Thursday, February 26, 2009

Any suggestions?

First, thank you for the nice comments the other day about my haircut. You guys are a bunch of sweetie-pies! I've heard a few "You look younger!" comments since getting it all lopped off, and those people are now my new best friends. My apologies to my former best friends. You may be reinstated if you come up with better compliments.

On with the subject of today's post: Girl names... I'm having serious doubts about naming a baby girl Sam. Darrell however, is not. And no, we did not get our referral yet, so no, we do not know if Sam is even going to be a girl, but please, people- anyone who knows me understands that I have to spend time and energy worrying about this subject right now. Nevermind that I really do think we'll get a boy... Humor me, okay? I have to have my back-up plan in place. Darrell has no interest in discussing this with me, no matter how obnoxiously often I bring it up, so that means... You get to hear it!

I like very feminine, old-fashioned names. I don't like girl names that are really trendy, although I appear to have a habit of choosing names that wind up being popular. I guess I really know how to pick 'em. I thought I was being so original with Olivia and Brianna, but no... not so much. There is an Olivia and/or Brianna on every one of the girls' teams and in every elementary class. For the most part though, trendy, cute, cheerleader-ish names are out. No offense to all the Brittanys, Haylies, Kaylies, Mileys, Kylies, and Smylies out there. I'm sure you're all wonderful people.

I love flower names: Daisy, Violet, Rose (Rosalie!), Lilly. I love good, solid, "old-lady" names: Scarlet, Esther, Emma, Sophia/Sophie (slightly trendy, but I still love it), Annie (which I love, but it would sound funny with our last name, I think).

The meaning of the name is kind of important to me, too. No "negative" names. For example, I love the name Leah, but it means weak or weary and that kind of ruins it for me.

One of my all-time favorite girl names is... Oh, forget it. I'm too embarrassed to tell you. Judging by the ridicule I've received from my own family members, everyone absolutely hates it. It's a name that seems to invite mockery of every sort, so there's no way in Hades I'd get to use it anyway.

Darrell basically hates all the girl names I come up with, including all of those I mentioned above, which is why we will probably wind up with Samantha. His pick. It's not a bad name, it's just... I dunno. For one thing, to me, Samantha is a cat's name. Our cat's name is Mama, not Samantha, so go figure. Weird. But... I digress. It is also the name of Olivia's American Girl doll, so there would obviously be a lot of confusion in the house. How would the doll and/or the baby know which Samantha we're speaking to?

The main problem with Samantha other than, you know, I don't like it, is that we are nick-name people around this house, so the baby will not be called Samantha, she'll most likely be called Sam. Sam is not a girlie name. I want a girlie name if I'm having a girl- did I mention that? That means that the other names Darrell seems to like for girls (Stevie, Andi, Stormie, etc...) aren't gonna fly with me either, although those are all cute names. We could do Sami/Sammie, I guess, to "girl it up" a little bit, but I'd rather have something else. Names that end in "i" are venturing into cheerleader territory, are they not?

(Crap. If we do name her Samantha, I'll have to go back and delete this post someday, so that her little feelings won't be hurt. I don't want her to feel like her own Mom dislikes her name. Someone will need to remind me to do that, okay?)

Darrell let me pick Olivia and Brianna, and accepted what I wanted without complaint or comment. What a gem. I think he figured that, since we'd had four boys in a row, he would let me have free reign and be as girlie as I wanted with my daughters. So, I guess I could be really sweet and let him have Samantha, or any other name he chooses, for our last baby. I could... I guess... Of course, I won't... But I could.

Maybe if I keep pushing for the name I like the most (The Most Detested Female Name on Earth), Darrell will compromise and let me have Violet, Scarlet, Sophia, or Daisy?

What do you guys think? Have you heard any girl names lately that you really like? Can you think of any good, old fashioned names for me? Are you even still awake? A free M&M to anyone who made it through this whole post! Another one if you contribute a suggestion- I'm feeling generous! Just tell me where to send it.

16 comments:

Rachel said...

I am going through this too...

Julia? Juliana? And my favorite these days is Grace - but I also love Emma, that you suggested.

I'm totally curious to know what the worst name in the universe is.

I've been thinking/obsessing about this for the last week, and no, there is no urgency whatsoever. I just like to create drama.

Anonymous said...

No fair! You can't say you have a favorite girl name and then not tell us what it is! I really like Liza, or Eliza. I like my girls' names, too; though I inadvertently made them sound like a cheerleading squad. Oh well. A little late now, and my husband wouldn't have anything to do with Liza when I was naming girls.

