Wednesday, March 03, 2004
The issue of baby names came up in conversation with K again last night. (K, who not even 2 weeks ago started crying after about three minutes in the maternity clothing store! Full speed ahead now, folks.) Name selection, to me, is more of a sticky wicket than any other baby-related topic. Not only do friends, family, coworkers and total strangers feel the need to ask about your choices, upon hearing them they seem to think it's their right to offer opinions and suggestions.
With Sophie, even though Sean and I had really decided on that name in 2000 or maybe earlier, we kept our short-list of baby names a closely guarded secret with all but a select few. I practically had people sign a statement of Terms and Conditions of Information Sharing before I forked over our top name choices. Even so, there were a few slip-ups along the way, and a few people who I regretted telling - some immediately, such as the acquaintance who responded with not only her opinion but her mother's opinion as well. This was in clear violation of several of the Cheezwerks Baby Names Commandments, such as "thou shalt not divulge this information to anyone else" and "thou shalt not annoy me with your irrelevant opinion". Unfortunately, no smiting followed, but after that I responded to baby name "advice" with, "You wanna name something? Have your own baby or get a dog!" Did I mention that being pregnant with Sophie was 39 weeks of surliness and sarcasm that totally eclipsed all previous levels of Patented Amanda Crabbiness? I had a bad case of gestational rabies. Good times.
If you caught the "again" regarding discussing baby names with K, that's right, there was an earlier discussion. One in which I mentioned liking the name "Annabelle" for a girl, to which K immediately shot back, "That is a fat girl's name. And I think I know you well enough to tell you that I can't let you do that to a kid. No 'belle' names." Friends don't let friends give their kids "fat" names, apparently. Yeah, that Public Service Announcement will be popping up everywhere soon. Anyway, that pretty much soured me on that group of names...not that I'm under any pressure to come up with baby names right now. It's just a form of light entertainment.
That being said, I have been trolling the lists of baby names on babycenter.com and such, and hoping that we don't choose another name that is suddenly catapulted into popularity the moment we sign the birth certificate. Check it out: "Sophie" didn't even make the top 100 in 2002, but for 2003 it was the 71st most popular girl's name. Anecdotally, every time I read a newspaper or magazine, there's yet another picture of a little girl named Sophie. Thankfully, though, we didn't have a boy: if we had, his name would have been "Aidan", and he would have no doubt been one of ten Aidans in his class, as that name was the 2nd most popular baby boy name for 2003 (up from #41 in 2002!).
Anyway, I once again have a short-list of new-and-improved baby names, which includes a heaping handful of names that will never, ever appear on any Top 100 list. Go ahead, tell me what you think of "Axl Cheezleton", I dare ya!
# posted by Amanda at 12:34 PM |
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