The Name Dilemma

Can we talk names? Not what to name this baby.. but the whole concept of naming your child.

It is the second question I get asked after "How are you feeling?"

I wait a moment and then there it is, "So what name have you picked?"

When you tell people that you don't know what you are naming your child yet they don't believe you "Oh so you are keeping it a secret?" And when I say no, they say "Well you must have some ideas! What are they?"

People assume that you must have ideas because they themselves do.. and if they don't have ideas, they have opinions. I still remember plenty of eye-rolls and negative-sounding "Oh's?" when telling possible lists of names for my other kids.

I remember flying alone with Lydia from Chicago to Utah to visit family when she was 7 months old. I had several different people ask me what her name was during my flight or time in the airport. When I would respond "Lydia" I started noticing how people's reactions were genuinely pleasantly surprised. Every one of them mentioned how much they loved the name-and it felt sincere. I've been there when people have said, "Oh that's a nice name" or "Hmmm. How do you spell that?" or "say that again?" or "I've never heard that before..." to someone else's child when the parents have spoken their name.. all said nicely, but missing the sincerity.

Now.. not that I want to base my entire decision off what other people think or their reactions-just that I liked the feeling of other people liking my child's name too.

When naming your baby it is hard not to think of every personal reference from our lives.. the character from that movie.. the elementary friend who threw a book at your head, the coworker with the weird pen-clicking problem..

And the truth is that all of those people eventually melt away once there is a baby you love attached to that name.

Giving your child a name also means you get to try and figure out how other kids may twist them into mean nicknames. And even then, if your child makes it through school nickname-free, maybe you just so happened to pick the "most popular name of the year" and so your child's name is no longer "Ashley" but a morphing of the first name and last initial.. "Ashley K" because there are 7 of them (Ashley was a popular name of my generation).

This picture is from Baby Larson #1 Pregnancy Journal

When naming Lydia, Brian and I took a few names to the hospital but both had internally decided Lydia was what we liked. When she was born, Brian said, "Look! It's our Lydia!" and at that moment I couldn't think of any other name we had talked about to "try" and so she became Lydia.

With Adeline it was 100% different. Brian thought it would go the same as Lydia's had but it didn't. When Brian brought her to me after she was cleaned up he said, "It's little Isabelle" and I immediately knew that Isabelle was not her name. She didn't look like Isabelle. So she became Adeline.

Now the pressure is much different this time around and you think it would be easier since we have done it twice before.

One of William Shakespeare's famous quotes from Romeo and Juliet that has run through my mind a few times is, "“What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.”

Very often the first information we learn about a person is their name. And that first information can be so important to a good impression.

But now.. I have a 3-year-old that loves to ask people what their name is and then tell them hers back, "My name is Lydia Larson" she'll say. I signed her up for preschool in the Fall and I think that was when it really hit me just how important her name is. Not only do I need to love it.. so does she! This is the name that will learn to clearly write, the name she'll tell every new friend she ever makes. It will be cheered at dance recitals and soccer games, and scolded on late curfew nights. It is the name that will go on resumes and will be so much apart of her identity.

With all of these thoughts (and probably a million more that I could write down) I am left feeling a bit stumped.. and I'm second guessing every name that runs through my head. We are in the single digit week countdown now. That is almost 8 weeks left to compile a list..

I guess I'll continue to just look at these two beauties until I can figure a name for my next beauty. I'll just enjoy their blooming personalities with Adeline's curly hair and BIG brown eyes and new found love of balls (which we don't have because Lydia never played with balls) mixed with Lydia's straight straight straight blonde hair and blue eyes and love for dresses, purses and backpacks (she has all of the above in this picture).