Eight Months and Still No Name

Gah we're getting closer and closer to our big day, but still the baby does not have a name! This is not for lack of trying. We've read a dozen books, visited all kinds of websites, and discussed it ad nausea. Nevertheless, we've come up with no firm decisions. I admit this is largely my fault.

The problem, as I see it, is three fold. First, I am a teacher, so there are lots of names out there I simply don't like. M will suggest a name that sounds perfectly lovely to him, and I will shriek "no!" because that is the name of a kid who drove me crazy one year. Whole lists of names are off the table for this very reason. For example, Brittany (in all its spellings), Nicole, Andrea, Jessica, Michelle, Tiffany, Jolene, Jade, Destiny, Jasmine (again with all its spellings) and many others are simply right out.

The second issue has to do with how common the name is on current baby name lists. I've had classes in which five of the thirty kids have the same name. In our school right now, there is a class (not mine) with six boys named Jacob. I fervently do not want to subject my child to being one of a huge crowd. Therefore, I won't entertain any name that is above about fifty on the Social Security Administration's list of baby names.

Lastly, I'm just plain old picky. I don't want to give our baby just any name. It needs to be strong, elegant, and suitable for both a little child and a grown woman. I keep thinking of her, all grown up, in a serious profession. Could she get by with a name like Daisy or Lucy or Brandee? I do not buy into the "Boy Named Sue" theory at all.

Thus we seem to be stuck. If it were up to M, I think he would have chosen something months ago. I just keep waiting for that perfect name to come to me (on a flaming pie?), and I will know in an instant that it's perfect. Then again, we might choose something, finally meet our daughter, and realize we're totally wrong. I wish, like ten million other baby items, you could order the perfect name from Amazon.com.