Tuesday, February 13, 2007

What's In A Name?


This morning in the car D and I were talking about names. I asked him if he was to have a baby brother or sister right now, what would he want to name them. (I am NOT pregnant)
He said if it was a girl he would name her Kaitlynn and if it was a boy he started out with Anthony but then changed it to Samuel.
It got me thinking about what names I had picked out when I was younger.
I don't know if boys do this, but many women start to name their offspring even before becoming sexually active and many before puberty hits. Maybe it is our obsession with baby dolls, playing house and barbies. We name our baby dolls and it continues from there.
As a child I had some names picked out that I thought were glamorous and high class. I figured that a girl with the name Tiffany or Kimberly would have all the options in the world compared to a girl named Hildegaard or Bertha.
When I was 14 I met a boy and had an instant huge crush. I only saw him the one time but for the next 5 years if I would have had a boy I was convinced that his name was going to be Dane Leander.
At 23 I became pregnant and was again obsessed with baby names. I would constantly go online and look for names and bought 3 or 4 baby naming books. Before D was born I had come up with the name Darius for a boy. His dad hated it and I told him that it didn't matter, that he wasn't there so he didn't have say in the name. I ended up not using that name and decided on another name that starts with a D but rhymes with Kevin.
As I look back now I had the most god-awful name picked out for a girl. I know that God was looking down on me when he decided that I was going to have a boy because no girl should go through life named Shanelle Antonia.
To this day I still have a few names picked out for children in case I ever have any more. Chances are that none of my kids will be named that but if I ended up pregnant and had a girl tomorrow her name would be Rhiannon. A boy would be named Donovan.


32 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think boy names are harder to pick out. I luckily had my son's name instantly when I learned I was pregnant. Now being pregnant again I am set on a girls name, but hoping for a boy, how weird is that. Maybe it's a sign that it's a girl. Going to doc today :-) We have a couple boy names picked out in case but I'm not convinced on either one of them. I have lots of girls names I like.

Freckle Face Girl said...

I always had a long list of names I liked, but didn't end up using any of them. I chose my grandma's name for a middle name & searched for something that blended with it. I ended up reading a lot of names to my husband & he picked it.

Anonymous said...

I know a 3 year old boy named Navin. Yes, that's the name the Steve Martin character had from "The Jerk". The parents actually willingly chose this name based on the movie.

Thankfully, the mother is out of the picture, and last time I knew, the father had little role in raising him, either, so hopefully they can't visit other such indignities on their child.

Anonymous said...

and I'm sorry, I think the name "Shanelle" sounds nice.

Tara said...

For a girl: Shayna, Sedona or Elizabeth
For a boy: Carson, Spencer, Mason

When I worked for one company, I was entering some of their invoices for a school they worked for. Two names popped up on a student roster: Lemonjello and Orangjello. I kid you not.

Rachel said...

Reformat ~ I agree. There are some good classics but the trendy names are overused. Aidan, Cameron, Connor etc.

Freckle ~ My best friend plans on using her grandmothers name as a middle name too. Good choice. I would have to use either May or Mae (grandma's and Moms middle names) to do that.

Anon ~ That isn't any worse than Nicholas Cage naming his son Kal'el.

Anon ~ Shanelle is fine but combined with Antonia it is a bit much.

Tara ~ I prefer Cherryjello.

Anonymous said...

You could always use the George Costanzia name from Seinfeld. He wanted to name his kid Seven. Didn't matter if it was a girl or boy.

egan said...

Huh, I'm not a huge fan of Darius. You bet I've had baby names on my mind these days.

Um, guys don't think about baby names until they get married (or perhaps their girlfriend gets knocked up). We just don't do that. Right now I'm obsessed because I want some unique and fun for my unborn child.

laughing said...

Do not name your kid Seven unless it's a girl who might grow up to look like Jeri Ryan.

Anonymous said...

Jeri Ryan? Hubba hubba.

Anonymous said...

My Grandma's name was Frances. I would like to do something like Ava Frances.

Another option for a later child would be Rhindon.

For boys, I like Grant, and possibly Delano.

minijonb said...

There oughtta be a law that all kids should pick new names for themselves at age 18. That way, all the adults would have messed up names and the babies might have normal names again!

=;-)

Rachel said...

Dennis ~ Even funnier would be if your last name was Slevin.

Egan ~ I don't like Darius now, but back then I liked it. I wanted something that would work for a bi-racial child. Then I decided on an Irish name...go figure.

Laughingattheslut ~ You will be assimilated. Jeri Ryan as Seven was HOTT!!!

Anon ~ I concur!

Playtah ~ I have never heard Rhindon. That is unique. I can't hang with Delano. I knew a guy with that name and he had a total Napoleon complex.

Minijonb ~ Would you have legally changed it to minijonb?

laughing said...

There was a Star Trek novel where people had nicknames until they were old enough to "walk", sort of an adulthood rite that proved resourcefulness and courage. At the end of the "walk" the new adults officially named themselves, and it was serious business if you ever called them by their childhood nicknames or anything other than their chosen names.
One poor girl had the nickname of Jinx, because she had attempted and failed the "walk" so many times.

