Friday, July 25, 2008

What's in a Name?

We are having the hardest time figuring out a name for the baby. We had names all ready to go with both of the other kids. We have pretty interesting ways of choosing their names so I'm going to share. Yesterday the kids and I were working on cleaning out our guest room closet where the baby will sleep eventually and we ended up going through their tub of baby things that I've saved that were really precious to me. They love hearing those pieces of clothing or shoes or blankets and it brings back such sweet memories for me.

Xavier Daniel- Somehow, we just always knew that Xavier would be his first name. We didn't tell anyone his name until he was born, but we had known for months that we would have Xavier. As for his middle name, we really couldn't decide. We wanted it to be significant, since Xavier didn't really have a special memory for us, we just liked it. He was the first grandson in either of our families and we didn't want to upset someone on either side(and trust me it would have been an issue with either of our families) by naming him after just Brent's family or my family. SO we rock paper scissored it and decided to name him after Brent Daniel. So that's how our son became Xavier Daniel.

Naia Linnet- Naia's name came a little more difficult to us. We had originally picked out her name to be Peyton. Not after anyone in particular, but Brent really does like the Colts! And that was going to be her name Peyton. We had a couple of middle names in mind and weren't really worried about that at all. On the way to our last ultrasound for Naia at about 32 weeks or so, I had an emotional breakdown about her name! We had a 20 mintue drive to the dr.'s office and I just broke down. I couldn't name my daughter after a football player! I don't know what came over me, but I was in tears and Brent said, Dania we don't have to name her that. We'll find something else! So when we got home we made up new rules for looking. All new names. Nothing from the old lists could be on the new list. We ended up finding Naia and it just fit. We couldn't have picked a more perfect name for her! Linnet is named after me and my mom.

Xavier means new house. Which is kind of funny b/c the day I went into labor with Xavier we moved into a new house!

Naia means flowing. It's Greek.

Okay so with all of that, here are the "rules" that we use(d) to pick out our kids' names.
1. You can't know a person or have known a person with the name.
2. No nickname for the name. Neither one of us are fond of nicknames.
3. No name that's in the top 100 or so maybe even top 500 baby names for the year he or she is born.

I think that's it! Now if only we could find a name for baby number 3! We love all the names that we've seen from others, but I think our creative juices have stopped flowing! Everything we like is either too cutesy or too popular or someone famous keeps naming their kids that!

5 comments:

Micah and Sunny said...

Uhh.....good luck with that. If I could pass on any advice at all, I would. Good grief, we are SO stuck with the names. It is a continual point of "discussion" with the hubby. He likes NO NAMES! We agree on our girl name but if we get a boy, poor little guy!!! I tell my husband he deserves a name as soon as we get the referral, I think we are getting a little closer. This naming thing is incredibly hard. Not too mention I am incredibly emotional right now with all the adoption hormones raging!

Sunny K

Leigh said...

GREAT MINDS!!!! (Even though we came to the title via different trains of thought!)

I love the rules and can say that all of them apply to my kids. My son's name was my maiden name...I just always knew I'd have a Walker. (I was furious when Cyndi Crawford named her son Walker since months before my boy was born!!) DoriGrace is a long story that I should post on the blog some day. I like the whole compound name thing...I doubt we'll ever meet another. And I do cringe when people call her Dori so I do understand the whole nickname thing.

My favorite remaining girl name (after a college friend) is Kaellyn (KLN)...traditional...hip...classic, but not cutesy....

Of course, it is hurricane season...you can pick the name of the storm closest to your referral date...

Don't ya love names...everyone's got an opinion and thinks they have a dog in your fight!!!!

Good luck!

Christine @ 12,450miles said...

Oh, we're so in the same boat!! We've actually just started to *really* think of names. It's not easy, especially when two of our favorite names happen to be the last names of Red Sox players (he's a fan - I'm not) but either way, anyone in New England will ask "Was he named after..." I like your rules though, and we definitely feel the same way. Now if only we could find, an agree on, a name that fits all those rules.

Yvonne and Eric said...

Good luck finding that perfect name! It's so nerve-wracking because it will your child's identity as s/he grows up. You'll know what fits, just like you did for Xavier and Naia!

Yvonne

Yvonne and Eric said...

Just wanted to let you know I'm thinking of you and hoping the referral of your little one comes soon!

Yvonne