No, this picture does not have anything to do with this post.
Many of you already know of NieNie and follow her blog and I'm sure many of you follow her sister C Jane's blog. C Jane just had a beautiful baby girl that she named Ever. Ever Jane Kendrick.
She wrote all about the naming process here and the post made me smile from ear to ear. It's about the difficulty of finding a name and then sharing it with others. This is especially true when it comes to untraditional names. Even with traditional names someone always knows a so-and-so with that name that they didn't like or so on.
As we don't know the gender of the baby yet we haven't gotten serious about names. I almost cringe when I think about having to name the baby. You see, I'm not a fan of traditional names for our little one. I think good, classic names are beautiful but I'm looking for something unique.
Not that I want to traumatize my child. I really don't. We laugh at some of the celebrity names we've heard. For instance, did you know that Jermaine Jackson named his youngest Jermajesty? Some countries have gone so far as to have laws against certain horrid baby names. I read an article a few years back about court rulings against names such as: Talula Does the Hula from Hawaii (yes the "from Hawaii" is part of the legal name), Fish and Chips and what translates in English to Smelly Dog.
My names aren't nearly that....unique. Or shall we just say cruel.
The problem is that 99% of the names I throw out there get the blank stare, nose crinkle or look of concern. It makes me understand why some people don't tell anyone the name of their baby until s/he is born. I know that whatever name we pick will come with mixed reviews. When I look thru top 10 baby name lists it's in order to cross them off my baby name list. I'm just odd like that.
In a way, this shouldn't be surprising at all. Less than a year ago people were crinkling their noses at my wedding ideas and look how great that turned out! But this isn't a wedding, this is a name that will last a lifetime. I'm sure whatever we end up naming the baby will be just fine down the line. People will adjust and get used to it.
Right?
How did you find the naming process?
I made a list of the names I liked and C went through it and picked the ones he liked from my list. :) We ended up with names of characters from The West Wing --totally by chance (even though we're both fans of the show). Now Chinese names? That's a bit more complicated, although not as complicated as it might have been if I'd followed the more traditional ways of naming a child. :) I got to pick and choose from characters that my parents put together and I chose based on meaning and how it would sound phonetically. :)
ReplyDeleteThis is precisely why I don't tell people what we're naming. Then, once it's on the birth certificate, then well they can't say anything about it. We usually tell immediate family, but we don't really care if they love or hate it, it's not their baby and they will love it even if it never had a name. ;) I like non traditional names, and names with meaning. Our son's name is not only a family name (his Great Grandmother, no less!) but it as a really special meaning to me. As for this baby, we're having quite a time. We've narrowed down some boys names, but I'm at a total loss if it's a girl. Really, girl names are the hardest for me! You'll find that name! I promise. You might be like my good friends who had two names at the birth of their baby, and when they saw her for the first time, they knew which one fit her perfectly. :)
ReplyDeleteOh, and that lamb is PRECIOUS! I love lambs.
ReplyDeleteWe laid in bed one night about 5 months pregnant. And went through names. We wanted traditional names with a little flair. By the time we went to sleep we had a boy name & a girl name picked out. My sister-in-law is expecting and have picked a most unique name, but I don't feel obligated to share it..sorry. Have fun picking!
ReplyDeleteWe chose traditional names who's meanings are important to us.
ReplyDeleteHannah means Grace, which is my grandmother's name. Marilyn means from the line of Mary, my mother, both grandmothers and great-grandmother were named Mary. My mom's mom was Mary Grace and Mom was Mary Judith. They both went by their middle name.
Christian was a family name as was Ross.
Lara means promised. We tried for so long and went through so much to finally have her that is fit her perfectly. Evelyn was my husband's grandmother's middle name. She got to meet her just before she passed away.
I wanted my children to have a sense of family and belonging in their names. To know where they come from and appreciate those people who came before them and made them who they are.
Whatever you do, do it for you ... well and for your husband. Please don't allow someone's outside opinion to change your mind or deter you from naming your baby what you both decide on. I made that mistake and have forever regretted it. I knew what I wanted to name my first daughter. I went in to labor with her name chosen. When my Mom turned up her nose and said "you can't name her that" ... well I thought I had to listen to her and quickly chose another name. It all worked out OK and I do love my daughter's name ... but ... it wasn't my first choice and that's still disappointing to me. My daughter's 25 now and I still miss not having my Johnna Rayleen.
ReplyDeletesometimes a person can have a name all picked out and when baby arrives and their personality shows on their little face you do a total change of names ... flexibility is good when it comes to babies!
ReplyDeletehuh, tough one, I always loved the name we choose for our son and the other name I had on the list sorta sounded like a story book character so I wasn't sure if that was going to be torture later, alas we went with what I always loved! you will find it, it will just fit!
ReplyDeleteOh goodness, I can't even imagine the pressure of having to decide on a name for another human being! Good luck! I'm a fan of classic names that haven't been "in style" for decades--so they're unique now. But of course, there's always Jermajesty. ;)
ReplyDeletePicking a name is one of the hardest parts of having a baby for me! Our last baby went a couple of days without one after the name we had originally agreed on didn't seem to fit her. A few times I've been drawn to a particular letter and then take it from there. It's like a wierd pregnancy craving maybe...maybe not. Good luck on picking one and don't worry about what people think as long as you and B like it. My mil HATES my fourth childs name and refused to call her by her name for at least a year and her name isn't even unusual, it's Evelyn. Go figure.
