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Old June 13th 07, 07:48 AM posted to misc.kids.pregnancy
Jamie Clark
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Posts: 855
Default Baby names and NO idea

"beyond the pale" wrote in message
...
I don't have the time to dwell on this pregnancy like I did with #1 and
it's really obvious. I had names picked out the first week and all this
shopping to do and started working on the nursery. This time around, I
figure we'll wait until about 8.5 months and throw something together if we
even fix the room up before the birth- I saved all the baby gear so we have
the crib and swing etc. I saved clothing too a lot of which is unisex for
the first year..


Which is why you aren't fretting about any of this stuff. The first time
around, you're so thrilled and excited that you want to take care of
everything right away, and even 6 weeks feels like you've missed half of the
pregnancy already! But with #2, there is a bit of reality that sinks in. A
bit of the old "been there, done that" and don't need to buy the onesie just
yet. It's not a bad thing. It's just that you've already been pregnant
once, so the newness and shock has worn off. You know what to expect, and
you have another child to take care of. Who has time to navel gaze for any
other pregnancy than the first?

Even worse though, I haven't a CLUE about names. I do think about it, but
I have not hit upon a name I really like for either gender and if I do
have something I'm partial to, I cannot come up with a nice middle name.
Ack. Has anyone else gone until the last minute and had no name?? I am far
from last minute- LOL. But I keep telling myself I won't think of names
until the last month or so.


I can't remember how far along you are, but it's nothing that needs to be
decided any time soon. Really. That should take the pressure off. Our
good friends just had a baby 3 days ago. A week before that they were still
unsure of the final name choice. Didn't mean that they weren't exicted
about the baby, or that they didn't want it, or were lazy, it just meant
that they hadn't decided on the final name yet. Once they saw the baby,
they chose names from their list that worked for them, based on family
names.

I know what NOT to name. Any name that's in use by close relatives for
their kids, is a no go. And debatably, I try to stay away from names that
are exceedingly common around here, debatable because if we move it could
change. I try to stay away from names that I know too many of personally
as well.

One name I have always liked for a girl is Kate. Simply Kate. Kate
not-short-for-anything, Kate is the full name. Problem is I can't make it
work as a first name, only as a middle name, and I prefer to name my kids
what they'll be called as there first name, for no logical reason, it's
just a thing I have. My brother goes by his middle and all his mail and
listings are in his first name. Seems simple to avoid that.

So, Kate what? What Kate? I am out of ideas. Meredith Kate? Too clsoe to
Mary Kate.Someone suggested to me Katelyn Brooke, but I don't know...not
fond of Katelyn. If I did use, it would be Caitlyn. Or is it Caitlin? I
am growing fond of Caitlin/Caitlyn actually... what else goes well with
plain Kate though? Hannah Kate, I just don't know.


I like Kate, although I tend to like longer names with good nicknames. I
like Kate alot, but I'd want to use a longer version of the name and call
her Kate. I have a Taylor that we call TayTay, although when she's older
she'll just be Taylor. Not a very nick-namable name. My second is Addison,
who we called Addie from the get go. I sort of like the formal name verses
the private name concept. Maybe because my name is Jamie and I always got
asked, "So, what is that short for?" Nothing. Just Jamie. Actually in
high school I wanted a nickname so bad that I "lengthened" my name to James
and that's what my close friends called me (and some still do). Anyway, I
digress.... Personally I think Caitlin/Caitlyn is one of those popular names
that I wouldn't use. I like more traditional -- Katherine, call her Kate.

In terms of middle names, do you have female family members that you'd like
to honor? Mom, grandmom, aunts, great aunts or great grandmothers? Anyone
up there in the family tree from 50-100 years ago? Are there any good last
names in that tree that might work? Somewhere in our family tree we had a
woman named Lainie Gillespie, and I always wanted to use that name. But,
Kate Gillespie, for example, if Gillespie was your maiden name, or a family
name that you wanted to carry on, could sound nice. If you chose a short
one syllable first name like Kate, I think a 2-3 syllable middle name works
best. What about Kate Meredith. Kate Elizabeth. Kate Alexandra. Kate
Delaney. Kate Mackenzie (not normally a fan of MacKenzie, but it flows
nicely). Kate Mallory. Kate Adelle. Kate Ashely. Kate Charlotte. Kate
Miranda. What about Jocelyn Kate? I could go on, but I don't know your
last name...check out the babynamesworld website. They have a great search
feature, where you can specify names that are X letters long, X syllables
long, start with X letter, or start with any letter except X. You can say
that you don't want a name that starts with the same initial as your last
name, etc, plus specify all sorts of origins and meanings, etc. It's very
cool.

