Generally speaking, my husband and I are very lucky. We agree on lots of things so there’s no need for us to battle. However, on those rare occasions where we do disagree, we both play to win. And if we get to mock each other in the process, that’s a HUGE bonus. Funny is fair game in our house.
From the minute we married, my husband has accused me of wanting to live in a cave. That’s because I never remember to open the bedroom shades and my idea of a beautiful house looks straight out of nineteenth century Europe. (Brown leather couches, thick drapes, and mahogany furniture…) Because nineteenth century European decor is not practical for us, my husband won that battle.
Besides home decor, we also like to spar, with clubs in hand, over our children’s names. We agree on numerous tenets when it comes to naming our children… We both feel there’s a fine line between a trendy name and a name that’s going to get your ass kicked on the playground. That allowed us to quickly eliminate names like Ocean, Stream, Magnolia, Pear, and Tree. And we realized from the get-go that names like Cumin only sound good when you’re pregnant and craving spicy food. Basically, we agree on a lot of name-like things, we just don’t agree on actual names.
When I was pregnant with my daughter, I became enthralled with one name. Miriam. I would rub my belly and whisper it. “Miriam.” My husband was initially lukewarm, but the more I talked about it, the more he realized he hated it.
The other names I loved were a little bit old-fashioned, Delia, Josephine, and Eleanor. He hated these as well. “Do we have to name our daughter after a song?” (Actually, pregnancy hormones can do crazy things, and at one point I was only willing to entertain names if they also had accompanying songs.)
Because my husband’s grandmother was named Josephine, I rallied particularly hard for Josie. Naturally, the more I championed it, the more he hated it. Also, he claimed if we named her Josephine she would come out of the womb with a mop in her hand. (My husband’s grandmother was infamous for her love of cleaning.)
Since I do play to win, I realized I was going to have to resort to reverse psychology. I decided to bypass my usual old-fashioned names and focus entirely on the archaic. I started regularly referring to our baby as Esmerelda Annunciata Desiderata Geraldine Scholastica Eulalia Desdemona Eugenia. Finding horrible names became a favorite pastime of mine. To the horror of my friends and family, I would post picture updates on Facebook of my burgeoning bump complete with the worst names I could think of. I figured if I referred to her as Esmerelda Eugenia often enough, Miriam and Josephine would start sounding awesome by comparison.
The end result? I showed up at the hospital with the baby falling out of me and we still had no name! Then I clubbed my husband over the head in a fit of hormonal insanity, and named our daughter Rose.
Do you have any favorite baby names? What are the best and worst names you’ve heard and/or considered?
*I have no actual sources to back up any of these statements, but I believe them to be true.
I actually kinda like Esmerelda. I got to avoid the whole naming dilemma. If I had to I think I would definitely go old school. Mordacai has a nice ring to it.
By the end of the pregnancy, the name Esmerelda was really growing on me. (My hubby still hated it though.)
And I can’t help but prefer old school to new school. I really can’t imagine naming my kid Apple or Pilot Inspektor…
I love older names! They are on the verge of being cool again. What ever happened to Eve, Beverly (Bevi), and Imogen? Well…maybe I shouldn’t be in charge of naming a child either. But Miriam is lovely, and has so much nick-name potential. Nick-name potential is important.
I know. I can’t believe my husband didn’t like the name Miriam! I really like Eve and Beverly too, but our last name is tricky, and doesn’t work with everything. (It’s 4-syllables, difficult to pronounce, and difficult to spell…)
I lucked out. Hubby has a two syllable name. Very easy to pronounce. I can put just about anything I want with it. lol
I love Rose. My son was kind of a tradition from his side of the family, and my daughter was a play on my parent’s names. It turned out well. 😉
Thanks, I love it too! Plus, it just suits her. I do love family names, even the strange ones can be shortened into cool nicknames.
It’s a running joke between my girl and I to yell out potential baby names.
I’m always surprised when I announce one and she doesn’t roll her eyes at me.
It’s a funny thing. My husband and I like the same kind of names, just not the same actual names. Then toss in a very unusual last name and you have the perfect recipe for endless bickering and haggling…
However, the kooky names do end up being fun, even though I would never put one on my kid’s birth certificate!
Oh, and I should be going skydiving in the next couple of days!
Fantastic! Can’t wait to hear about it!
Where are you going?
I’m hoping to cross bungee jump off my list in the very near future.
