Tuesday, December 02, 2008

A Rose By Any Other Name

Generally I don't give much thought to any of LK's old girlfriends - if anything most of them did me a huge favour by treating him so badly that any half decent wifely behaviour on my part leaves him shocked and grateful. At least I'll tell myself that until he asks for a divorce.

However, many years ago one of his ex-girlfriends did a complete number on him, and has left me paying the price.

Apparently, early in their relationship she told him she'd one day like them to have two golden retrievers and their names would be blah and blah. Now as any pre-pubescent scholar of Cosmo will tell you, never ever breathe of future domesticity until you're walking the other way down the aisle. And even then let him think it was his idea. This offhand comment on her part (and she's probably still wondering why he ran screaming - maybe she concluded he had a pet dander allergy), left him completely unable to commit to naming something. Fine if you're talking about hypothetical dogs - not so great if you're 8 months pregnant with his child.

We named Anna in the delivery room. I do not intend for that to happen again.

If necessary I will be going in to labour with a fully executed Advance Directive - not in case of emergencies, just in case in the throes of animal pain he manages to persuade me that Waltrout is a great name. For days after naming Anna I was left wondering if 'we'd' made the right decision. We had three top picks if it was to be a girl (we left the gender unknown last time), Anna, Lucy and Elsa/Elsie. The only thing we had agreed on was a middle name - Rose - for English Rose. While in labour 'we' picked Anna because it best matched her middle name. Not such a bad choice as it happens, and it did honour both sides of the family and soften his incredibly Teutonic last name. Still, the point is, I don't want to be naming another child while hopped up on drugs, yet he resolutely refuses to discuss the issue leaving me hopelessly frustrated. Instead he says he wants to 'name her when he sees her' (in which case she'll probably be called 'whopper' or 'tore Mummy a new one').

So, I'm reaching out to you dear internet - let's discuss baby names! Humour me - any favourites, suggestions, names to avoid? I generally go for traditional names, but all suggestions will be met with complete respect - unless you're called Waltrout of course.

21 comments:

Sugarplum's Mom said...

we had far less trouble with girl names than boy names.. some of the top picks

Nicole
Emily
Paige
Hailey
Rachel
Madilyn

AliBlahBlah said...

Yes, I suppose I should have added my current list:

Charlie
Lucy
Jemima
Elsie (Belle)
Holly
Lorelei

Anonymous said...

Lets just say I would much prefer to be Sugarplum's daughter...

Anonymous said...

Jemima.... a la puddleduck, I assume to match the way you're currenly walking? If you feel you must go for something other than Rooney or Cantona I think that Holly is lovely.

Daffodilly said...

I love:
Emma
Natalia
Natasha
Noella
Molly
Danielle

GOod luck..when is the due date?

Ali said...

I can't really help with names cos my kids names are all VERY unusual and it takes me forever to narrow down THE NAME when I'm pregnant because I get all kooky that there can be only ONE NAME and DESTINY and stuff (hormones).

Anyway, I can sympathise though because we hadn't narrowed down a boy's name at all before the birth of #4 (didn't know sex) and weren't 100% on a girl's (was a girl so we had decided within seconds of birth tho). It's a big responsibility. You don't want to bugger it up. ;)

mccutcheon said...

Please forgive me for being so very straightforward and un-British here, but you asked. So here goes: Ali, please please, don't name your kid Jemima or Elsie or Belle.

I kinda have to agree with sugarplum's that Emily and Rachel are nice names. I also hapen to like Natalie and Chloe.

However, I'm suddenly very happy that the most difficult naming tasks of my near past and future were naming our bunnies :) (One of them, incidentally, goes by the name of Lorelei).

I'm sure you're going to find the right name. And you can still tie LK to a chair and force him to decide with you. I think he'd probably even be grateful in the end, no?

Expat mum said...

