The name game: a follow up

When we got to the hospital we were still unsure of a name for our baby. We had 5 names that were on the "short list" for a first name: Edward, James, Luke, Garrett, and Walter. James is a family name on both sides, and Walter is Matt's great, great grandfather (though we didn't know that when it first made our list). Edward was a name that topped Matt's list for years, and Garrett was Matt's current favorite boy name. Luke was a name my dad suggested since Matt's dad's name is Mark. Mark, Matthew, and Luke.

For middle names we only had two ideas: Campbell and James. Campbell is the Scottish clan on Matt's mom's side.

Initially Matt got to see the baby longer than I, so as we were waiting to get him back from the clean up and tests, I asked if he had any names stick out to him. He said there was a name that came to him, but he wanted me to see him and hear what I thought before he told me his idea.

After I saw him, two names popped into my head and I thought both were quite suitable for our little blondie. One was Walter James. The other was James Campbell. The name that came to Matt was Walter Campbell. I thought that was also a suitable name after hearing it. I was totally torn and couldn't figure out what name was "the best" for him. After mulling it over two days in the hospital, I kept coming back to Walter. Maybe it was because I mentally referred to him as such the last few months of pregnancy.

I really liked Campbell for a middle name, but it just didn't seem to flow right syllabically with Walter. Wal-ter Camp-bell Bras-field. It wasn't bad; I could live with it, but it just didn't feel right to me. So then I was back to Walter James. When I told Matt I was leaning toward that, he said to go with it.

Even after we put it down on the birth certificate papers, I was a little worried we'd given him the wrong name. Was he really James Campbell?

After having him home for a week I feel like we made the right choice. Walt just works.