Sunday, August 22, 2010

What's in a Name? (by Darren)

So I'm really excited that we're having a little boy.

I love feeling LT's kicks, and especially enjoy it when he just goes nuts inside Tara and there are a bunch of kicks thisclose in a row.

One of the parts I've enjoyed the most in this process has been choosing the name. Name choosing truly is a process, filled with lots of conversations that go something like this:

"How about _________"
"Uh, no."
"Ok ... how about ________"
"um ... nope."
"OH, here's one you'll like. How about __________"
"Do you want our child to be therapy one day?!"

Tara and I have pretty different tastes when it comes to the names we like (especially when it comes to boys names).

In general, I think really value being a little bit original. I don't want LT to have the same name as 3 or 4 other kids on the block. I don't necessarily mind if LT has a name of someone I know who is from around my generation, but I just don't want to name him something TOO popular amongst his generation. For example, I really liked the name Hunter ... but then I found out that it was in the top 20 names for boys, and then I didn't like it as much any more.

Tara, on the other hand, really likes very classic boys names. Well, actually she doesn't really like boy's names that much. BUT if she had to pick (which, in this case she does), she would choose a name that would probably rank quite up there in terms of popularity.

OR she would name him something Spanish.

Like Alejandro.

Probably not going to happen. But, from Tara's perspective, Alejandro is better than any one of the names from my top BOYs names list:

1. Maverick
2. Tanner
3. Grayson
4. Asher
5. Raiden

Except for Grayson and Raiden, I know someone with those names. Raiden I really like (and Tara was actually ok with), but it is also the name of the Japanese god of thunder and lightening (as well as a Mortal Kombat character), so there was a very slim chance for that one. I really like the sound, imagery, and meaning of MAVERICK but Tara HATES that name, as do most of the people of the female gender I think.

Despite our differences of opinion, Tara and I HAVE settled on a name. And actually, it is a name I like a lot, and would include on my top 5 (I just haven't here, because we haven't decided if we will do a general reveal before LT is born).

Now, to reveal? Or not to reveal?

3 comments:

V said...

Oh boy! :)

As for the reveal - well, that's personal. Of course everyone around would LOVE to know the name...but here are two sides:
1. We didn't reveal the name of either boys. With Noah it was more, "I'm an insecure new Mom-to-be and I don't need anyone telling me stories of how they know 5 billion other Noah's or how their dog was named Noah or how there was a Noah in 4th grade that picked his nose and ate it.". I just didn't want to have to deal with that. With Jude we weren't entirely sure of his name until a couple weeks before he was born. So we didn't want to share his name if we decided we wanted to switch it or something. Both times it was very fun to announce (since everyone already knew we were having a boy) and let people know the name.

2. Jen Watt shared the name of Naomi once they had decided. And how wonderful it was! We all could refer to her by name and talk to her and when she was born, it was like we had KNOWN her for the past 9 months. There was no "the baby". It was always "Naomi". Which I absolutely loved. And if we decide on a name early on for our next, I might just do this. because it was so bonding!

So ... it's up to you guys! I'm sure you'll love whatever you end up deciding on, whether to reveal or not. :)

afro-chick said...

HELLO BABY BOYYYYYYYYYYYY.

Tarren said...

Vaness!

So glad we figured out how to get people commenting on the blog. Thanks for persevering!

Thanks for sharing 2 perspectives.
We had heard from Jen about her calling Naomi by her name and that's why we started to consider announcing the name. Before talking with her, I had never considered revealing the name. Now I am quite interested in announcing it.

What to do?