You go to the place you mentioned upstate?
I’m flying out to California today to visit a friend. So I don’t know exactly where just yet… I’m nervous but excited. And also might want to finish the packing… Oops.
I’ll be doing mine off of a privately owned bridge in Portland.
Yeah, I don’t want to talk about the packing.
I’ll probably end up going with eleventy thousand electronics chargers and a sock.
I love the older names too. Names like Rose, Josephine (my grandmother’s name too), Dorothy (my other grandmother’s name), old-school names like that. Or even simpler names like Mary and Margaret. You NEVER hear about girls with those names anymore.
And people who name their kids after objects or geographic locations need to be beaten within an inch of their lives.
My husband’s other grandma is also named Dorothy… but I don’t think he cared about using a family name. My hubby actually rallied hard for Mary, which of course made me rally even harder… for Miriam with Mary as a nickname.
Naming your kid after an object really is cruel. I don’t know too many location names, although I suspect Victoria Beckham could be taken down pretty easily…
Josephine is pretty 🙂
I couldn’t agree more! Thanks for your visit. 😀
Not a problem..
We jokingly told everyone we were going to name our son “Lavender.” Most people were not sure if we were joking. I loved it. I was on the fence about naming him “Barfzilla.” I still think that was a keeper. His name is John. Go figure.
We have a kid named John too, much as I enjoy frightening my friends and family with entirely kooky names… I can see we are cut from the exact same cloth on that one!
We have a sad, little story that we made up about what happened to his sister, Lavender. When he is older, we will use it to our advantage … muwhahaha. I mean. We are working on our parenting skills.
Too funny! That has children’s book all over it… 🙂
Wow. You already know me too well.
DANNNNNNG, Girl, you’ve been Freshly Pressed!!! Congratulations!!
Thanks Madame Weebles! I’m actually on vacation, and having trouble responding to comments…
I really wanted to name my last daughter “Felicity” — it was my last chance to pay my respects to the late great television series of the same name starring Keri Russell (pathetic, I know, but I always wanted to go to college in New York City as Felicity did so I lived vicariously through her. And she has great hair). Anyway, I loved your rendition of married life. I am also a fan of marital debate but my husband pouts that all I want to do is master every debate (this is true). Thanks for a great post. (P.S. I have to sort of hate you for being one of those enviably thin pregnant ladies. Sorry.)
I absolutely LOVE the name Felicity. Sadly, my husband did not…
Marital debates can be incredibly funny, provided they don’t become disastrous.
I love Rose – although I think I’d probably go for Rosie when she was younger! My names Laura and I’ve always wanted a name I can shorten if I wanted 😦 Vivienne is a gorgeous name and I love Lily too – but I don’t think my boyfriend would be too keen 😦
I have a real weakness for flower names, and I also LOVE Lily. I love Vivienne too, although I don’t remember that one ever being in the running…
I was almost named Cheshire after my grandfather. Thankfully my parents decided against it. My wife and I liked the name Isabella for our daughter but we eventually settled on Juliana. And for our son we chose the name James Matthew.
I love the names Juliana and Isabella. I’m also partial to the name James. Don’t tell my husband though or he’ll get a big head (since that’s his name)…
I love older names! We have a son named Oakley. We met a man recently who is 84 years old who is also named Oakley.
Oakley is an interesting name, but impossible for nicknames. I LOVE family names, mostly because they have such meaning behind them.
When I was pregnant, I told my ex if we had a daughter, I was naming her Chlamydia. Sure, it’s a horrible disease, but it’s also a beautiful sounding name. 🙂
Also, congrats on freshly pressed!
Oh my… It actually does sound pretty if you don’t know what it is… And thanks!
When you talk about names associated with songs, I can only remember one right away — Sharona from [My, My, My] My Sharona by The Knack but backed to a corner at this time and place, I can’t for the life of me think of a name I would champion if I were to have a daughter.
When I was growing up, I wanted one of the more “popular” names like Karen or Kathy but now that I’m all grown up, I don’t feel any connection to those names nor my own (which is an old fashioned name; I’m used to it now but not in love with it) so I’m glad I don’t have to go through the contentious naming process you had with your husband.
What kinds of names did he like? (If they don’t appall you so much to share here…!)
