whats in a name?


Just over two years ago
when we found out we were expecting our little Dollop
we started 'The Name Game'.
The one where every time you have half a minute to think
you start discussing possible names for your impending offspring.
We spent most of my pregnancy having that same conversation at least every month
and more than likely a whole lot more than that.

The funny thing is that I can remember us having a baby name discussion
long before we were married,
long before we were engaged,
long before we were even living together.
For six years we had maintained that we had a boy's name and girl's name picked out
ready for when we had babies one day.

And then we found out we were pregnant . . .
And for me the reality and responsibility hit like a ton of bricks;
I was choosing a name for an actual person to have to live with.
It would have to suit them as a baby,
as a small child,
as a teenager,
as a grown up working professional
and as an old person.
That is one hell of a responsibility.

Needless to say
in an instant I had gone right off the names we had had picked out for our entire relationship.

So the husband and I talked,
and bickered,
and argued,
and threw strops (that might have just been me),
and talked some more.

We vetoed each others' suggestions
but didn't always have other names to offer in their place,
mainly because we had such different ideas about names.
He argued that finding out the babies gender would have at least halved our task.
I argued that he was just unoriginal, unimaginative and just didn't care enough.

'The Name Game' has proved to be a difficult one both times round for us,
because as it turns out we like different things.
I like more unusual names,
not wacky and out there,
but not the sort of popular names 
where there will be five other children with the same name in their class at school.
The hubby isn't a fan of standing out from the crowd particularly
and would consider popularity to be a good thing.

We finally decided on babies names for Dollop
the night before I went into labour.
I think that the baby was hanging on in there knowing that if they came to soon
then they would be nameless.
And we actually ended up picking the boy's name that we had liked all those years.
I mean, talk about going full circle.

But in a moment of madness where we didn't think things through
we used both our favourite boys names on the beautiful boy.
His middle name could so easily have been his first name if he'd been born a little earlier or a little later.
We love both names and were so excited that they went well together,
but we had failed to think about what would happen if we went on to have another boy one day.

So this time around we are back to the drawing board.
The girl's name that we settled on last time
we no longer like,
plus it doesn't really 'go' with our beautiful boy's name.
And we used our two favourite boy's names for him.

It would be fair to say that we are finding it just as hard this time around,
if not harder.
Because I keep insisting that is needs to go with the beautiful boy's name
while not being 'matchy-matchy'.
And any matching initials to any of us are out as far as I'm concerned too.

So we are back to the regular conversations about names
and what we like one week, we hate the next
and we still don't really agree on the types of names we want.
I still want slightly unusual,
the hubby still likes the most popular and common names,
and now you can add to the equation that we'd like it to 'go' with our little man's name.
Talk about an impossible task.
So out the baby name books come
and evenings are spend flicking through them for inspiration,
while talking, bickering, arguing and strop throwing,
all in search of just the right name to give Splodge when he or she arrives.

One thing is for sure
that once we hold that little baby in our arms and give it a name,
we won't look back.
I think any doubts you have over names tend to fade away once they are actually attached to your child,
and you don't tend to think twice about your choices.
And if Splodge is anything like the beautiful boy
they will gather an assortment of nicknames in a quick space of time
and only really have their full name used by mummy.

But feel free to offer any suggestions,
anything modern but not too wacky and not too popular.
We're all ears.

22 comments

  1. the names we had always said we'd call a boy if we had one, before we were preganant and with minimal thought were either Jake or Josh, both lovely names we went for Jake when my eldest was born... then Chloe was a name my other half had long said as a good girls name but with Mikey it was hard because we picked Jae over Josh calling Mikey Josh would have been like second best? so we had to think up something else... I like Mikey, but my other half didn't like Michael (although it is his middle name he just never liked it) so we settled on Mikey and not Michael, I love it, sometimes I woner if he wil be forever asked if his full name is michael but I guess that he'll be ok with it, and as he gets older he can be called Mike :) x

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    1. It's funny how your mind changes and you feel differently second time round. Some of the names we liked last time, I won't even consider this time because I think if we'd liked them enough we'd have wanted to use them first time around. X

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  2. It is really hard, one of the hardest decisions I think you make. We always knew we wanted Mads for a girl, I have wanted it ever since I was younger, but we had no idea for a boy and couldn't come to a decision. Next time will be hard for us as we don't have a clue about either sex. They are all lovely names on your list, and all very beautiful- Noah was on ours last time and I am sure will be again, it is a very cute name. Whatever name you come up with will be perfect for Splodge I am sure. And there is no harm I think in using DBB's middle name if you love it, Thomas is a family name of ours and so many of our family members have it. I think it would be nice for them to have the same name- if it is a boy of course! ;) x

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    1. Hehehe. That's a totally fabricated list hun, you don't think we'd give away our name ideas that easily do you? I think we're getting there with names, which is a lot sooner than last time, although that may just be because we're not over thinking it as much this time. X

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  3. We did the same thing. We had names when we were first married. 6 years later when we were actually pregnant - those didn't fit. We had two names - boy and girl - for that pregnancy. We had a girl the first time - but with pregnancy #2 we didn't keep the boy name that we didn't use in round one for that pregnancy. Then we changed both names a week before hte baby was born. It is so tough to give something as permanent as a name.

