The name game

The pressure, the pressure. How do you pick the right name for your baby? How do you know once you have the right name, if it really is the right name? Naming is such a difficult, but fun game while you are pregnant. I really take naming pretty seriously. I have some definite rules and guidelines that Bob and I try to follow. Some rules he doesn't understand, but they all make sense to me.

I have always loved the fact that my name has a story behind it. I have very few friends who don't know how I got my name. I tell everyone. I was the third baby in my family. My father believed whole heartedly that the only option was that I would be a boy and my name would be Joesph John Simons IV. Very few girl names were discussed. There was the chance I would be a Liesel, but overall the only option was Little Joey. Well, surprise, surprise, I am a girl. When I was born, the nurse who delivered me looked at my parents and said, "You don't have a little Joey; you have a little Jodie." And there you have it, and thankfully that nurse was there to save me from Liesel. I am named after my father.

I am pretty proud of that story and love that there is so much behind it. I want my children to have the same feeling toward their name. When they ask me years from now why we named them their name, I want to be able to tell them exactly why and how we came up with their name.

With a last name like Wilson, I do think that it is important to come up with a name that isn't on the most popular lists, but I don't want names that sound too different. I also do not want their initials to spell anything. My husband spells R.A.W. and, since I got married, mine spell J.E.W. I also do not like reusing names. For example, we had a girl name for Calan, but that was his girl name, so I won't use it this time around. If Calan ever asks me what his name would have been if he was a girl, I want to be able to tell him and it not be his sister's name. It was special to Calan even though he was a boy.

We decided on Calan for a few reasons. We decided that we liked the idea of Scottish names since my husband has quite a bit of Scottish blood in his background. The more common Scottish spelling of Calan is Caelan. We just took out the extra E. Bob's brother's name is Calvin, so we also liked that the name was similar, but not the same name. It also is a pretty uncommon name, but doesn't sound off-the-wall crazy. His middle name is obviously Bob's first name. That was an easy one. For those interested, if Calan was a girl, he would have been Andie Elizabeth. Andie because I like girl names that are unisex, but that aren't too trendy and Elizabeth because that is my middle name.

As you can see, I might completely over think names, but can you tell me who doesn't? It is so important. Sometimes I do wonder what other's were thinking. For example, I had a middle school principal whose name was Richard Bitter, and with Dick a nickname for Richard, what was his parents thinking naming their son a Dick Bitter. Just wrong. I also know a Dick Flasher, who actually went by Dick. Seriously.

This time, we have a girl name, but we aren't sharing. I am pretty nervous about it. I feel a bit of pressure this time around to come up with something similar to Calan. Everyone, even strangers, tell me they like his name. I need something that stands out the same way. The name we have chosen I wasn't too sure about it right away, but somehow it has grown on me. Somehow, I just keep reverting back to her name. It has become her name over time and at this point I can't imagine her name being anything different. I hope she likes it and her story behind it when she asks. (And yep, she had a boy name too specific to her.)

How do you pick your children's names?