Rose is a great name–like say if she becomes sweet natured as her name may suggest then everyone’ll be ooh’s and awe’s about her but if she’s the complete opposite–feisty–then it becomes a fun name because it’ll so take anyone who’s just met her by complete surprise…
She’s two. So she can be a tad feisty, but she’s also a sweetie. My husband rallied very hard for the name Mary, which would make a great nickname… for the name Miriam… Just sayin’…
And I hated my name growing up too. It’s a boring name, but now I like it.
You’re funny. I guess this is something chalked up to fate–your little one had to be Rose no matter how much you championed Miriam. She’s lucky to have parents who are so involved… (And you and the husband are lucky to have so many adventures ahead of you beyond the “terrible twos”!)
My boyfriend and I don’t see ourselves having children for a long time, but he hates that my favorite name for a boy is Twain. In my defense, Mark Twain is one of my favorite authors and I love the idea of naming our children after my favorite writers and book characters. At least I haven’t demanded that any future offspring be named after Harry Potter or Game of Thrones characters.
I love Mark Twain too. There is no one on earth more quotable… but I think I’d stick with Mark for a name. Because I’m gutless like that.
Congrats on FP!
I didn’t name any of my kids until they came out of me. Because reading baby name books makes me want to pluck out my eyeballs.
Thank you!
I actually prefer the naming part to the nausea and the vomiting… I think. It’s debatable.
hah this is great! give your kids unique names…it’ll help them stand out in life
They have a unique last name. So they’re all set in that department…
Cute post! While we aren’t parents yet, it is a strange hobby of mine to name our un-conceived. For about two (clearly insane) weeks I thought Azalea would be the best name for a little girl. Thank heavens we didn’t have a little one during those two weeks!
Azalea is actually not bad. It’s the fruity celebrity type names that truly kill me.
Putting a K in it does not make Pilot Inspektor an better.
Noble effort with the reverse psychology, do you think your husband caught onto your devious tactic after a while?
I’ve always liked the name sia for a girl.
I think there’s a musician with that name. (I’m not sure how she spells it.) He just thought I was being ridiculous for the sake of being ridiculous. In fairness, I do that sometimes…
Ah! I love Miriam! And my husband is surprisingly obliging when it comes to my name ideas. I’m about to have Eloise in about 6 weeks, and though he was initially skeptical, I jokingly referred to her as “Baby Lolo” and he was sold. Phew!
Aww… I love that name! Are you a fan of the books? And good luck to you!
Rose is rose is rose… 🙂
And that was the alternate name for this post! 😀
My Grandmother’s name was Lola, always reminded my of Barry Manilow singing Copa Cabana. I don’t have children, finding them to be rather vile, but my cats are named Toulouse, Sebastian, Lulu, Hamlet and Valentine. We have a dog named Lucy. I am, however, now particularly fond of Scholastica Blueberry.
Yeah, that was one of my better “gems”… I actually love the names Lulu and Lucy! Naturally, Lola makes me think of that song, or worse, another version of Lolita… And that’s definitely a name I would avoid!
I am so old-fashioned and I love older names like Georgiana, Blanche, Florence, Elizabeth, Lydia, etc. I also l would love living in a cave (I mean estate) with huge drapes, thick fluffy rugs, parlors, a big library with old leather books, a tea table, a few balcony’s, a ball room…
Anyone else seen Pride and Prejudices Pemberley (Kiera Knightly Version)? Pretty much that.
🙂
Of course I have not concept of how I can pay for that. Just dreaming for now.:)
I rallied for Georgiana as well since I saw “The Duchess” while pregnant, but my husband didn’t like it. And Pride and Prejudice is exactly the kind of decor I had in mind!
I am such a lover of older things. And I loved the Duchess!
Adieu, scribbler
Well, my name was totally made up … and spelled wrong, phonetically speaking (it’s pronounced like “michelob” with a long “e” sound, though it’s spelled like it should have a long “i” sound — like Michael-lee).
So any of your choices are totally cooler. And less confusing.
Does Geraldine have a nick-name?
I’m thinking you could go with Gerry, maybe? It is tricky to have a have a long and unusual first name. We already have a long and unusual last name, which kinda makes us think simple names are best for us.
Thanks for your visit and comment. Love your blog BTW!
My wife and I had a small problem with names, she’s Chinese and I’m Canadian. I wanted a Chinese name as long as it was easy to pronounce, my wife wanted an English name. We compromised with Anqi which means Angel.
So I call our daughter Anqi, my wife calls her Angela.
Confuses the poor girl sometimes, but it was a good compromise for us.