For a boy I have even less ideas as I don't have a name that I love like
Kate. Zachary?.....William....? Joshua? I can't come up with anything. All
the boy names I like are "taken" by family members. I like Thomas but it's
way taken. I like Benjamin, it's used by someone nearby and I would feel
awkward to name my kid that too. Same with Adam. It's actually used by two
people so it would be more awkward, otherwise I like Adam...grrr! It
really would feel awkward to name my kid something that someone related to
me or near me in some way has named their kid, you know? They took all the
good names, how could they do that to me? :P


I can see not wanting to use a name that is already in your family, at least
not one that is there a lot. But it would also depend on who had already
used it, and how often I saw them. For example, if it was my sister, I
wouldn't use it. If it was a third cousin twice removed who I never ever
see, then I'd use it. Especially if it was a family name and we were both
honoring the same grandfather, etc, but even if I just really liked it. So
for me, just because someone else has used it, doesn't automatically take it
out of the running for me.

Same goes with friends/neighbors, or people I know. Mostly it would depend
on why I liked the name (again, if it was after a relative, or just a name
that I liked), and the relationship I had with the people who had a kid with
that name. And how hard was it for me to come up with a name that I liked?
A neighbor down the street, or another mom in my moms group? Not a big deal
to me, since I probably wouldn't be spending the rest of my life wtih these
people, nor would my child.

Dh and I named our first daughter years before we had her. I had been
carrying around the name Taylor since I was in my early teens. It's my
mother's middle name, and at the time that I decided I wanted to use it, it
was a boys name. I would tell people that I was going to have a little girl
and name her Taylor, and they look at me with surprise. Of course 20+ years
pass before I actually have my little girl to name Taylor, and by then the
90's had come through and made it a hugely popular name for girls and for
boys. But I decided not to let that sway me. It was a family name and a
name that I loved, and something I'd always envisioned, and why should I let
the fact that a bazillion other people had daughters named Taylor to stop me
from having my own daughter named Taylor. And I've not regretted it yet.
Her middle name is dh's mom's middle name, Marlys. (side note -- Ohhh, Kate
Marlys has a nice ring to it...dh's mom's name is Kay Marlys, which is why
it rings nicely with me!)

Anyway, when it came time to think of names for our second daughter, we make
lists and wracked our brains, but nothing was *it*. I was talking to an
internet friend from across the country who was adopting a baby girl from
Guatemala. She told me that she was going to name the baby Addison Grace,
after two maternal grandmothers. Addison after Adelle, but never to be
called Addie. As she told me this (via e-mail), I suddenly remembered a
list of names that I'd written up in my early 20's. Addison Grace was on
that list. I e-mailed her back and told her my story and asked her if she
would mind if I used the name as well. She said she wouldn't mind. After
all, we were on an e-mail list together, but we lived across the country and
would likely never meet. And even if she would have minded (or did mind and
just didn't admit to it), I would have used the name anyway. Because I
liked it and it resonated for me. It turns out that it has some family
connections on my mother's side, so that was a nice bonus. But mostly, we
just liked it, and knew it was the name.

The other thing that I really like about some of these name websites like
babynameworld is that you put in a name that you like, and they give you
similar names. For example, I liked Allison, but it seemed common.
Although not used that much any more, but eh. But later I realised that
Addison and Allison are VERY similar names. So if you like Thomas, maybe
Timothy is similar enough?

There is a book called Baby Name Wizard (and a website with sample pages)
where you can find names based on "Style Families" or "Name Snapshots" or
"Name Trends" or "Surnames", etc. If you like one name, they can give you
other examples of names you might also like. You said you liked Zachary,
Adam, Benjamin and Joshua. Those are all Bibical names. You might also
like Caleb, or Ethan, or Jacob, Jeremy, Joel, Nathan, Simon, or Micah. In
Style Families, they give you a name, and then tell you what their brothers
or sisters would be named, or variants, or nicknames. For example, for
Caleb, they say sisters would be Abigail, Chloe, Hanna, Sophie & Isabel, and
brothers would be Gabriel, Cole, Connor, Elijah and Noah. I like all of
those!

LOl but really, I feel like if I have nothing else ready that's fine but
it's too bad not to have a name. This means I will surely go into labor
early and will not be prepared.


Don't worry about it. Really. You have plenty of time. Do you have a dh?
What does he say? What does he lean towards?
--

Jamie
Earth Angels:
Taylor Marlys -- 01/03/03
Addison Grace -- 09/30/04

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