ReplyDelete☺ Celeste
I have always loved names. When I was in junior high, I started making a list of names I would name my future kids. When I was pregnant with my first, the popular names at the time were Ashley, Brittany, Heather, Jessica. But I decided I wanted something different but not too way out. So I made up the name, Ev'Yan. (Some think I got it from the water but the pronunciation is not quite the same.)
ReplyDeleteMy next baby I wanted a name with a meaning but one that applied to the joy of having him/her. I chose Jaran because in Hebrew, it means, "to sing" but then, she was a girl so I added an 'i' and the became Jarani. I get so many compliments on their names. Both of my girls say that they can't imagine being named anything else.
You will find the perfect name. Don't let anyone tell you what they like or don't like. Jermajesty is a bit out there or like George Foreman who names all of his boys, George. I just know you and B will find names that fit your prince or princess.
You are so creative, You'll come up with a terrific name ... If you and B are happy with it, then that's really all that matters!
ReplyDeleteTony got to name Corey (from an old rock band member ... go figure.
I got to name Jeffrey ... of course ... mine reason was just as deep ... after a soap opera character who was steadfast and loyal, handsome and loving!
Fortunately, Jeff lived up to his make believe name sake!
I just squeezed my eyes shut and stabbed the pen onto the page of names.
ReplyDeleteI'm kidding.
But that might work...
We used family names, mostly. Such fun. Picking names are high pressure. And you can't even drink a glass of wine to help with that!! LOL
I also, if you can imagine, liked the idea of naming my child a non traditional name. Ojaio (pronounced like the sate of Ohio) means river in Cherokee and Justin has a little bit of that in him. This was going to be the name of our son, that Justin was convinced we were going to have. Once we found out it was a girl, Justin asked me if it was okay for us to name her Ojaio.
ReplyDeleteWe ended up pushing what would have been her first name, Lux, to the middle. Lux is the name of the main character in the film Virgin Suicides. I've been in love with that name ever since I saw the film. Ojaio is so fitting for our daughter. I think it's a very strong name and Ojaio is a very strong little girl. :)
We had first names that we knew we liked, but for middle names we looked through the book and would take the more traditional names we liked, like Jacob, and we would look at similar ones like Jacobis.
I say have fun with it. Go with what you truly love. You're so creative, I know you'll find the perfect name for your babe. Don't care what others think. As you can imagine, everyone (grandparents and great grandparents) thought we were really weird for naming her Ojaio. But it really just doesn't matter anymore. -Holly
Jermajesty. Oh my goodness...laughing, laughing.
ReplyDeleteMy mom works in a hospital doing birth certificates and she can tell some funny stories about names. There is some crazy stuff out there.
Our kids are named after us (first girl-after my husband, with my middle name; son-after me, with husband's middle name; second daughter-uh, oh, we used up all our names! But she came after two miscarriages and so we looked and looked at names for the whole time and came up with a meaningful one for her/our situation-Eliana means "The Lord responds." You have to do what is right/meaningful for the two of you, whether that is family names, names that carry a significant meaning, or evoke certain memories or emotions. Although there are certainly some really strange names that people come up with (Orangejello and Lemonjello? Is that really for real?!) whatever you guys decide on will probably not be so outrageous that your family members will never speak to you again or die laughing every time you show up with the baby and they have to introduce you. :)
We knew we were adopting a girl, so we didn't have to worry about boy names. I wanted a name from the bible, but not a well-known one like Rebecca, Sarah or Mary. Naomi fit the bill, and it is fairly unique in that she has only met one or two other Naomis in her short life.
ReplyDeleteI agree, keep the name(s) to yourself, and just let it be known when you announce the birth!
yes and YES! We told people Dan's name and even though that's a bogstandard name we got the stony faces and "Oh" or "Just Dan? Not Daniel?" comments... This time we're trying to keep it secret, except Dan has already told quite a few people.
ReplyDeleteI've really struggled this time round. We had a boys and girls name set up before we knew the gender and I preferred the boys names!! I downloaded the most recent UK top 100 girls names just to check where our name came... nowhere on the list HOORAY!! Haha, aren't we contrary?!
oh and don't get me STARTED on trying to decide on spellings!!!
ReplyDeleteThirty some years ago I, too, wanted a special and unique name for my baby. Something that could express the great love which I had for her before she was ever born. Her name is now quite popular. So much for being unique! LOL.
ReplyDeleteMany of my young women acquaintances have "unique" names for their children. Nice names, to be sure. But they are so unusual, with strange and unique spellings, that I find it very difficult to REMEMBER the children's names! That's very embarrassing for me. The names seem (to my feeble brain) only a collection of symbols that I have to "memorize" instead of "remember".
Isaiah was biblical, Taurean was unusual and John liked it, it was the ONLY name we both liked. I love unusual names, especially poetic ones like Ever. I get the biggest kick out of cool names!!!
ReplyDeleteI think naming a baby is one of the most important things you will ever do. Not to put any more pressure on you or anything... ha.
ReplyDeleteBut, it is important. I guess because I think that people become what their name is. Does that sound too mystical? I don't think so. I really think that the naming of something is powerful and personal and in some small way, prophetic. I knew Sloane was the name for my daughter immediately. Later I found out that it means "warrior". I love that.