I love all the names you picked. Your husband needs better taste.
Cheers
Ha! I will never tell him you said this, but thanks!
And Angelica WAS actually on our short list… We both liked it, but it doesn’t sound great with our name. (Actually, most names don’t sound good with our last name. That’s part of what keeps our naming discussions spirited…)
I don’t post my kids names publicly, but I will say that my son has a traditional Biblical name with his great grandmothers maiden name as his middle. My daughter’s name has nine letters (two are capitalized) and a “misspelled” middle name. I will say that if my daughter had been a boy, her name would have been Jaxon Riley. My son would have been Rowan Elizabeth, if he had been a girl. (Elizabeth is my grandmothers middle name, we were honoring our grandmothers either way. My husband won the gender card.)
I love the idea of family names, although I also prefer them as middle names. Exact copies make special occasions way too tricky. Just for fun, call out the name Jennifer in a crowded restaurant… Kidding, but you know exactly what I mean…
I also really like the name Rowan Elizabeth.
It was cute when we came up with Rowan. It’s the female version of Roan, which is the name my brother-in-law wants to name his first son LOL Would have been hilarious, as we already have Christopher, Crystal, Christy, Kaylynn, Kristina and Kaitlyn. My husband’s family has really been sticking to one set of sounds from the “baby naming handbook” lol
We also have many Chris names in our family. It definitely keeps family gatherings interesting. 😀
I have decided to reblog this post for one reason only: As an example of misandry with the following comment added:
This is what Misandry {hatred of men} Looks like. About how long do you think a blog would last on wordpress if a man were to make the exact same statement about his wife. I suspect not very long as {thanks to feminism} our society condemns violence aimed at women while laughing at violence aimed at men.
This blog post is meant to be silly and ridiculous.
I actually ran this post by my husband BEFORE I hit the publish button, and if you read anything else on this blog, you will quickly realize I do not condone violence against ANYONE.
Then you need to learn to write what you mean and actually think about what you write. Your title says it all: “And I Wanna Be Legally Permitted to Club My Husband Whenever We Don’t Agree.”
I’m simply taking your own words at face value and responding accordingly.
Actually the title does NOT say it all. This post is clearly meant to be satire. The only reason I’m approving your comments is because they say far more about YOU than they say about me.
I will not, however, approve any more comments from you because I have better things to do than argue with people on the internet.
Hey! My name is Rose too!! I’d like to name my baby something like Frederica Joanna Annabel Frederica – the same name twice in the sequence. It’s America and I am free to do that!
Doesn’t that happen sometimes anyway if and when people go by traditional Spanish names? I actually like all three of those names, but Joanna is the only one that would ever work with our last name. (Our long and highly unusual name definitely added to our naming issues…)
I’m soooooooooooo glad my mom didn’t name me after my grandmothers. I just couldn’t take being called Nola or Effie.
When I was younger I was absolutely in love with the name Nola, but I guess I outgrew it. I’d never even heard the name Effie until I read The Hunger Games…
Okay, after that admission, I’m on Team Hubby’s side – you don’t get to name the kids!! Hehehe….
Ha. I have an alter-ego named Esmerelda. I call her my doppleganger too. I realize that probably doesn’t make sense to anyone who may read this. An alter-ego that is also a doppleganger? Yeah. You’d have to know me & Esmerelda. ; )
I wanted to name my future daughter Echo, for SO many reasons, reasons that apply to my husband and me and our relationship… But the hubs, he didn’t so much agree. So instead I named my blog that & the main female character that I write about that too, and it applies so well to her.
But I think the worst idea I had for a baby name ( and apparently I can only envision myself having a daughter) was Xyolah. As in Janes Addiction, “I miss you, my dear, Xyolah…” at the beginning of Three Days, I think. And I don’t even know if I am anywhere near spelling that name correctly… She may become a character, who knows?
I enjoyed reading you! I’m looking forward to future posts from you. My husband and I argue the same way… : )
Yep, arguing can be funny, but only if you do it just right… I am all about giving characters outlandish names, but people have to live with their names. And worse, spell them. (My last name is a humdinger. So spelling that is enough torture…)
You got Freshly Pressed you got Freshly Pressed you got Freshly Pressed!!!!!
Wheeeeeeee! So excited for you 🙂 Congratulations!
Thanks so much Amb! I was completely baffled when I saw my stats today, from my cell phone, while on vacation no less!
