Wednesday, February 27, 2008

The name game

I'm sure E will have more than 2 cents to add to this...

When we first found out we were pregnant, I uttered these words (ala "famous last words"):

"I want to have a name picked when we find out what we're having so that we can call the baby by name from then on."

Hmmm... so, we began to compile a list. Anyone who knows me IRL should not be surprised to learn that we used a book complete with graphs and statistics and then put that information into a spreadsheet (my most favorite-est thing on earth. just thinking about spreadsheets brings me peace. ahhh.....) The spreadsheet helped us eliminate names that were too popular (E has a fairly common last name, so a rather uncommon first name will be required) and let us compare names that were rather similar etc...

So, sometime in September, when the weather was still nice (pre-arctic conditions), we spent a lovely lazy weekend afternoon on our newly constructed deck where we settled on a lovely name... for a girl. We were absolutely unanimous (me, E and the spreadsheet). The name met our rarity criteria, our preferences criteria, included a familial (middle) name, and we BOTH liked it.

We managed to narrow the boy names down to a short list that day.

Flash forward to November, and we had managed to narrow the boy names down further to two with a sure shot middle name. December crept upon us and we found out we were having a boy yet two names still sat on the list. Then we knocked one off and added another one. E now asks me at least once a week, "what's the chance we're going to name him F.J.?"

I haven't wavered in my answer for quite some time now "60%".
Then she will likely counter, "What's the percentage we will name him H.J.?"
Of course, I can't resist, "60%".

Sure, we've been talking about names for years and years. How can you not when you'd been trying to have a baby for at least that long? Why can't I settle on a name? I don't know. Unwillingness to commit? Inability to realize that a little PERSON will be joining our family in 2.5 months? Plain old indecision? Quirkiness? I have no idea....

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

So difficult! Our boy name selection is ever-wavering too. Why are girl names so much easier? It seems harder to come up with a unique, but not too bizare, nice boy name. Any chance we can vote for you? That could bring a whole new debate in I suppose. I'll just wish you luck. Maybe you could try out the name by calling him one or the other for a few days and see what seems to settle best. Or maybe you'll have to see him to know which will fit. ox

Evillage said...

I CAN say, hands down F.J. 100%. I am not even sure why H.J. is even on the list anymore. I’m just waiting on my finicky overly analytical wife to catch up with me.

I think she finally caught up with me on g diapers. :)

Anonymous said...

OMG. Spreadsheets!? Scary.

When you decide, after he is born, please will you email us and tell us his name?! I need to know, and after that post, the suspense is killing me!

Anonymous said...

You had a spreadsheet for this? God, I love you! That's classic!

Carey said...

We're having a tough time coming up with a boy name too... although we've narrowed it down between two!! It's hard!!

Steph said...

We're also having so much trouble with our boy name. Hudson was the only name we ever agreed on and when the 1st was a boy, then Hudson it was. When we found out the twins are boy/girl we came up w/ a girl name pretty easily. (Well R came up w/ the name and she LOVES it, I like it and R didn't like any of the girl names I suggested, so the name was picked). But now the other boy - we've had the girl name picked for weeks now but still can't come up with another boy name. Like you we're down to 2 names...agg, but I can't decide. Good luck - a name is an important thing.

*G* said...

Maybe you're having trouble settling on a name because you need to meet him first and see if what name seems to suit him best!

Names are always fun to think about, but definitely difficult to decide on. We just sort of haphazardly came up with Mater's name one day over email when we were trying various combinations of letters scrambled together to (like you) come up with a unique first name for a very common last name.

Have fun making the decision!

Anonymous said...

ha! i made dp pick from a list, see i wanted a scottish name (since i'm scottish) for our baby if it was a boy. we didn't find out the gender in advance. for a girl, we had already agreed on dp's mom's name (she passed away very unexpectedly at 55 3 years ago) and my mum's name. anyways, we had a boy and he has a scottish name. now for baby #2 (ttc in january 09), if it's a boy we're back to "discussing" another scottish name. i have my favourites, none of which she likes...so good luck with your namegame!
p.s. spreadsheets? even i, the professional geek, never went that far, lol!!

Keri said...

Girl names seem so much easier. I have about six that I'd be happy with. Boy names...not so much. But just think, if you were Role Playing with Kids, you'd have to come up with TWO boy names! :)
Did that make you feel any better?

Merr said...

Names are so hard! We decided on Camden and loved it but after he was born I questioned it. It was too late then. I just wanted to make sure we give them the right name, you know. We have another boys name that we will use if we have another boy, but girls names are hard for us to think of.

E. from Pot o' Gold said...

You crack me up, Sara. "Spreadsheets give me peace"

We could only agree on one boy name through the whole pregnancy (though we had several girl names). We were hoping that if it was a boy he would come out looking like a Mateo. We think he did.

Good luck. Choosing names is not an easy task.

Anonymous said...

I feel like I have a guess as to the first name, but am not sure about the middle...and E -- will Tot have your last name?