Name that Peanut

Goddess in Progress recently detailed her challenge in finding not one but two names for her precious twins and threw down the gauntlet to the Internets to detail their naming journey. Ah, the memories!

The hubby and I had agreed early on that we wouldn't share our name choices before the baby were born. So many times I had witnessed folks express their all too honest feelings about a person's baby name causing angst for the mommy-to-be. Since I insisted on a stress-free pregnancy, this was added pressure I felt I could easily avoid. Plus, no matter how crazy a name I picked, I figured as long as people hear it while looking at a wrinkly, adorable little newborn, they would be too distracted to comment. I think some of our friends and family were a bit irritated that we were keeping our selections close to the vest. I understand the curiosity factor, but the fact that some were so bothered that we weren't sharing was a little surprising.

We struggled during the naming process with the fact that our last name poses some, shall we say, challenges. We had a hard and fast rule: say it out loud and say it together. Some names were easy to spot as bad associations (no Harrisons, Peters or Michaels (shortening to Mike was NOT good)), while others were more subtle (Preston was on my list for awhile until the hubby reminded me to say it out loud and say it together, not a pleasant image).

The hubby also had rules about no one-syllable names with a one-syllable last name. I had rules about proximity to family names (no J names because of our little niece, other names were too similar to cousins' children's names). We also didn't want anything too popular, nothing too old fashioned, nothing too outrageous. The Baby Name Wizard (hard copy and online) was definitely our best friend!

In the end, we walked into the hospital with two top choices. One was slightly higher than another, but not by a lot. We had agreed very easily and early what the middle name would be (a family name on the hubby's side) and it worked with either first name. In a pinch, we figured we could use it as a first name. When the little guy finally popped out and we saw his little pout, it was pretty obvious which name was a better fit.

We have no regrets about our name or how we went about it. Occasionally, people ask what our back-up choices were...but in the event that we have any others, we may still need those choices! And to be honest, it was fun to hold that kind of power, if only for a few months.