This will just take your vacation up to a whole new level of awesome-ness! Enjoy! Can’t wait to hear all the stories when you’re back.
Will do and congrats on the 100!! 😀
Aww, thank you 🙂
I love it. I accuse my husband of living in a cave all the time since he’s forever closing the blinds!!! I love the name Rose, too…Classic and feminine…I wanted Grace but lost that battle…I got a Kate instead which suits her much better than Grace…Thanks for a fun post…
I LOVE the name Grace, but I think we only considered it as a middle name. Kate is a lovely (and strong) name that my husband and I both like. We didn’t consider it for other reasons.
And you’re quite welcome! I had fun writing it. 🙂
I think choosing the right name is really important. My ex wife didnt so I ended up choosing for my boy and girl. I believe that a name shapes the individual in many ways. Society reacts to names and the name you give your child is the first gift. I like the name Rose.
Oh, thank you.
It is ultimately the child who has to live with it. Who wants to write Blueberry Smith on job applications? That said, beyond the extremely horrible, I do think it’s okay to have some creativity, especially on middle names and nicknames.
Ahahaha Brilliant!
Finding the right name is hard. Rose is a wonderful name.
My first son we called Setesh and i am pregnant with my second and we have decided on Atlas 😀
Thank you! I had so much fun writing this (and captioning the pictures). And I really like the name Satesh. I am going to have to look up the meaning on that one.
Luckily my husband and I had baby names picked out before we were even pregnant. Or, the girl’s name anyway. He started scaring me with boy’s names like Bode or Odin, but I knew that once I went into labor, the pick of names would be ALL MINE. We had a girl, so all was good.
So true! Once you’ve actually gone through labor, you’ve earned final say! 😀
My surname is Rose, and while I like it, it made choosing a name for our daughter more difficult! We quite liked Molly, but Molly Rose sounds like a little girl, and she couldn’t ever be a rock star/ Nobel prize winner/ president with that name. We settled on Morgan for her, and gave her both her grandmother’s name (pretty convenient that they had the same name :-)) as her middle name. My son was easier because we only really liked one name. He is Ciaran, and he also has his grandfather (on his dad’s side) and great-grandfather (on my side) name as his middle name. See a pattern here? My second husband doesn’t much like Celtic names, but does like family names as middle names, so he named one of our twins Zachary, with my dad’s name as his middle name and I named the other Conal with my mum’s maiden name as his middle name. Zachary and Conal were both on the list of names that he, I and our older 4 children had approved. Needless to say, with 6 people voting (and veto-ing!) it was a very short list!!!
Loved your post, thought it was clearly intended to be humourous! And huge congrats on being Freshly Pressed!
Oh, thanks! I probably should have just deleted that guy’s comment, but I hate it when people cyber-bully… And I honestly don’t think he even read the post.
I actually love the name Molly, but Irish names sound terrible with our last name. (Most names do actually.) I have a weakness for family names, as long as there’s a way of distinguishing people (or family gatherings are a nightmare). Six people voting makes it almost like a game show! Beep! Alright, now try again…
Love the name Rose. My little girl is Hollie. My fiance did not like Kylie Jo.
I love the name Holly! It makes me think of Breakfast at Tiffany’s. That said, I also like the name Kylie because it reminds me of a friend.
Weird names is a forte in our family. We have Rowan, Ian (not so weird), Rosemary (old-fashioned), and Branwyn. We didn’t plan to have all British Isles names, but that’s what we ended up with. Our next one will break the mold though; it’s a Greek name: Alethea.
I really like Rosemary and Rowan. I don’t think I’ve ever heard the name Branwyn. (We do have a tricky last name though. So we automatically avoid any first name that isn’t fairly easy to spell.) Alethea is beautiful actually, but I suspect many will confuse it with Althea…
Literally laughed out loud by myself here when after all that, you named your child Rose. =)
I know, right? 😀
wish i could actively participate in the above naming discussions. But have realized that no matter which country or language, naming your child is one major project involving all sorts of discussions and/or arguments. the trend in my country is to pick names in sanskrit words with a relevant meaning. we named our daughter”Chhavi” meaning ‘an image’ usually referred to an image of God. loved the post.
I love it when people choose names that are meaningful from their heritage, but yeah, there’s always way more than one factor. And it only takes one evil cheerleader to forever ruin a name…
And thanks! Glad you enjoyed it.
