Images from Baby Name Wizard & Twitter.

Technically I’m no longer a journalist so I can say with conviction that my bleeding heart leans left and always has. Since the news will always be a part of my life as a news consumer, I woke up and checked my news apps and Twitter feed for whatever happened in the world while I slept. I saw it. Chelsea Clinton had her baby and…wait for it…named her CHARLOTTE!

Well, that’s my daughter’s name!

My emotions were two fold:

1. Initially, I had all this name-nerd rage. “That’s MY BABY’S NAME!!!!” That only lasted for a split second because I realized I didn’t invent the name, nor does my kid own it. Also, when I named her that nearly four years ago I knew it was on the rise in popularity. It wasn’t “Emma” or “Sophia” but, it was climbing the charts back in 2010. Also, I didn’t want a made up name, so naturally other people would have that name and I needed to slow my roll and calm down, for real. I did check to see if the high-priestess of baby names, Laura Wattenberg, had weighed in on this. She hadn’t yet.
2. Then I thought. “Ahhh! It’s the same name as a CLINTON BABY!!!! A Clinton!” I grew up during the Clinton administration when America was all like, “Peace and economic prosperity! Whoa! Did you hear someone cloned a sheep?! Let’s go watch an episode of ‘Friends.'”

The fact that I came of age in the 1990’s, coupled with my liberal leanings meant I got very excited about this baby. I speculated as to why they chose the name. I retweeted Chelsea’s tweet and posted it to Facebook and Instagram while chuckling at my friends’ comments. I thought of all the agony I put myself through before we chose the name I knew all along my heart was set on. No, my Charlotte wasn’t named after the largest city in my home state. She wasn’t named after “Charlotte’s Web,” although, that would be a wonderful reason to name a child Charlotte. Her name sounds lovely and looks great on a resume. Ultimately, it was just the most beautiful name to me, so we went with it.

I watched this ABC News report and listened as they said “Charlotte” over and over. I listened to my baby’s name with pride. I hope the Clinton family enjoys their Charlotte as much as we enjoy ours. The name means “free or freedom.” My Charlotte is witty, kind, feminine and fierce. She teaches us new things everyday. I can tell you Chelsea, that raising a Charlotte has made life more blessed, more wonderful and more free.

I imagined the one woman in this country who had previously named her baby “North” as she heard the news of Kim Kardashian and Kanye West’s baby and chuckled. Dude, I’ll take sharing taste in baby names with Chelsea Clinton over Kim Kardashian any day.