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    1. I think it is that thing of it being so permanent. Makes it seem a big responsibility to get it just right. x

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  4. We had three names for Dylan until he was born and then we knew instinctively who he was. His middle name came accidentaly as we had decided on something else for the first few days and when the bloke said it wrong it sounded all right - Dylan Oliver

    We managed to agree on three possibilities before we had him and now I could never use the other two so we would be back to the drawing board too with a second.

    Hope you come up with something perfect although we may never know what it is :p

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    1. I love the fact that he sort of got his name by accident because his dad said it wrong. I think that kind of makes it fate that he ended up with that name. And it's funny how you dismiss all the names you liked from the first time when its the second time, they somehow feel like second best. x

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  5. Ooh this is such a hard one. Choosing a name is one of the best and worst bits I always think. I'm with you on the name needing to 'go' with DBB's name though. When I was pregnant with Little Monster we spent most of my pregnancy thinking he'd be Finley, even though I wasn't 100% about it. Then a few weeks before he was born we discussed it and added possibilities to the list. When he arrived, we knew he was a Joshua. Boys names are so much harder for me than girls so I hope I'm lucky enough to have a little girl next time! Good luck x

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    1. I do think boys names are harder, because I'm sure there are more girls names to choose from. It is funny how when they are born a name just sort of suits them and fits. x

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  6. Names are so hard to choose, and like you said a big responsibility! Luke and I could never agree and finally a week before Leo arrived. We reached a mutual love for our little man's name and that was that. I am sure you will find the perfect name for your little splodge xx

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    1. I think we're getting closer. The tough thing we have is that we're not sure that we love the new names as much as we loved the little guys name, but that could just be because we love it more now because it's his. x

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  7. I was wondering if it was a fabricated list and decided it was. Katie's comment confirmed that! I was thinking eurgh they like Hannah?! As you know we have two boys and it took us long enough to decide on Beastie's name - we just had the one name that's it. For girls we had a firm favourite and a few possibilities, girls names are so much easier to pick. So this time with Baby Beastie we had our work cut out but after much deliberation and poo pooing each others suggestions we both stopped on a name and admitted we liked it. As for the middle name we wanted a one syllable name (as his first name is 3 like Beastie's). Could we think of one? no! so on the day of registering his birth we went for the same middle name as Beastie, which is also my husbands middle name. Maybe a bit weird but we thought it was ok seeing as it's just a middle name and no harm in them all sharing it. So if stuck and you have a boy you could nick the middle name! :-) x

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    1. Oh my goodness, we are clearly very alike when it comes to name picking, and I keep going on about the amount of syllables and wanting it all to sound right with the little guys name. The hubby thinks that I may be over thinking it.
      I think it's lovely that all your boys have the same middle name, it's sweet. We thought about using my hubby's middle name but it just didn't sound right with the first names we liked, and we figured the first names were the most important bit.
      x

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  8. haha - you so sound like me - all my kiddos names have 6 letters and 2 syllables (my husband's last name is 13 letters long - so hard to pick names). My husband picked our daughter's name and I never liked it - it literally took me years to grow into this name for her. I even made my husband pay to have the spelling changed legally b/c I disliked it so much! The last baby we had, I picked the name and didn't budge at all since he had picked our son's name and our first daughter's name. GOOD LUCK!!!

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    1. I don't think I could ever let my husband pick the name, we'd end up having rows over it because he's so boring.
      I do sometimes wonder if I'm thinking about it too much and if it really matters that much whether it sounds good with all our names and things, but then I think they'll be stuck with this name for life so it needs to be right. x

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  9. I love choosing names but it is so hard too, it caused countless discussions between Ash and I, we still never really agreed, I wanted way more out there names than what we settled on.
    We had picked a boys name within months of meeting, when we found out Grayson was a boy all those years later it had become way too popular for me, so it become an instant no. I do hope with next baby I get to have a slightly more individual name x

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    1. Aww, I love both your kiddies names. They are different and individual without being too wacky or weird. I'm sure you'll make a great choice when you get to have baby number three. x

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  10. We talked and planned and talked and planned - almost every night! But once they both arrived we knew that the names that we had chosen were right for them. One of our biggest tests for boys names was would you believe them if they were trying to sell you a 2nd hand car and called... if you would, they could probably do any job that's out there. As for the popularity thing, there are 2 Megan's in the Cheetah Keeper's class - known as Megan B and Megan D. It is only when they leave school will they become Megan in their own right again - the children greet them "hello Megan B" or report that "Megan D did that"... making the chances of your child being the only one in their class with that name seemed a good idea to us x

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    1. Oooh, I like that test. It is that issue of them needing to be able to grow up with it and it suit every stage in life. And I'm pretty sure that whatever names we come up with, that once the baby is here that we will just know that its the right name. I hope so anyway. x

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  11. I didn't choose the name Iyla and to be honest I don't like it that much! I never loved it but we couldn't find any others that we agreed on. I will always love it because it's my little girls name but I don't like the way it sounds when people say it. Especially in a Somerset accent, which everyone has where I live! I think next time I will have more of a say! It's tough though to find a name that you both agree on x

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  12. We planned ~Splosh's (Josh) name the day we found out I was pregnant and it never changed! Never considered girls names because i never thought he would be a girl. The same with 'Bernard' never considered girls names as we were so convinced it was a boy. She was a total surprise and her dad named her instantly without pause because we had been watching a movie in the delivery room and so Genevieve she was (Evie for short - or Bernard if you're her big brother!) Splodge's name will be written on his (or her face) you'll know them when you see them!!

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