Umm…I’m in my seventh month of pregnancy, I know I’m having another boy and I still haven’t picked a name for the little fellow. In fact, I haven’t really even hunkered down with my giant book of baby names that my husband and I used for our first son (I see there’s a new edition with 10,000 additional names!). We had such trouble picking a name the first time, I think we’re both kind of dreading the process. Poor little guy…
In fact, when we learned we were having another boy, it was one of the first things we said to each other—now we have to think of another boy name. I don’t know why we find it so difficult. There are no heated arguments, no name that my husband loves that I hate or vice versa…we just can’t really decide on any.
Alright, I’ll admit I’m a little picky. I try to avoid names that are super popular or any names that I think are trending that direction. I want the name to be classic yet not too common. Some names we like in their full form but hate the common nickname (that you know would be unavoidable once he hit elementary school).
It’s a big decision, and we want to make sure we get it just right. Some sources I love? Baby Name Wizard Voyager, which allows you to chart a name’s popularity over the decades (see my name below) and the trusty old social security name database. The story behind my name? My mom has loved it since she read Little Women as a young girl. She would have named me Elizabeth, but my dad said if we want to call her Beth, let’s name her Beth.
Once we do decide on a name (knock on wood), my husband and I will keep it a secret until the baby is born (we did this for our first son as well). Since everyone already knows we’re having a boy, we think it’s fun to keep something a surprise (even if my mom thoroughly disagrees). Plus, people are a lot less likely to make a disgusted face or worse, tell you they hate the name if the baby is already here.
How did you decide on your baby’s name? Did you have as much trouble as I am or have you had your children’s names picked out since you were ten? I’d love to hear your stories!
Comments
Bryn
So, for us naming our baby girl was pretty easy. We knew we didn’t want a “newfangled” name, one that is spelled crazy and could be a boy, girl, or last name. So we started with our family trees, looking at Great Grandma’s past…and we found several on both sides that were the same! One stuck out for both of us, and we added my sister’s middle name to it…bam. Perfection! We also kept in mind that hey, yes, you want to give your child a beautiful name you feel proud of…but c’mon…kids/parents/siblings/strangers will give your kid a nickname the minute they meet them…so we didn’t stress too much about it!
Leah
I thought coming up with a name would be fun but we had a horrible time naming our daughter. My husband and I had a clear frontrunner (that we did not share with anyone) but did not officially decide until after she was born.
Deanna
I wanted a unique name that didn’t sound weird or look weird, but my husband wanted a classic name (his name is Matthew, his dad is John, so he was pulling for Mark or Luke to complete the four gospels). However, I realized that he didn’t mind the unique names if they were Irish, as he is. So I found a book of Irish Names and gave him 5 options from the book- Donovan, Griffin, Maxon, etc. As we were painting the baby’s room, he felt like it was “Maxon’s room.” We know Maxon gets shorted to Max, but we’re ok with that. I’ll still call him Maxon.
sara
Picking a name was SO fun! We went through tons and tons of names and couldn’t decide on one we both loved. Then one night we were watching a Yankees game and a W.B. Mason commercial came on the TV (one of their sponsors) and my husband said ” What about Mason?” and right away I loved it. I worked with someone at my old job who’s son was named Mason and I thought it was so adorable. But now I see it’s VERY popular, apparently because of Kourtney Kardashian’s kid, and I’m very bummed about it, but I’m not changing it now. We have been calling him Mason and everyone knows his name is Mason, so what’s done is done and he’ll just have a popular name like his parents, Sara and Michael.
Kelsie
I’m due in 2 weeks and we’ve been keeping the name a secret to surprise everyone. It’s really fun for us to have something to surprise everyone with but i have to admit it gets really tiring when you get asked 5+ times a day what you’re naming your baby (especially because 90% of them are strangers)! I now just tell people we don’t know so I don’t have to keep explaining to strangers why we want to keep it a secret.
AEOT
We didn’t find out what we were having at our ultrasound, and apparently I have no mommy intuition b/c I had no dreams, no ideas, no nothing. We had decided on Spencer even before we were engaged as our boy’s name (with my husband’s middle name as his middle name) as one of our friends mentioned it when they were pregnant with their first (and picked another name). We discussed it during the pregnancy but never once wavered on it. Well, thank goodness it was a boy because even when I went into labor at 41 weeks, we still didn’t have a girl’s name picked out. We had a name we “mostly” liked, but we weren’t convinced. Now that I’m pregnant with our second (we are finding out this time – in 2 weeks!), I’m more convinced on girl names then boy names, so let’s hope it’s going to be pink and full of bows!! We are both very traditional when it comes to names and most of our girl names aren’t even in the top 100 (which is fine with me). Good luck with your search!! Let us know if we can help in any way!!
Beth
Thanks for sharing, everybody! You all inspired me to start flipping the pages of that big name book again. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that something jumps out at us.
Holly
I’m having the EXACT same problem as you!! I’m 7 months pregnant with a boy and we just can’t seem to decide on a name. We have a few options but nothing is really sticking or screaming out that it is the perfect name. I’m really hoping that it just comes to us by the time he’s here. The suspense might be bad for all our friends and family but it’s a million times worse for me to not know for sure what his name will be.
Dandelion
Naming a baby is a really hard thing to do. It’s a long and tedious process. All I know are these 1.) The name shouldn’t be too popular that it sounds cliche 2.) It should be unique but not ridiculous 3.) It should have a beautiful meaning 4.) It should be a name that would still be nice years from now, something that doesn’t go out of “style.”