A boy named Sue

Choosing a name for your child is really tough, especially when you’re not a parent yet. Once you join that world and you’re around children all the time, you quickly learn the popular names and see the trends. You want the name to be unique, yet not weird enough that the kid will hate you later (although this is probably inevitable once they become a teenager, regardless of what you name them). I found myself several times thinking phew! Glad we didn’t choose that name since there are 3 others in the playgroup named that. When I was pregnant with Wyatt, we wanted to be surprised about his gender so we had to select two names. Dayven and I went back and forth on names and ultimately decided that if the baby was a boy, Dayven would choose the name and if it was a girl, I would choose. He decided on the name Wyatt Hal, which has some family history on his father's side. His great grandmother was Jane Wyat (although we didn't know it until after he was born) and all the men on his dad's side for 5 generations have had the name Hal as either a first or a middle name. Although I wasn't sold on Wyatt Hal at first, it grew on me. I absolutely love it now and can't think of a more fitting name for our little guy.

I read somewhere that before you choose a name for your baby, you should give it the ivory business card test. Picture this name printed on an ivory business card while your professionally dressed 30-something son or daughter hands it to a prospective employer. Does the name fit with the image they're trying to portray? (i.e. celebrity names - Apple, Inspecktor Pilot, Moxie Crimefighter, Banjo...) There seems to be a trend of gender nonspecific names lately. Wyatt and I have come across Grayson (a girl and a boy), Sloan (boy), Elliston (girl), Regan (girl), Hampton and Hyatt (both boys and hotels), Cameron (girl), Quinn (girl) and Remi (girl). My girlfriend in Alabama tells me gender neutral names have always been popular in the south because people like to use family surnames for their kids. I guess it's finally catching on in the rest of the country.

So, with a little over a month until our new arrival, here we are playing the name game again. Dayven and I have gone back and forth trying to come up with a name we love. He'd mention one that I'd shoot down and vice versa. We had several different conversations that usually go something like this:

ME: What about Piper?
DAYVEN: Like Piper Longstocking!? No way.
ME: Um, actually...it's Pippi.
DAYVEN: What? No that's terrible. I don't like that at all. It makes me think of a mischievous red-haired girl with pigtails (which pretty much does describe Pippi Longstocking).
ME: Never mind.

Once again, Dayven came up with one of the names that's strongly in the lead. The more I think about it, the more it grows on me. I guess I'd say we're 95% sure we have the name narrowed down to a couple of choices, but we're not telling, so don't ask. I learned that lesson early on. My brother's comment upon hearing one of our choices is still burned into my brain "Are you JOKING? Seriously Chelsea, that is horrible!" Dayven and I found it hard enough to agree on a name we both liked, let alone throwing in some outside opinions. People don't hold back with their thoughts. I remember mentioning a few I liked and I'd get an "Oh? hmmf...how do you spell it?" or the worst, just silence and a furrowed brow. Better to just keep it to yourself until it's printed on the birth certificate.

I was disappointed to learn that our top two name choices have been on the list of 100 most popular names in the U.S. for the past several years and seem to be gaining in popularity. I'm a little concerned they'll keep climbing the charts and she'll be one of 10 _____ in her class. Apparently Joshua was quite a popular name when my brother was born and he turned out to be one of 3 in his class when he got to school (his class only had about 20 kids). So they resorted to nicknames to tell them apart. My brother was "Big Josh" (because of his height, not weight), not to be confused with "Little Josh" or "Josh N". My mom said she still loves the name and has no regrets. It just fits him and now it's hard to imagine him as anything else.

Several friends told me that if you love a name, you should just go for it and not worry how many other kids will have the same name. When you hear that name, you will only think of your child. I suppose that's good advice. After all, there's a reason that popular names are popular. They're nice and people like them. Not many people are named "Banjo" for a reason, right?