Anonymous said...

"Jinx"?

Halle Barry in that James Bond movie.

Once again, hubba hubba.

Mrs. Hairy Woman said...

my hubby named our son.. we had an agreement that if it was a boy he would name him and if it was a girl I would name her.. I would've picked for both if I had my own way.. but fair is fair.. so I would say Emma Lillian for a girl and our little guy was named Graeme Donald.. My grandfather was was Donald. and Lillian was my Grandmother.. But you are right about women naming their offspring before we hit puberty.. That is what we do...

egan said...

Our kid is likely to be bi-racial. Maybe we'll borrow Darius.

Rachel said...

Laughingattheslut ~ That sounds a bit like the manhood rite of passage that some african and south american men go through.
I wouldn't mind choosing my own name. I don't know if I would change it or not. I like Rachel.

Anon ~ Hally Berry is gorgeous. Hubba Hubba indeed!

Babybull ~ How do you pronounce Graeme? Is it like Graham cracker or grain with an M?

Egan ~ Bi-racial? My son is half black and half caucasian. What ethnicities will your child be?

Anonymous said...

yo, okay. so, my entire life i have searched for a girl named rhiannon. i would also name my daughter that. i have always determined "if your name is rhiannon, that means your parents like fleetwood mac. and if your parents like fleetwood mac, then you're probably really badass."

and that's my entire reasoning. because of fleetwood mac. the end.

Anonymous said...

sorry, i sounded like an idiot. instead of "is" there, please replace it with you. if your parents name you rhiannon. eeee.

laughing said...

Egan's kid is likely to be bi-racial?

Do we want to know?

Should we go there?

Are you going to get one out of a catalog or what?

Not so little Woman said...

I have known since FOREVER what I want a female child to be named. When I picked it, nobody was called that. And it was original. Now I'm still childless and SO MANY FRIENDS AND ACQUAINTANCES have picked it for their child, that I'm pissed. Now everyone is naming their child Sophia. Urgh.

Oh, and about names... My real name's etymology scares me, as it describes me very well. Did my parents know how I was going to turn out? Freaky, freaky...

Anonymous said...

I had all my kids named, too, in junior high! Whole lists of names that I thought were so wonderful, even names for twins.

And then, what do you know...I grew up and got married and couldn't have any. No twin daughters Savannah Jane and Sarah Delaney.

So when our angel was given to us, we had years and years of wishing and we knew if the baby was a boy, he'd be Robert Clayton, because Grizzy's favorite uncle was Robert Clay and I had TWO Uncle Roberts and we each had very dear friends named Robert. And each man would've thought we named our baby for him.

And then Lizz delivered our little girl. And I got to pick her name (that was the deal, he picked the boy's name, I had the girl's) so I named her Elizabeth, for her mothers...Lizz and Beth.

In this way I find myself blessing Lizz every time I say my daughter's name. :)

egan said...

Yes, my wife is adopted and most likely 50% hispanic. But since she doesn't know her birth parents and has no desire to find out who they are... her genetics are a wildcard. Mine are about as caucasian as they get.

Eric said...

Can't say that I have a name picked, but I assume when the time comes it will be a pretty tough decision. For seem reason I really have this idea that a name goes a long way to determining the personality of a child.

Erica said...

Love your choice of names! My choice would be:

Sophie/Amelie

Aidan/Jack

xx

Christina said...

Being in the baby-naming situation right now, my husband and I had this discussion the other night. I kept shooting out names, at least 10 for every 1 he could come up with. I would then have to reject ever third or fourth suggestion from him, based on the notion that "no, Cole is Suzi's favorite name. We can't take it" or "Oh, no, Kristen called the name Ava years ago. It's not on the table." He just looked at me incredulously until I explained that I've been picking out baby names since I was 8 years old, maybe younger, and the list was potentially endless. And as of now we're still going with Zoe for a girl, because it's been my favorite name since I was, in fact, 8.

laura b. said...

I had all kinds of names picked out! Picking names is so fun. But my ex named all of our kids, in the end. It was very important to him. He did fine :-) Once you name them, you can't imagine them as anyone else.

Anonymous said...

Rae,
You were going to be Heather Dawn until the night before you were born. But you didn;t feel like one so I named you Rachel Heather and it fit.

David in DC said...

I was scheduled to be named Seth Harry Itkin until my father woke up bolt upright about four months into my mom's pregnancy with the realization that, on many rosters, I would appear as S.H.Itkin.

Seth quicly was tossed overboard for David.

Teenagers being what they are, I was called Shitkin and Zitkin throughout my adolescence anyway, but it definitely woulda been worse if that was my actual roster-style name.

Anonymous said...

david: Then there is the teacher I knew who was going to have a son. His last name was Dick. Due to some family obligation, they HAD to name the son Harry. There was no way around giving him the first name of Harry.

They went ahead and did this. But only after the entire family changed their last name to Olson.

Anonymous said...

How about Daphne?