December 17, 2009 7:28 pm

23 Weeks – Naming

I keep getting confused with how many months along I am. It seems like months would be easier to compute than weeks, but it isn’t and the math confuses me. I told someone yesterday that I was five and a half months along, but then I second-guessed myself and used a calculator and thought maybe it was four and a half, but in theory 16 weeks should be four months (-ish) and 20 weeks should be five, so I think I’m right? But then this page says I am six months along! They say weeks 22-26 constitute the 6th month. So I don’t know.

Nobody lets me have their seat when I’m riding on public transit yet. This is probably less due to rudeness and more because the coat I usually wear fits like a circus tent and not a belly-highlighting thing, but… sometimes I just want to sit down. I’m not really okay with being the annoyingly pregnant person rubbing their belly in an effort to draw attention to myself, but I will admit to considering it sometimes.

Daniel’s dad and stepmom generously purchased us a carseat and a Bumbo seat off our registry for Christmas, so now we will be allowed to leave the hospital with Baby! There are apparently places that will install your carseat for you for free so we are going to look into one of those when we get the car thing sorted out.

Naming

So, the name thing. We had a couple girl’s names we liked pretty early on, and I felt very “Yeah!” about both of them. I have no boys names I feel enthusiastic about yet.

We’ve each made a list and traded them, just to get a feel for style and see if any names on there spark our imagination. Mine were mostly names that I liked but wasn’t sure I’d actually use, and several of Daniel’s were names of people we know, so I’m not convinced our lists helped us any.

Name issue #1: Fitting with last name
Any name ending in a -C or -K sound makes our last name sound like a nasty four-letter word for the female anatomy. This is obviously a problem. The name “Michael” seems fairly innocuous, but “Mike” sounds dreadful. I am not willing to overlook this.

Name issue #2: Trends vs Classics
In high school, my favorite boy name was Aiden. LOVED IT. I was convinced I would name my baby Aiden come hell or high water. Now that I am preparing to have a baby boy, all of a sudden that name and anything that rhymes with it (Jayden/Caiden/Brayden/etc.) have rocketed into the top 10 baby names of the year. BLARGH. I was already kind of over it anyway, but I find it that much more annoying that it’s SO popular.

I like old-fashioned names. Grandparent-y type names that sound familiar but fresh. I am so very not into using a “trendy” name. A popular name might be okay with me, but not a flash-in-the-pan trendy one.

Old-fashioned and grandparenty is a SUPER easy naming theme for girls, not so much for boys. Much of the problem is that classic boys names have never really gone away, so naming a baby “William” or “Jonathan” doesn’t seem so much like bringing back an awesome old-fashioned grandfatherly name as reusing a name that has been consistently-popular for decades.

Which… this is not necessarily bad. It’s just hard for me to get excited about those picks. Nothing really feels like “my baby” yet. Some names I like, but they feel like “someone else’s baby.”

Name issue #3: the -ER problem
Names that end in an -ER noise make for an awkward rhythm or rhyming problem with the last name. “Hunter” is the worst offender, but even names like “Oliver” (a name that we do like a lot) sound awkward to me. Daniel says it doesn’t bother him, but… eh. It just reminds me of my mom writing her annual Christmas letter in rhyme and attempting to rhyme things like “mane” and “again.” Not happening.

Name issue #4: Enthusiasm
All the names I come up with, I feel very “ehh” about. I want to LIKE the name, not just feel “okay” about it.

NAMING A HUMAN IS HARD.

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15 Comments

  • Nicole says:

    Naming a baby is a ton of pressure, I do like Oliver and do not think it is too matchy matchy with the last name.

    We already have a name picked out for if we ever have a girl, which probably means I will only have boys…ever haha. The name actually primarily is a boys name, we just like it better for girls (Clark)

    Good luck!

  • Vixx says:

    William and Oliver are beautiful names. :) I too love traditional.

    I went through every single abbreviation I could think of for the names we liked, which was a nightmare. lol For instance, I love Rhiannon, but not Rhi, liked Hannah but not Han. Am kinda relieved we had a boy – hard to go wrong with Sam!

