Naming a baby is difficult, stressful work. There are so many factors to consider. Luckily, we've had a girl's name picked out for years. Because of that, I'm pretty sure that BH is going to be a boy, just to cause me as much stress as possible. So, we've begun the name game at our house. It goes a little something like this. Me or Luke, "What about [insert boy's name here]?" The respondent "No, I don't like that because [insert any number of lame excuses here]." This game might begin at any moment and might take place via email, phone or smoke signal. It doesn't really matter how it's played because the result is always the same.
The excuses for why a name isn't right are where the real entertainment and creativity come in. A name might be rejected because it's shared by a famous (not so good) actor, a friend's dog, a serial killer, a cousin twice removed that lives in a different country, etc, etc. Those can be predictable, and we've both learned how to avoid most of those basic name pitfalls. It's the excuses like "I knew a boy named [Nathan in this case] who put gum in my hair in second grade. He was a jerk." Ok. I really liked the name Nathan, and this was vaguely like Luke's excuse for not liking it (I may have embellished slightly). So, let me recap. He doesn't like the name Nathan because he's harboring a grudge against a kid from the second grade!!!! Now, if he had said that he didn't like Nathan Lane, that would almost be more acceptable. Still, Nathan is out.
In Luke's defense, I have had some serious naming missteps. For example, yesterday I came up with a girl's name of "Hiatha." I'm putting that in quotes because after further research, I realized that it's not a real name. I thought it was interesting, but Luke said that it sounded like something that a ninja yells as he's breaking a board with his head. Fair enough. That's a perfectly good excuse for why you don't like my made up name. It's not like I was going to use it or anything! I was just trying to be creative!
In closing, I would like to point out that after weeks of playing the name game we still have no firm boys name. At least we've found a few that we can agree on. Nathan, of course, not being one of them!
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8 comments:
Peter is a great family name on both sides of the isle. My grand father's name is Pete, and i have an unlce named Peter as well.
However, we really like the name Tyler as either the first or middle name .. and two "er" names sound odd.
Alisa, came up with a top contender yesterday, but she was so focused on Nathan that she's reserved about it.
The search continues ...
lh
The one thing you also have to remember (sorry to add to the headaches) is what nicknames people come up with for the name. Anna Banana has cost me thousands in therapy. Even with Melissa, that I vowed would never be shortened, has begun Mel, Missy, Mellie.... Good luck and remember: no matter what you decide on, your child will end up hating it!
Gus picked out Amy's name. He liked it and it was short! I picked out Stacey's name after we found out it was a girl. It was hard to pick a boy's name. We might have had one or two "maybe's".
When I looked in the name book... It said Stacey was a form of Anastacia... which my name (Nancy) was also. And another meaning to her name was "spring like". And since her birthday was 3/23, I thought it fit! Read the name book... it's amazing what it tells you. Also think of the initials the name will create.
Best of luck deciding!
I like Peter. I like it for several reasons...the main one being it is the Grandfather's name. To me, this means that the baby already has a leg up on his foundation. It points to roots and with so many intangibles in this life a little tradition is a nice. It's an honoring thing, too.
And Luke is a nice name, too.
Or you can do what Bob and Joan decided on and give a "kid" name and a "grown-up" name, cause that's not wierd. Actually, it has been kind of fun having an alter-ego! However, it does become difficult to explain when bringing people from the "Maureen" era home to the "Molly" sector. I have to hand it to my parents though, I do love my name now and I have gotten constant compliments in the past few years. Too bad I'll have to give it away someday. Either way, he'll/she'll grow into whatever you decide on!
Glad all is well!
Molly :)
PS: I think Peter is a nice name too! (Maybe a middle name its similar to Tyler.)
We both liked the names Olivia (loved "Knots Landing"; and the actor who played Melanie in "Gone With the Wind")and Julia (don't know where I originally got it from, and actually found them in our family tree---that would be the Southern family tree. No luck with the Yankee tree. Palmisano was a little hard to work with, but you'll probably have better luck with Hamilton. Try looking at family names if you haven't already. If it were a boy, I wanted Wesley---Wes for short. but, Charlie thought that Wesley sounded like a butler. Like Charles doesn't? Then we threw in odd family names as middle names. That's usually an easy way to make the grandparents happy. Good luck! Aunt Melanie
I must say I woke up the other morning thinking about the name "Peter" for BH. As several others have already noted, "Peter" clearly has legitimacy on both sides, and I must admit I like the name quite a lot.
No inspiration for a middle name however, but that's not surprising since Luke's dad and I could not come up with one for Luke. I always told myself this was a case of "restraint is the better part of taste". Well, I DO believe that statement in principal (unless you have seen my living room) but in Luke's case, well.... we just couldn't think of anything good, and we told him he could make up his own when he turned 18. Never happened.
As for nicknames, oh my. I don't suppose it could get much worse than "Luke The Puke" could it? Please?
-mh
Alisa is in love with "Bennett Tyler" or "Bennett Peter" .. she just likes Bennett alot ... its not so bad, but its not hitting me yet either. I really like Tyler, but i also really like the idea of using a family name. I also wanted to somehow bring in some of the italian heritage (frankie four fingers?)
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