Naming humans is incredibly difficult. It's a huge responsibility. You are choosing the word that your children will identify with for the REST of their LIFE. No pressure.
I started a list in January when I heard names I liked. After the miscarriage I removed most of them and started a new list. I didn't want to associate a name with that loss. As soon as Facebook got wind I was pregnant (we're talking like at 5 weeks when I hadn't posted a thing on Facebook - it listens, I swear) I started getting ads for Baby names from Baby Gaga and other baby sites. Over the span of 6 weeks I clicked through probably 50 articles - "Top 20 baby names of 2018", "Ukrainian baby names that are making an appearance in the U.S.", "Not your grandma's name - Baby names from the 1900s", "Totally rad baby names taking 2018 by storm", "Hipster baby names", "Beautiful Irish baby names", and so on. I kept an ongoing list on my phone of names that stood out to me (male and female because we didn't know the genders yet).
I knew I wanted names that are not 100% 'typical'. I didn't want anything crazy that was too hard to spell or pronounce or had too many syllables. I wanted names with established nicknames so we could set what we want people to call them. I also wanted names that are not gender neutral. Having a gender neutral name and marrying someone with a gender neutral name can be annoying at times. When Alex and I meet new people they often have to clarify who is who. Even once we found out we were having two girls I still decided to steer clear of gender neutral names which is a shame because I do really like the names Ryan and Jordan for girls.
Here are some of the names I considered:
Everly
Eden
Samara
Carys
Cria
Amara
Blaire
Brynn
Alannah
Eliana
Prudence
Rosalee
Rayna
Willa
Rosemary
Octavia
Vivica
Hazel
Wren
Rosalind
Adalind
Vera
Leona
Lachlan
Greer
Harper
Odessa
Kiara
Myra
Amorette
Alani
Freya
Kinsley
Anaya
Mae
Luella
At one point I had over 50 names on the list for girls and 10 for boys (sorry boys, boy names are much harder for me - Graham, Reese, Asher, Emerson, and Remy were at the top of the boy list).
I asked Alex if he had any names he'd like to throw in the mix and he said he'd rather see my list and choose from there. I figured he would come back with 6 or so that he really liked. Nope. He came back with two and said these are the names. Typical male response.
A few days later we discussed it again and I brought up the name I liked the most. After a few days of mulling it over he conceded to my name and I conceded to his first choice of the two names he liked best which was my second choice. Whoever said there should be no compromise in marriage never named any kids.
Then we had to think about middle names. I had already plotted out some options but there are so many ways to go with that - do you incorporate family names? Pass down our middle names? (Michelle and Ryan) Pick something completely random so no one on either side of the family can be offended you didn't choose to honor them? And to make matters more complicated Alex realistically has four families - his mom's side, his dad's side, his dad's partner of 20+ year's side, and the family that took him in after his mom passed away. Then I have my two sides and lots of generations to choose from. We took a rain check from middle names for a while.
On Christmas Eve we ran through our options again. I read names out loud. We made our final decision and I feel really good about it.
We've decided not to outright share the names but if you guess correctly I might confirm your guess.
Initials:
V.A.T.
Z.M.T.
Both first names are 2 syllables. V's middle name is 1 syllable and Z's middle name is 2 syllables.
V's name has a Latin origin and has been used since the Middle ages.
Z's name has Arabic and Russian meanings and is a name I had never heard before finding it on a Russian baby names list.
Both can be related back to flowers but both are not obviously flower names because that would be too cliche for me.
Are you annoyed now? Don't worry, you only have 15 or so weeks to wait and find out what we've chosen!
I started a list in January when I heard names I liked. After the miscarriage I removed most of them and started a new list. I didn't want to associate a name with that loss. As soon as Facebook got wind I was pregnant (we're talking like at 5 weeks when I hadn't posted a thing on Facebook - it listens, I swear) I started getting ads for Baby names from Baby Gaga and other baby sites. Over the span of 6 weeks I clicked through probably 50 articles - "Top 20 baby names of 2018", "Ukrainian baby names that are making an appearance in the U.S.", "Not your grandma's name - Baby names from the 1900s", "Totally rad baby names taking 2018 by storm", "Hipster baby names", "Beautiful Irish baby names", and so on. I kept an ongoing list on my phone of names that stood out to me (male and female because we didn't know the genders yet).
I knew I wanted names that are not 100% 'typical'. I didn't want anything crazy that was too hard to spell or pronounce or had too many syllables. I wanted names with established nicknames so we could set what we want people to call them. I also wanted names that are not gender neutral. Having a gender neutral name and marrying someone with a gender neutral name can be annoying at times. When Alex and I meet new people they often have to clarify who is who. Even once we found out we were having two girls I still decided to steer clear of gender neutral names which is a shame because I do really like the names Ryan and Jordan for girls.
Here are some of the names I considered:
Everly
Eden
Samara
Carys
Cria
Amara
Blaire
Brynn
Alannah
Eliana
Prudence
Rosalee
Rayna
Willa
Rosemary
Octavia
Vivica
Hazel
Wren
Rosalind
Adalind
Vera
Leona
Lachlan
Greer
Harper
Odessa
Kiara
Myra
Amorette
Alani
Freya
Kinsley
Anaya
Mae
Luella
At one point I had over 50 names on the list for girls and 10 for boys (sorry boys, boy names are much harder for me - Graham, Reese, Asher, Emerson, and Remy were at the top of the boy list).
I asked Alex if he had any names he'd like to throw in the mix and he said he'd rather see my list and choose from there. I figured he would come back with 6 or so that he really liked. Nope. He came back with two and said these are the names. Typical male response.
A few days later we discussed it again and I brought up the name I liked the most. After a few days of mulling it over he conceded to my name and I conceded to his first choice of the two names he liked best which was my second choice. Whoever said there should be no compromise in marriage never named any kids.
Then we had to think about middle names. I had already plotted out some options but there are so many ways to go with that - do you incorporate family names? Pass down our middle names? (Michelle and Ryan) Pick something completely random so no one on either side of the family can be offended you didn't choose to honor them? And to make matters more complicated Alex realistically has four families - his mom's side, his dad's side, his dad's partner of 20+ year's side, and the family that took him in after his mom passed away. Then I have my two sides and lots of generations to choose from. We took a rain check from middle names for a while.
On Christmas Eve we ran through our options again. I read names out loud. We made our final decision and I feel really good about it.
We've decided not to outright share the names but if you guess correctly I might confirm your guess.
Initials:
V.A.T.
Z.M.T.
Both first names are 2 syllables. V's middle name is 1 syllable and Z's middle name is 2 syllables.
V's name has a Latin origin and has been used since the Middle ages.
Z's name has Arabic and Russian meanings and is a name I had never heard before finding it on a Russian baby names list.
Both can be related back to flowers but both are not obviously flower names because that would be too cliche for me.
Are you annoyed now? Don't worry, you only have 15 or so weeks to wait and find out what we've chosen!
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