    V xx

  • Melissa says:

    Try not to feel the pressure of picking a name. Ryan and I never gave much thought to it, but one night in bed, the name we decided to go with just hit us both and we knew that had to be it.

    I don’t know how many times I was in a situation involving plenty of people and no one giving up a seat for me. Now I know sometimes I didn’t look too pregnant, but even at 35+ weeks when you could definitely tell I was pregnant, no one would ever offer a seat for me. It angered me SO MUCH inside. You always see on TV people giving up seats, opening doors and generally bending over backwards for a pregnant woman, but I experienced NONE of that. I think it really is just rudeness. There were times I even stood in a packed doctor’s office before a prenatal visit and no one bothered to move for me! And, like you, I was not going to walk around rubbing my belly, looking for attention!

  • adastra says:

    Since you have a Daniel and considered a Michael, how about a Gabriel instead? ;) It’s an angel too, and a less commonly used name. Sometimes it gets confusing with all the Michael’s I know… ;)

  • Audrey says:

    I’ve always loved Aidan and James (I dislike Jim/Jimmy but maybe you like them?) William is a good one too. I like Isaiah, Jacob (but this could turn into Jake and conflict with your wants)…

  • Angela says:

    My husband and I are totally opposite of you two. We have a boy name picked out for sure, and no girls names we feel as passionate about :P. I do like the name Aidan though :D! We’re going with William when we have a son, named after his Dad and his Grandad (my Dad).

  • Teresa says:

    I have a Samuel (Sam) and a William (Billy or B). I struggled with a baby girls name for ages but literally a month before I gave birth the name Ivy came into my head and stuck there. I love it. I don’t like modern names much and I especially don’t like names that people change a few letters around but it’s still pronounced the same. My friend has a daughter called Alecksa, whereas I think Alexa looks better when written down. Each to their own I guess ;)

  • BreAnna says:

    I think Oliver would work well, it isn’t too rhymey (I’m making up words) with your last name.

    For non -er or -k/c names that are more old fashioned what about: Augustine, Mason, or Lawrence?

    Adam & I have more or less all old fashioned-grandpa/ma names picked out. I’m glad we have the same taste as you two.

  • Nicole says:

    Ohh I like Mason! That just may go on my own list haha

  • Clem says:

    Old-fashioned names are really nice. :) I like a lot of really popular names, too… but it kind of bugs me that they’re so popular!

    Also, 23 weeks seems like it should be 5 1/2 months to me too… o_o

  • Caity says:

    Aw, I am sorry it’s so much trouble to find a name. I am glad I don’t have to worry about that yet. I hope you are able to pick something soon. Perhaps the right name will just find you when you least expect it!

  • Jordan says:

    Noo don’t have anyone install the carseat for you! Figuring out how to set it up and install it is a right of passage. Don’t take all the fun out of it :P.

    As far baby names, I had a boyfriend that was intent on naming his first son Schroeder since he was a huge Peanuts fan. Can’t imagine how his new wife is going to cope with that but seeing who she is, I don’t doubt she is actually fine with it.

    I’ve always had a few names in my head that I’ve wanted, well not a few, just two. Elizabeth for a girl and Joshua for a boy. Not sure what made me pick those names but those are the only two I’ve ever thought about.

  • Stephanie says:

    An old-timey name… hm…

    Harvey, August, Raymond, Walter, Arthur, Franklin, Donald, Kenneth, George, Clarence.

    That’s all I got for you, haha. But I’m good at naming babies… helped name a few in my day, including my sister :D

  • Kerri Anne says:

    Have I ever sent you my list? The list of 17! names for girls I am most surely not going to have, seeing as how I don’t even know if I’m having a child, singular, let alone enough to start my own VanTrapp Family Singers group.

    I only have two names I like for boys. Four if you count my cousin’s names, which automatically rule them out for me ever using them.

  • Auntie Missy says:

    Rooster Savage……gets the point across don’tcha think??? This is a favorite of cousin DJ’s wrestling coach—but I think he would be all right with you using it. You can thank me later!!! Maybe with some of those cinnamon rolls on your page thingy.