature.
I also love the name Emma, but every cat I've owned since I was a child has been named Emma and my wife stated "we are not going to name our daughter after a dead cat".
If we have a boy, the name will be Elliott James.
Read your post on Huffpo about how you agonized over her name. My daughter was born in April of 2010 and we also agonized. We finally decided on Ava Isabel (although I liked Isobel as a middle name but she would have nothing to do with it and Isabella as a first name) but we compromised. But what's funny is that we didn't look at popular names prior to deciding. We decided on Ava because of its classic nature.
I also love the name Emma, but every cat I've owned since I was a child has been named Emma and my wife stated "we are not going to name our daughter after a dead cat".
If we have a boy, the name will be Elliott James.
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