Its all in the name

Some people go through a lot of thought and research in order to find a name for their new baby. Is the name popular? Does it have a precious meaning to go along with a precious new baby? Is it a name that is linked to my ethnic heritage (mine would be dutch)? Can we find a name that would be a "family" name?

In our family, pregnancy is not a fun 9 months (or 7 1/2...) - Cornbread says I turn into a different person (one that he doesn't like as much as my lovely normal self), he also gets wigged out by the thought of a baby being in my stomach. He thinks it is kind of creepy - almost like an alien in there trying to kick its way out. Nice, eh? So there are no stories being read to the baby by daddy. Daddy doesn't talk to the baby. Daddy doesn't try to feel the baby move. Daddy doesn't acknowledge baby unless he's forced to. In each of the three pregnancies, if you had gone by watching and listening to him, you would barely know that his wife was pregnant.

So choosing a name is a chore. Of course, being the mom and thinking of everything, I thought that choosing a name was an important aspect of having a child. He, on the other hand, thought it was a hassle and didn't want to deal with it. We argued. We disagreed. He famously told me that I didn't choose "real" names, but instead just put syllables together and called it a "name" (that was in response to me suggesting Ava when I was pregnant with Ryann).

Ultimately, though, we settled on names that we both loved and are very happy with.

Nora was named through a multiple choice list. My parents named me and my sister CarA & JanA because my dad didn't want our names shortened to anything with an "eeee" sound at the end (ala susIE, KatIE, ShellY). Can't shorten our names. I thought it would be nice to carry on that tradition. After thinking long and hard about names I gave Cornbread a list:
A) Mona
B) Nola
C) Nora

He could choose. I liked them all, but I liked Mona and Nola best. He chose Nora. We were happy. Then chose Grace as a middle name because it just sounded good.

Her boy name, by the way, was Joshua something. Not even sure how we picked that.

Ryann was named via a tabloid magazine. We had gone 'round and 'round through lists of names. I was trying to stick with the theme of A on the end and an older, classic name that would not be popular. Ava. Audra. Lena. No. No. No.

As we were driving to Michigan one weekend, I was reading a silly entertainment magazine. It had a story about Christian Slater in it and his girlfriend's name is Ryan Haddon (I think). I threw the name, Ryan, out there in a snotty tone of voice: "Well, we could name a girl Ryan". Cornbread, astonishingly, LOVED it. LOVED it - I mean he just went nuts over it. While I was in labor with her, I asked him if we should change our girls name - I was very nervous about naming her a boys name even with the additional N. He refused to discuss it. Ryann was it. And she really is a Ryann.

My dad called her "the baby girl with a boys name" for a long time. My MIL told people about her grandaughters and always included "... and Ryann (she's a girl)". My Gram told people that her grandaughter had another baby, "Ryann JOY" with emphasis on the joy so people woudl realize she was a GIRL. Many family members had to get used to the idea, but now no one even questions it.

We added Joy as a middle name because I wanted her initials to be RJ.

Her boy name was Jackson Davis - chosen because I love the name Jack (and Jackson) and I wanted the initials JD because I wanted to call our son JD.

Georgia was named via a cast off from a friend;) Before I even got pregnant with Georgia I had fallen in love with the name (after hearing it was on the list for Jen's Greta). When I got pregnant, I didn't say anything because I didn't want to discuss names with Cornbread due to the frustration of the previous pregnancy - I was going to wait this one out.

I was out on a "date" with PD after an appointment and she had found out she was a having a girl. She told me she was going to name her Georgia after a grandpa and call her Georgie. I about had a heart attack. Not only were we due 2 days apart, going to the same OB, going to all of our appointments together, but great minds thought exactly alike! But alas, Georgia was off of our list.

So back to the list. Ava came up again. Cornbread resigned to it. I think he was sick of the argument. When I suggested it his response was, "Fine." To which I was kind of heartbroken - I didn't want to have a child who had a name that we could "settle on" - I wanted a special name for this one, too. Third children really get all the leftovers, right? But we were stuck on Ava because neither of us wanted to discuss it any further.

The night of our glucose test, PD & I were waiting our turns in the hospital lobby and she said she had something important to talk about. She said that her husband hated the name Georgia, he had only agreed to it to keep her quiet. He refused to use that name. So could she have Ava and I could have Georgia if I had a girl?

Um, yes, I think we could make that happen.

Georgia's middle name is Nicole because it was the only name we could add that wouldn't make her whole name sound southern. Cornbread wanted Noelle, but we agreed to Nicole.

And since we are done having children, I will tell you the greatest boys name ever: Victor. Georgia's boys name was Victor Alan, Victor Douglas, Walter Alan or Walter Douglas (we hadn't decided yet).

How did you name your kids?