I haven't talked much about the whole baby-naming process that Adam and I have been going through, partly because we only talk about it sporatically over the phone, and partly because we're keeping the baby's name on the down-low until the birth. But, for all of you curious kitties, I will say a few things:
--I have learned an awful lot about Adam since this process began. In years past, if we ever talked about baby names, he'd always stick to the more common names that we've all heard before. I am definitely interested in more unusual, exotic names, so I thought that we'd come to blows when it really came time to choose. But *WOW*, has he ever surprised me. He's much more open-minded than I'd have ever thought (or given him credit for), suggesting names that I knew I liked but would not have dreamed he'd approve of. I'm astounded.
--Our kid will not have a name that will subject him or her to taunting rhymes, embarassing moments in junior high sex ed class, or being stuffed into a locker (that might happen but it won't be because of the name).
--One thing that we've been pretty careful about is respecting cultural and familial customs. In Judaism, one does not name their child after a person who is still alive (ie--there would be no Adam, Jr.). However, it is respectful to either name your child after a deceased relative, or to take the first initial from that person's name and use it to name your child. For example, if I had a grandmother named "Sarah" who'd passed (I don't, but let's just say for this example that I do), then we might name our son "Samuel" or our daughter "Susan." While we haven't been hell-bent on naming our kid after a passed relative, we have been really careful about not using letters of the alphabet that could be traced back to living family members. So between our two families, we're pretty much left with about half of the alphabet that we can actually use!
--My mother asked me the other night if our kid's name was going to be original enough that one day, it's future high school classmates would be able to track him/her down on Facebook. "There aren't going to be a thousand of your kid's name out there, will there?" I reminded her that the kid's last name--Mittman--will be unusual enough that it wouldn't be much of a problem, but that no, the names we've chosen thus far are pretty uncommon. Not made-up, mind you, but names you don't hear everyday. We're kinda proud of what our collective brains have come up with.
Current status: Right now, we've got two sets (first and middle name combos) of girl's names that we're both happy with. If we have a girl, we've decided to just spend a little time with the munchkin to decide which name combo suits her better. We figure, just like each puppy has its own personality, so will each baby, so why not wait till we meet her to determine what first and middle names suit her best? It's been a little more difficult with the boy's name. For some reason, it's just a lot harder to find a nice, strong-sounding, masculine name that flows well, but doesn't come across as too...well...pretty. Strong, pretty girl names are easy. Strong, nice-sounding-but-not-pretty boy names are not. We've got at least one combo that we like (I love it; Adam likes it a lot but is still holding out for another zinger name-combo to come along). We're both hoping for the same luck we had with the girl's name--at least two name combos to have in store for when the little tyke arrives. We're realizing this is going to be a little harder with the boy name, however, as we just haven't found a combo we like as much as the one that we already have. But I've got almost four more months to keep searching.
At the end of the day, it doesn't matter too much what we name the kid, as long as it's not embarassing. They won't really appreciate their name (the uniqueness or commonality of it) until they're much older anyway. It's really all about the parents right now. A friend once told me of his days growing up in small town, Oklahoma, and how a teenage classmate of his had a baby girl, and insisted on naming her...Gonorrhea. Oh, she pronounced it "Go-NAW-re-ya", and to anyone who told her, "you know that's an STD, don't you?" she'd reply, "I don't care, I think it sounds beautiful and that's my baby's name!" No worries, anyone...Adam and I don't have a baby Chlamydia or Syphillis in our future...
No comments:
Post a Comment