This is a fab opportunity - don't complain. It means you can put together a list, all of which you like, give it to him at the last push, and he'll pick one. That means you'll get one you like.
I have found it's important to pick a name that is pronounced the same on both sides of the Atlantic, which narrows it down considerably.
Last time, we made Paul the middle name because of the differences in American and UK pronunciation. (Americans pronouncing it more like Poll.)
PS. I could give you some suggestions, but you'll more likely find one on your own.

Jane said...

I agree with EM, Ali. What an opportunity to get your list into LK's hand just as he's overcome with emotion and tempted to ask the midwife what her name is!

Good luck. Loads of wonderful names out there. Mine are all named after old English Royalty (except Maud, which was naturally left OFF my list!)

Anonymous said...

In no particular order:

Emma
Meredith
Adriana

Old names seem to be in style over here, I have friends with a Hazel and a Mathilda. On that count I like Ruth/Ruthie. But I have no children so no idea the responsibility!

Unknown said...

Oh what a fun topic!

Mr Hyphen was BAD BAD BAD about sitting down to pick names. He settled on ONE boy name. I had a girl name I loved, and he didn't fight it. I had TONS of boy names I loved and he couldn't get past the ONE he could handle. So...first child was a girl and we went with the name I liked. Second child a boy, we used the 'left over' boy name from when Wynnie was born.

I really REALLY wanted to name Mack, Hayden. When I look at him, I think he is a Hayden more than a Mack.

But please PLEASE don't name a child Jemima who will be raised in the US. She'll get her milk money taken from her.

Anonymous said...

My DH was bad about vetoing names.

I'm partial to my boys' names! Hehe! Taylor, Cameron and Logan. Also liked Tanner (which was veoted as hubby thought it sounded too much like tenner) and Nicholas (which was vetoed as it was someone he didn't get on with in primary school FFS)!!

We liked Haley, Chloe, Sophie, Madeline (Maddie), Elizabeth or Aubrey for a girl.

Hope it helps!

Daffodilly said...

OH yes do not give your baby a name with a T in it as the americans pronunce it D...drives me crazy!

AliBlahBlah said...

You guys are so right about the American 't' as a 'd' thing - it has to be a name that is pronounced the same transatlantically (I even get annoyed because my name is spelled differently over here).

And Jemima - well, over in the UK it can be shortened to Jemma or Jemmie which I both love, and over here it just comes out sounding like maple syrup.

Thanks for humouring me!

Anonymous said...

I was originally going to leave my thoughts and then decided not to, but after your last comment, I have to say that I LOVE the name Jemma. I'd never heard it before moving to England. I wanted to name our daughter Jemma but my husband had a bad association.

Lucia's Mom said...

How awesome you are letting us, your internet friends, give you ideas! Now, for my kids, I had the first two picked out before birth (Lucas and then Lucia who was born on his birthday) but Emma was supposed to be a Catia until I saw her and then knew she was Emma (Hubby's favorite name from even before Lucia was born).

I love Sophie (Sophia is very popular in U.S. now but Sophie is a little nicer I think).

Sophie
Lucy
Hazel
Josephine

Boys;
Luke/Lucas
Noel
William

You think the pronunciation thing is hard, try picking a name that sounds the same in English and Portuguese - that really narrows down the choices! And then my portuguese family tells me our choice isn't "cool" in Portugal anymore ... whatever .....

Can't wait to see what name you decide on!

Lucia's Mom said...

PS I love Jemma. But don't go with Jemima - the kid will never ever live it down.

Anonymous said...

I have 2 boys and they both got named very early on because we really could only agree on one name each time.
Here are my favourite girls names:

Charlotte (Lotte, Lottie)
Lucy
Verity
Matilda (Tilly)
Olivia (Liv, Libby)
Holly
Sophia
Isabel
Kitty

Hope you decide soon!

Janet said...

From your list, my preference is Lucy. My offering is Phoebe.

Unknown said...

We're naming our daughter, due 1/15, Lorelei Jayne. Love the name Holly too, but the husband refused.

Anonymous said...

For sharing thank you very much good very beautiful work