The Name Game

With just 6 weeks to go until this babe will be pulled from my belly, Craig and I have been talking about what her name will be. (And what his name would be if she should really be a he and fooled us all.)

No one told me how hard it is to name your own child, let alone find a name that you and another person both can agree upon. It’s a lot of pressure.

We didn’t have a definite girl name for M until she was born and Craig brought me our digital camera with a photo of our little girl. I was still strapped to the table getting put back together after an emergent c-section. We’d had the boy name all set. She’d have been Logan if she had been a boy. We (probably me) were waffling between two girl names, and when I saw her I decided she looked like an M. Craig was worn out emotionally after the excitement of the day and the scare of fetal distress and just agreed to whatever I wanted. I like to think that he likes her name, but who knows?

With K, we had picked out his name fairly easily. He’s named after my maternal grandfather, and he has Craig’s middle name, which was also Craig’s paternal grandfather’s first name. If K had been a girl? Olivia.

I like names that aren’t common, yet aren’t too weird either. (So I guess it’s good that my kids weren’t the opposite sex that they are since their opposite-sex names are much more popular.) I don’t want my kids to go through life as “Heather H.” like I did. Not that there’s anything wrong with my name, it was just popular.

I have yet to meet another M or K who is the same age as my child. In fact, I have met very few M’s or K’s at all.

So we (and by we, I mean I) are leaning toward D.

Don’t you just love my alphabet game?

D is right around the same level of popularity as M and K are. So in that way the name would fit well with the other kids’ names. I saw one D in the photo spread of babies born in 2007 that our local paper publishes every year. That concerns me a little as far as the name popularity goes, but it could be just a fluke.

There is also that teasing/name-calling factor to consider. I came up with just a few names that I thought kids might tease her with, but I’m sure kids will come up with more regardless of what we name our child.

I told Craig that I worry that people will think that any name we choose is too off-the-wall. He told me it doesn’t matter what other people think. He’s right, and he’s not right I guess. It really just matters that we like the name. And, of course, she like her name. But I do think it matters a little what other people we know think of the name. I don’t want her to hear even the hint of distaste when someone speaks her name.

Oh I know they wouldn’t mean for it to sound that way, but sometimes you can’t help your tone. We can’t always be on our best behavior. We’re not robots.

So I should just say what we’re thinking of naming her and see what the opinion is, right? Except I don’t want to say what her name is until she is born. Because that’s how we like to do it. And because I like that there is still something to announce since we already know she’s a girl (supposedly). Because if everyone already knew she’s a girl and her name will be D, what would I say when she’s born other than, yep, she’s here?

I’m not sure why this name is stressing me out so much. I think I’m just more hormonal this pregnancy (which would indicate a girl also with all that estrogen). Or maybe it’s just that I know that this is the last one.

I thought K was my last baby so I tried to really focus on the great things about having a new baby when he was born. I thought it was sad when he rolled over the first time though. I didn’t want him to grow so quickly.

Heck, I still don’t want my kids to grow so quickly.

How did I get a daughter who, in actuality, will be a first-grader in just 3 months time?

How is it possible that K is almost 4?

Come to think of it, how is it possible that I will have another child next month? And who will she be?

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Psst! I've got a new post over at Midwest Parents about my dilemma with Destructo-Boy, K.