As soon as we announced our pregnancy we were asked three questions by almost everyone we talked to.
1. When are you due?
2. Are you going to find out the sex?
3. Do you have any names picked out?

Answers?
We are due December 25th; we are going to find out the gender, and Boschembechler. Which usually caused a funny reaction from anyone we told, given that we said it as if it was one word, and we’re from Columbus Ohio.

As the weeks progressed, we did find out the gender, and were elated to discover we were having a little girl! Now the name pressure was on, and Boschembechler was out.

Naming anything is a difficult thing to do. I stressed for a week or two trying to pick the right name for Ruby when she was a puppy. Her name is perfect and fits her to a tee. I cannot imagine her with any other name.

Naming really is tricky.
Do you become the name, or does the name control you?
Is every Trixie destined to be a stripper?
Is every girl named Bernice doomed to lonely nights spent in the library with no friends or boyfriends?
In the 80’s John Hughes told us “Claire is a fat girls name.”

Even the baby naming books will steer you away from certain names by attaching negative connotations to them.

Besides that, being a teacher adds a whole other element to the name game. Having experienced four or five years of Makayla’s
(All spelled in a variety of ways ranging from normal to barley legible)
The last thing I wanted for my own child was a “popular” name. I was lucky enough to not have a popular name, but my brother Michael wasn’t so lucky. No matter what my mother claims, as “classic” a name as Michael is, from the mid 1970’s to the mid 1980’s Michael was one of the most Popular names. Michael had 5 other kids in his kindergarten class named Michael. The teacher basically renamed them all the first day of school. Mike, Mikey, Mick, Michael, Mickey etc. You get the picture.

I also see first hand the problems with giving your child a “regular” name, but making it unique by tweaking the spelling.  Names like Marcus being spelled M-a-r-q-u-i-s.
This isn’t fair to do to your kids, people. They will spend their lives having to correct people on how to pronounce and spell their name. They run the risk of misspellings on important documents like diplomas and financial forms.

Then there is the crazy kid factor. As a teacher you often see patterns in names. More than one wild child named Josh, starts to make you wonder, coincidence or curse? You ask other more veteran teachers and they will have a short list of “no-no names” for both boys and girls.

So other than being stuck between a rock and a hard place… this is where we found ourselves.
I am a planner, and wanted to buy a variety of baby naming books, methodically go through them eliminating unworthy names and deducing the perfect name for our child.

Troy, not so much.

He says he “needs to meet her”. This is a statement that made me nervous. I could envision the two of us desperately trying to pick a name between contractions in the labor and delivery room.
We compromised by deciding to create a short list of names we like, and then deciding on the best fit when little miss makes her first appearance.

With just 9 weeks to go, we do have a short list, but have decided not to share any of the names on that list for one reason, and one reason only.

People, for whatever crazy reason, think they have a right to an opinion about your name choices. Opinions they readily share with out your asking for them.

Parents –to- be:  “We really like the name Ramona.”
Rude Idiot people: “Oh, I knew a horrible girl in high school named Ramona. I hated her. Don’t pick that.”
Or
“Ugh, really why? What a weird name. That kid is gonna hate you.”
Or
“Oh I know a kid named Ramona, she is such a brat.”

I could go on and on, but I won’t. And while I will admit that some people should share their potential baby names, so as to avoid some of the truly heinous names that I have seen and heard of (Parents of little baby Pimp-Juice Johnson … I mean you) we are not in danger of this, so our list is a secret. Though after talking to my Mom about some of the ancient family names on our tree, Baby Seenaliz or Gynalee are kind of growing on me…