My friend and I made up horrible names for ourselves when we were in high school. I was Myrtle Albertina Crabtree. I don’t have kids, but I named my cat Plato. I thought that was pretty cool.
Oh, Myrtle Albertina Crabtree should have been on here. It’s so awful, it’s perfect! Dammit! Why didn’t I think of that? Plato is also a good one, especially if your cat is unusually wise. 🙂
Believe it or not, I know a whole lot of Albertinas personally 😉
Uh, oh… I’m sorry about that. I bet they already go by nicknames though!
We played a game of looking through the phone book for horrible names. There are a wealth of them out there. And I meant nothing personal to the Albertinas out there.
Nah, Plato was rather stupid, but awfully sweet.
I hate to admit it, but most cats are a good deal smarter than dogs… So even a dumb cat is probably still smarter than a dog… 🙂
I totally agree. Dogs are dumb and silly and have no self-respect.
If only we could club them over the head… I picked my eldests daughters name while I was pregnant. I always loved the name Mia so Mia it is. My youngest daughters name my husband wanted to pick (fair enough) and he chose the name leah but we spelt it the italian way Lia. Downside is when you call one and the other one appears… doesn’t happen to often thankfully
Rose is a beautiful name 🙂
I actually love both of those names, but yeah… That can can happen when the names sound similar. We avoided Jane for that reason, too close to James…
And thanks! It really does suit her, much as I liked Miriam…
I always love the name Margarette Rose. 🙂
I love that name too. We actually know someone named Margaret Grace, which I also think is beautiful.
My two favorite names ever is my daughter – Jessica Annie-Lori and we called her Annie-Lori. My grandfather was Jess, my grandmother is Annie and Lori is my sister plus I love the character fron A Tree Grows in Brooklyn and the song for the love of Annie-Lori although it is spelled differently. My granddaughter is Kenlee Justice after her Great Uncle Kenneth and her Uncle Justin. As a leader in an elementary school I have seen them all, but in first grade when they are perfecting their name and have to get it quickly on the paper they need a short nickname or name.
Sadly, I cannot remember if I ever read that book… (If I did, it was in high school.) And you’re so right about kids spelling their own names. Also, sometimes the names just don’t fit the kid. So, sometimes it pays to wait and actually look at the kid before you name him/her…
Reblogged this on Jaggi.
Thanks for the reblog!
You can’t go wrong with Rose, although Josephine is a lovely name (shortened to Jo or Josie). Being Irish, if I ever do decide to have children, they will have Irish names for definite 🙂 That final photograph is lovely by the way!
I really like Irish names too, but trust me that they all sound horrendous with our extremely unusual last name. (Sadly.) And thanks! In truth, her name suits her quite well.
Congratualitions on being Freshly Pressed! (Not sure what that means though)
Lol my full name has 8 names and I hate them all! Believe it or not, my real first two names rhyme. Try being a Cristina Marina and Desiderata starts sounding quite good:) anyways I really like your name choices…
Oh, thank you. Desiderata was actually one of the better archaic names… although it does sound horrendous with our last name. (We have a difficult last name which rules out a lot of names.) Cristina Marina is actually very pretty, especially Marina…
It’s probably good we’re done having kids because I’m pretty sure my husband would never agree to that one! 😀
We’re finished having kids, but I’m having great fun watching the Olympics and suggesting all kinds of international names to my friends. Really, who WOULDN’T want to name their wee cherub Dong Dong? 🙂
Oh, that is a rough name. I don’t know how you survive recess with that one…
When I had to learn the names of plants in botany, I used to learn them like, “This is a nice name! I’ll keep them for my daughter?son”. There were a handful of such names then, but the only one I recall now is Belladona. Isn’t that a lovely name?
Belladona is actually gorgeous. Then again, Donna was my grandmother’s name. So I might be a touch prejudiced…
Both of my boys are named George, one with the first name and one with the second–but they are called Adam (who has the middle name) and Tyler (who has the first name). I think the name George is kind of grown up–and my dad, whose first name was George went by his second name, Edward and he did not like his first name. My husband’s dad was named George and he went by George. I think my dad’s negative feeling about his name made me not want to call my kids George.
So,the reason I am telling you this is – I UNDERSTAND and I wanted to hit my husband over the head too
My husband calls me a mushroom because I like dark rooms too
Yeah, my husband’s grandfather hated his first name and went by his middle name instead. When asked, my husband said, “No way. He hated his name. So why would I give it to my kids?” I didn’t even consider it after that.
