Saturday, July 11, 2009

The name game.

Well, we've had a lot of people recently ask if we have a name picked out for our little guy yet. My most common answer is that we're still not 100% sure, and I leave it at that. I've been more hesitant giving out our name ideas this time around, though I'm not positive why. Maybe it's because we'll probably not be 100% sure of his name until we're at the hospital.

It's hard coming up with names we both agree on. We do, however, both prefer masculine, traditional names for boys that are not over used. Matt's very anti-made-up-sounding names, especially if they're really trendy at the moment. For a long time Matt really liked the name Edward. It took him 4 years to convince me that I could name one of my sons Edward, but during this pregnancy he told me he's over that name now. Fine with me, especially with the whole Twilight craze. I've trended toward somewhat British sounding names like Calvin, Ivan, Gavin, Simon, etc, but Matt wasn't super fond of any of those, and I wasn't feeling all that strongly about them for this baby anyway.

My dad suggested Luke since my father-in-law's name is Mark and my husband's name is Matthew. We both found it pretty funny, and we honestly think that Luke is a pretty decent name, but not this baby's name.

About half way through we happened upon a name that we both liked enough to put on our "consider" list. I've stood by it since then, but Matt's gone back and forth. He did feel better about it after finding out that we do have at least one ancestor with the name.

Anyway, I looked it up on the social security site for the popularity, and in 2008 it was ranked #393. Awesome. Dean was ranked #353 the year he was born. That got me curious about my name.

I love my name. Honestly. I feel like I have probably the best girl's name ever. It's common enough that I don't get weird looks but uncommon enough that I've only ever met 1 other Celia in my entire life! I'm entirely grateful that my parents didn't name me Cecilia, though people (usually older people) have been known to call me that. The year I was born it was ranked #616. Last year it was #757. I love it.

13 comments:

mad white woman said...

So you're going to keep us in the dark on the name... :) It will be fun to know what his name is.

I feel the same way about my name and I've always liked it. Although it seems to be making a comeback these days.

Kristi said...

Twilight definitely made some names off-limits. I really liked the name Isabelle, but could never do that now. (Speaking of Twilight, my word verification is "unkill" - ha!)

I'm glad that you and Matt are sensible people, though - your kid's name won't be unpronounceable and crazy, nor will he be the fifth Aiden in his 2nd grade class. :)

Anonymous said...

When we had our son, the only name we could agree on was a name that millions of other little boys are named. I can't stand the thought that my boy will go thru most of his formative years as Johnny X.

randa_joy said...

It seems our minds are paralell on this topic as well.
People always want to call me MIranda too.
Also when I reply to people that we aren't sure about the name yet they look at me like a neglectful parent, like I haven't been deliberating or researching or discussing with my spouse practically every single day for the last 30 weeks or so. AND I don't know how people can so fully commit to names (like embroider them on burp cloths and hang the wooden letters in the nursery)when they have yet to meet the child. It drives me nuts!

Celia Marie (W.) B. said...

Haha. Randa so funny. With Dean we were pretty darn positive his name was going to be Dean. It was my favorite boy name and Matt has two grandfathers named Dean, so it was perfect. Forever I thought we'd name him Dean Calvin, but just a few days before he was born Matt felt like he needed a family name for his middle name as well, so we went with Addison instead.

Amanda said...

We have pretty much run the gamut on the popularity thing. We unknowingly named our baby Ethan the year it was #1. There are at least 3 in every McDonalds, every play group, and in our primary. OOooops. And Boston was #620th last year. I have ended up liking the less-common ones the best.

Amanda said...

by the way, on our last two babies, we weren't completely sure until we left the hospital and had to fill out the birth certificate papers. it kind of made me nervous that we weren't sure, like i was being rushed or something and was afraid i was going to make some huge mistake.

Lady Steed said...

So we looked up the 2008, #393 ranking on the Social Security idex name ranking, and I've got to say, um, that name is a door-to-door salesman name.

Matt and I seem to like the same names otherwise. We also seem to have the same position on names. I too really like Edward, but Theric never has. Calvin is one we are considering. Matt's cousin has a little boy named Gavin.

Theric and I have earned that the populatriy of a name is a regional thing as well. When we chose Big O's name it was clearly unpopular in Utah, I knew one person, my ag, with that name. But now that we live in the Bay Area I hear it all the time when I am at the park. However, it is often attached to little boys who are about two or younger, Big O is 5. We have learned that in the Bay Area names are either way out there are fairly traditional, at least for little boys.

What do you think of Jasper? I like but will never get to use it since it starts with 'j'.

Celia Marie (W.) B. said...

That's funny you think it sounds like a salesman. I honestly can't say I agree. But that's ok. I've only ever met 2 people with that name so I have little to no strings or emotions attached to it.

Not a fan of Jasper.

Th. said...

.

Think about this though: It's the same name as that famous farting dog. And the Jonas Brothers are starring in a movie version next year.

Celia Marie (W.) B. said...

I've never heard of that farting dog. The movie's unfortunate timing I'd say.

Amanda said...

the dog book is a very valid concern. they are pretty popular among younger boys. and jasper is another twilight name, so i'd probably steer clear of that too. hmmm.. i will try to think of a few alternatives.

Celia Marie (W.) B. said...

maybe it won't be a problem if we call him by the shortened nickname rather than the full name.