Anonymous said...

I like the flower names as well. I have a niece named Samantha, and for a reason related to my last name my nickname from my father was Sam while I was growing up, ok, it still is now, too. Anyway, somehow it wasn't that confusing having two Sams around. I really like the name Malia, but then Obama had to go and name his kid that, so I know that's out at your house!
Also, I really need to know the name your family detests.
Oh, and peanut M&Ms are my favorite. Send mine over to Metaphase..

Laura L. said...

You don't like cheerleaders? I was a cheerleader! Now you have hurt my feelings. :(

What do you think of the name Laura? It's rather old fashioned and kind of nice don't you think?

How about Sarah, and I do like Julia too.

Just kidding about the whole cheerleader thing! :)

M. said...

You guys are doing a great job! I'm loving these names- keep them coming!

I like Juliana, LOVE Grace. I hadn't considered Eliza before, but that is pretty, too.

Laura, I do love your name, but unfortunately my DH's ex-wife's (my wife in-law?) name is very similar. And that takes care of that. We have a niece already named Sarah, but it's a beautiful name, too. And I meant no disrespect to cheerleaders- I LOVE cheerleaders!! They make such fun noises when you beat them up! Or at least they used to back when I was in high school. (...Kidding. You know I kid.)

Heidi said...

I love discussing names! In fact, I started reading your blog because we also chose the name Sam for our son. We chose Sophia three and a half years ago for our girl (still waiting from China) before it was trendy.

Old-fashioned names are really in. Friends who have recently had girls named them Josephine Virginia and Vivian Gladys. Josephine was my grandmother's middle name (Doris was her first name). My sister wanted to name a girl Eliza, after a great-aunt who was a nun.

I'm dying to know the hated name. Could it be Bertha? That was my great grandmother's name.

One final plug for Sam and Sophie--they're both scriptural, which was important to me.

And, yes, I was a cheerleader too.

Tracy said...

What about Mary or Kathleen

M. said...

I love the names Vivian and Mary. I was just asking DH for his opinion of Vivian earlier today. I think Vivian Rose would be pretty. He said, "Uh...

...

...

...It's okay."

Christina Hubbard said...

My mother in law suggested that we adopt a girl so we could name her Isabella because she wants a granddaughter named that! Unfortunately, we need a boy in our house to even us out! My girls names are kind of cheerleader names BUT don't tell the oldest she would die if someone thought she was a cheerleader!! (Tifanie and Emilie)

I like Bethany and Elizabeth. But I also like Kylie! :)

Have fun!!
Tina,KCMO

Unknown said...

I love the older names... but you are right, what is old is new again. However, I found a trick. You can find the most popular names by year on ssa.gov. You can put in girls names from 1876 and get the most popular girls name of that time. It is fun and might give you some more ideas. I love Sophia... that was my choice...but alas.. the hubby hates it. He also hates Abigail, Irene, Isabelle and pretty much all the names I have picked out. I want to hear what your favorite name is... it can't be that bad.... you listed Esther for crying out loud. (sorry to the Esther's out there.)

Unknown said...

oh... and Heather is a beautiful name, not popular anymore, and probably never will be again, and is a flowery name. But watch out.. it is a WILD flower.

M. said...

That's a great idea, Heather. Thanks! I will check that out.

Anonymous said...

We have an Amelia Claire. Not cheerleader names unless you are a Hereos fan. :)

LMK2010 said...

Michelle,
I've been a long time lurker who is finally coming out of the shadows.
how about,
Chloe, Jillian, Cecilia, Vivian, Ruth, Elise, Cora, Alice, or Lucille
Leah.

M. said...

I'm so glad you de-lurked! I think Chloe is beautiful, and Vivian is quickly moving to the top of my list. I also like Elise and Cora. Thanks for your suggestions!!

Kelly said...

I want to know the detested name immediately! Seriously, like right this second.

I LOVE baby names. A favorite topic of mine. Violet and Camille were our top choices behind Annie. I love classic names that are not overdone, just like you. You hear of a lot of Anne's and Anna's but not a lot of Annie's, so I hope we are not going to be bombarded with a zillion Annies and Lucys soon. My current favorite girl name is Vivian. LOVE IT! But I wonder if it isn't becoming wildly popular since so many of us have suggested it. What about Charlotte? I know you like girly, but to me the nickname Charlie can still be really cute and girly. Is that possible? Because in my head it is.

Let's see, what else do I love? Stella. Great choice. Couldn't convince Justin it was so great. I also love Mary.

I am going to stop now because I could go on and on.