There is a reason I don’t like talking about my baby name shortlist. In fact there are several reasons. The first reason being, that I don’t really care what you think about my list. I don’t care that you went to school with a real bitch in Grade Five with that name. I don’t care that you think I shouldn’t use it because there was a character in an obscure movie with that name who rose out of drains and killed people. I don’t care that you think it’s too trendy, or too weird.
Here’s a thought: if I wanted your opinion, I’d ask!
So I pretty much never bring up the topic, unless a new name has sprung to mind and I am contemplating on whether to add it to The List. Then I might ask. This drives friends and family crazy. I know they mean well. But until people can keep their random and tenuous name prejudices out of the conversation, I’d rather just not go there, OK?
The List is an Excel spreadsheet that currently has 16 names on it. Not exactly a shortlist. But for some reason, I’m finding girl’s names infinitely harder to settle on than boys names. I’m pretty sure there are more of them, for starters. And so many of them are pretty and eminently suitable.
To even get to 16 names has been a long process. First, my husband and I went through a baby name book and came up with individual lists, which we then cross-referenced and combined, vetoing any that either of us really disliked. I am still unsure why he doesn’t like Violet and Audrey, but we run our marriage as a democracy, so all I can do is hmmph in protest.
Then I visited the fabulous Nymbler site to find more names based on our preferences. The site uses a list of your preferred names to generate more in that style. You can then build up a list of your favourites and email to your partner. Too easy!
Once we had a big list, it was time to start refining. This is when I sought the opinion of a few trusted friends on the names I wasn’t so sure about. I also checked out the NSW Births Deaths and Marriages website to see which 100 girls names were most popular last year. I don’t want a kre8ive name like Myk’nzie, but nor do I want my daughter to be one of five Emilys in her class.
The next step was saying all the names out loud combined with our chosen surname (my husband’s). Combinations which look find on paper can sound dreadful when spoken – the very lovely Amelia was discarded for this reason.
Which brings us to our present list of 16 names. I’ll try to refine these more over the coming weeks, but I’ve got a feeling my baby will be one of those poor sods who remain unnamed for the first few days of life. How does Baby X sound?
Quick pregnancy update: A midwife visit this week revealed that baby has indeed turned head down! She’s punching my guts out at the moment, as 31-33 weeks is often the peak of movement. All is looking well for a late August delivery.
Printed from Babble Australia (babble.com.au). Copyright 2008 Allure Media. All rights reserved.