I wish I weren’t so picky.
In most of life, I’m a pretty easy-going gal. I don’t consider myself a very fussy person, but there’s one area where I’m over-the-top picky: choosing names for my wee ones. Some friends I know have picked out names since they were young enough to play with Barbies–their dolls’ names were the names of their current kids. I find myself jealous of these ladies, as with each pregnancy I find myself on the absolute opposite end of the naming spectrum. With each pregnancy, it stresses me out so much that I delay finalizing a name until it’s way too late (as in a couple days post-birth). We’re rapidly approaching the ‘too late’ zone. But, I suppose both boys have names, so maybe ‘too late’ is acceptable?
I named my #2 Thatcher, because I put out a plea on facebook and a friend came through with the name idea. It was a top contender of 3 others, and Michael and I really liked it. So, Thatcher he became. For this one, I put another plea out. I got a ton of responses and have been sifting through them-name by name.
Though I only put out a few qualifications on facebook, I have several criteria for my name selection–which make it almost impossible to find one I LOVE. So, here are my picky qualifications:
1. I don’t want a name that is popular–Can’t even flirt around the top 500 list. Names that I like such as London (94 in popularity-seriously?), Piper, Tessa, & Jada are automatically ousted from possibility when I find they are higher up on the “what everyone else is doing” list than I had imagined. I’ve always enjoyed my unique name and though I don’t wish for a weird sounding name, I also would prefer my child to not share the same name as another student in their school classes.
2. I want the name to sound dignified with a ‘Dr.’ or “Attorney’ title in front of it…Or as I imagine them walking across a graduation stage, it has to sound dignified. Too cutesy of a name and I can’t do it.
3. I don’t prefer for a name to end in “IE” or “Y.” I’m willing to break this rule, but in general, I don’t prefer them.
4. With my last name having a long ‘A’ sound, I am trying to avoid another long A in the first name to make it too sing-songy.
5. It needs more than 1 syllable because we have a harsh-sounding, one-syllable last name which needs something more than another one syllable name.
6. The name can’t evoke a bad memory–either of another person or can’t remind me of an inanimate weird object.
7. My kids currently have 6 cousins. 4 have names that start with the C or the K sound. I’m trying to avoid those letters— as well as reusing M’s, P’s or T’s. I like being able to use an initial and know to which kid I’m referring.
8. Michael leaves naming pretty much up to me, but of course, the top qualifier is that he has to like it, too!
Please understand that I’m so very thankful for God’s blessing of the wee ones in my life and am thankful for the naming dilemma. However, I just wanted to explain why when you ask, “Do you have the name picked out yet?” My resounding answer is NO! Oh, I wish I weren’t so picky.