George is sorta old-fashioned, but I think it’s one of those that will come back. I actually LOVE the girl variant Georgiana…
I do like dark rooms, even though reading in dark rooms is probably the reason my eyesight is horrendous and progressively getting worse. (Well, that and my impending old age…)
I used to read in my bedroom when I was a kid from the light shining through the crack in the door — whether there is a corelation or not, I am close to being as blind as a bat without my glasses
Yeah, as a kid I read by nightlight a lot. Now, I’m in the same straights as you, and wondering if my parents were right about that…
maybe but that would not have stopped us!
Rose seems like a nice mix. It’s traditional yet not so completely flapperish. It’s just going to be annoying when she’s older and people ask if she was named after the Titanic character.
I didn’t even think about The Titanic. Ugh. Perhaps by then you’ll be Dictator and can ban that movie?
(Her name does suit her though.)
Dear Love,
Darn it,
I wasn’t going to follow another blogger for at least a month.
But, I can’t help myself.
You are too fabulous.
I hope you are happy.
🙂
teeheeee
I could get lost for hours over here! Awesome blog!
Lisa
Thanks Lisa! I am constantly saying the same thing, and then add just one more… 😀
a good friend of mine named hers synove (probably spelling that wrong) but i just call it Gail because baby girls all look like Gail Porter to me.
All baby girls look like Gail Porter to you? Too funny! 😀
I personally like Thalia or Tineke for girls and (I know) Zachariah for a boy … maybe tahts why I’m still single
I love the name Thalia. It’s unusual, but still strikes me as both a real name and quite pretty. Kinda perfect actually… (That means my hubby would hate it, without a doubt!)
It is actually one of the Greek three Graces, the muse for comedy or a nymph … i love the name
I have to admit I find Geraldine Apple oddly endearing. Coming up with the perfect name was hands down the HARDEST part of my pregnancy. Bring on the heartburn and nausea, but never show me the 2011 Baby Names Almanac again.
http://reasonsmommydrinks.com/2011/09/08/she-had-to-name-you/
Exactly. Except I could live without the heartburn and nausea too. 😀
Your blog is awesome BTW!
Since you mentioned the hormones during pregnancy, I wonder if I can be trusted to come up with a name at that time if I were pregnant :). I’ve liked the name Kelly since I was little. I also like Courtney, Paul and Yesenia.
I love the names Kelly, Courtney, and Paul. Sadly, any name that starts with a P was ruled out due to bad initials…
My husband lobbied hard for Pretoria. Let’s just say he’s lucky that the clubbing over the head ISN’T legal.
I have three kids, didn’t name any of ’em. Apparently my ideas suck. lol.
(Although in the end, Taya, Callum & Ella are pretty awesome if you ask me…)
Pretoria is tricky. Would the nickname be Pretty? Hmmm, not sure I could get on board with that either…
Aww Rose is my grandmothers name and my middle name. I love it and your daughter is beautiful!
Thanks, I love it too! And thank you! I think she’s a doll, but I might be a tad prejudiced…
Whaaaaat I just saw this was Freshly Pressed!! SQUEEEE!!!!!!!! So well deserved. Congratulations!!! 🙂
Thanks Jules! Honestly, I think they saw the pictures of my daughter, and just couldn’t resist. I’m pretty sure my writing had nothing to do with it… 🙂
Umm… my middle name is actually Eugenia *side eye*
Ha ha! I’ve never liked it, it’s pronounced with a Spanish accent so it sounds nicer than it does in English.
I like the name Alina or Andrea for a girl (Andrea pronounced in Spanish though, not English. Alina sounds the same in both languages.) And I like David or Anthony/Antonio for boys. I like Rose, but not Rosa (Spanish). 🙂
I’m sorry. I’m guessing that one is a family name. (Oh, how my ex-boyfriend hated having the middle name Avery…) I like Alina too! It’s actually really close to a friend’s name, and I love her which only makes me love it even more. That said, I’m sure my hubby would hate it. So, it’s probably a good thing we’re done having munchkins!!
A cave provides the benefit of never having to argue about who left the door open.
Easy, we just blame that on the kids! (Somehow, I’m thinking you already knew that…)
Wow! FIrst off, congrats on the FP!!
I loved this post. My husband and I only agreed on one name for my son (thank god we even had the one name) I basically hate all boy names. Except for James (my husband’s name) So my son is Christian James. For my daughter, I had my heart set on Charlotte Rose (loved that you named your daughter Rose!) but eventually went with Julia Reese. I love traditional names.
This post came at a good time because I just read a magazine article and the boy in it was named Lazer. Yes.
Lazer? What a coincidence! My teachers always used to refer to me as lazy. Of course, I never realized it was meant as a loveable nickname… 😉
I love the name Charlotte Rose, but my husband hates all names that he associates with pop culture or celebrities. (SATC) Julia is also so pretty though. And don’t tell my hubby or he’ll get a big head, but I’m also partial to James…
Oh, and thanks! I was pretty surprised, but I’m sure it was my daughter’s pictures that sealed the deal. Either that or I’m slightly prejudiced when it comes to her cuteness, and just got lucky.
I like the name Rose and used it for my first daughter’s middle name. Her sister now also has a flower middle name, Violet. Surprisingly, my husband is the one who insisted we stick with flowers and since it was only the middle name, it was easy to agree. Plus, I liked those names anyway. Nevertheless, there are plenty of other things I would like to club him over the head for 🙂
I love your daughter’s first AND middle name. Although I really like the name Violet too. Husbands really do zillions of annoying things including vetoing awesome names, but in truth so do I!
It’s good to see you. 🙂 I didn’t realize you’d been reading the blog!
I think Cumin Pear Magnolia should have gotten some real consideration….
I would have considered it, but really I prefer the name Elizabeth. 🙂
I love how you came out with all the different names for your baby. When I was in school, I always tell my friends that I will name my future kid “Copper II Sulfate Pentahydrate” because Asian names are always too short.
Ha! My kids all have eight syllable names thanks to a four-syllable last name! (Their first names are all one or two syllables though.) I actually like most Asian names, although I don’t know too much about their etymologies or naming traditions.
I had my baby names picked out long before I found a father for my soon to be coming children. They are in order of soon to be birth; Noah Alexander, Jackson Ezekiel, Guenevive Elena and Leonora Audrey. I stated in my marrige vows that I would have Veto power over any and all baby names.
Welcome and congratulations! Are you carrying multiples or just planning way ahead? I love the name Genevieve. (No, my husband doesn’t, but you probably already figured that.) I also really like Audrey and Noah. Once you’ve gone through “the miracle of birth” the veto power is all yours regardless. 😀
From one mom to another, I hope you’ll give this post a read..
Just trying to share some support for sufferers of PPD. Thx. : )
Thank you B. I will definitely give it a read.
I love the title of this post. It’s the hookiest, and yet most honest blog post title I’ve seen in a LONG, long time. And I loved the name Hudson, for our firstborn, who is named Taylor, because my husband didn’t like the nickname “Hud” (I love it). Now Taylor has to contend with the Taylor Swifts of the world, and just told me that there are 8 girl Taylors in his 6th grade class (out of 450 kids) and he’s the only boy. Oh well, every kid needs a battle to fight, right?
We read somewhere that all unisex names eventually become girl names. (Of course, Marian is the one that kills me because it was John Wayne’s real name!!) However, it usually takes some time before they become solely girl’s names. And he can still point out that Taylor guy from the Twilight series. Sorry, but I’m too lazy to look it up, and not all that up to date on pop culture…
Taylor Lautner, although I’m Team Edward all the way. We had that talk last night. I told him that everyone gets made fun of for some reason. I was “Spacey Stacie.” I hated it, but lived to tell the tale. Thanks for the sweet note!
Wow, I missed you getting pressed! Sorry! I have been traveling a lot so not around here much. Anyhow congratulations! I’ve always wanted to live in a cave too… 🙂
Honestly, I was on vacation, and I almost missed me being fresh-pressed! I hadn’t checked my e-mail for a few days, and my “smart” phone wasn’t getting wi-fi signals… Thanks for stopping by though!
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Desiderata! Love it!
We named one of our twins an extremely uncommon Polynesian name (neither of us are of Polynesian background at all) and I think we got a few “What were you thinking ???” looks. When they were at 3 months, I was contemplating on changing his name. But the hassle of dealing with the bureaucracy of amending birth certificates put me off completely. Oh, and also because the name does suit him to a tee. (I was supposed to say that from the beginning, right ?) 🙂
It’s a funny thing how some kids really do suit their names! Yeah, Desiderata is a mouth full, but so was just about every other name!