My husband and I couldn't be more opposite when it comes to baby naming... well, in lots of things actually but identifying our child is simply the most crucial issue at this moment. He offers names based on who he knows or what famous person shares the name (i.e. our in utero nickname for this child is "Pancho" named after a 1980's race car driver!) regardless of the ridiculousness of the name. In fact, I think he likes the idea of naming the child after someone else and I tend to avoid that entirely. I want someone to say "what a great name" when they hear of our child's arrival but not wince or scratch their heads wondering where in the heck it came from. And I do not want a name that has been used by someone we know (even if only an acquaintance) - it's no fun.
Our different personalities and naming preferences aren't the only consideration. This little one is due Feb. 28th and will be little sister or brother to my daughters Regan Olivia & Reece Elizabeth. The girls are from my prior marriage - and both names were/are perfect. Although more Regan's have popped up, both names are relatively unique in our area and I loved them paired with a older, more traditional middle name.
So, the first issue is how to come up with a name we can both LOVE. Second issue is whether we stick with the R's - which seems a bit weird to me because they won't share last names, former marriage, etc. On the other hand maybe we should go with the theme so none of them associate themselves as being from a different family. Ugh - husband says I'm way overthinking it! It's his first child so I want it to be something we share, not an R name he is forced into by default!
We do have a girl name and a boy name we both like... he seems sold, but I've not had my Ah-ha moment with the girl name. Our last name is Schmidt.
Weston Zachary - my idea, he came around to it and he is pretty set on it now. Middle name is a must as this is after my brother who passed away.
Carson/Carsyn Rose - pretty sure I threw it out there and he instantly liked. Rose is after his mother and we both agree this shall be the middle name of a girl. I've read your suggestions of using Rose for a first name, but I'm not keen on that mostly because I don't want "Rosie" and the confusion will be too difficult as his mom is living and we see them often!
Names that have been eliminated for various reasons just to give you an idea of our tastes... Sheldon (yes, he seriously loves this despite the "sh, sh - iness" with our last name); Raylin (too close to Regan, but was always his favorite girl name). I like Charlotte (but again the sh-sh sound), Kendall (but know a family with a baby Kendall), Cameryn (for a girl, but this is my niece), Mason (simply too popular).
Thank you Thank you Thank you!!!!
And:
About a month ago I emailed you about Baby Girl or Boy Schmidt and the drastically different ideas my husband and I have about baby naming...
Since then we've made progress, but I need some opinions.
First, we love the name Weston for a boy. BUT, I'm struggling with the middle name. I lost a younger brother 10 years ago and always knew if/when I had a boy his middle name would be Zachary after my brother. Husband is of course on board with this, but I also know that he always anticipated a baby boy with his middle name (which is his father's name... wait for it... Ivo - it's a name that appears to be native to his hometown!!). I think we should use TWO middle names, he thinks I'm ridiculous and says he's totally agreeable to Zachary. But, I just can't shake the feeling that this is his only child and he might regret not having a "namesake" (even if it's shared). So, is giving a poor child 4 names to spit out unreasonable, unfair or inhumane?
Issue number two... I told you that my daughters from my first marriage are "R's" and I was unsure of whether to continue this trend. Let's just say that if it's a boy I'm totally ok with Weston (or a non-R name), but my girls have said "Mommy, it has to be an R if its a girl, so she's just like us!" How can do anything else, right? Right. Except there is only 1 R name that I've come across that I like/love. Renna. Before you judge, the middle name will be Rose (regardless of first name) so you have to say it all to be sure it passes muster... Renna Rose. My fear? That I'm predisposing this sweet little angel to a future in pole dancing. My friends who have been quizzed say I'm overthinking it and that's not at all where their minds go... but once you say it...
And is it to rhymey with Regan & Reece? I really think the R will bond them and in families with stepchildren I think this is really important.
I'm due Feb. 28th and I saw you were at/near these due dates.... please help. This will be the 3rd and last for us and I had no idea how difficult it would be to name this sweet one!!
Thank you!
I can give personal-experience feedback on the two middle names issue, because my kids have two middle names and so do I. And this is my feedback: it's not as much hassle as I'd expected. On forms where it matters (applications and registrations, for example), I try to make it very clear: writing the middle names one on top of the other on the middle name line, or even making brackets with labels "middle names" and "surname." I chose ahead of time which name I wanted as the default (for me it's the second of my two middle names, but for the kids its the first) if a form only let me use one name/initial, so paperwork is consistent. The hassles have been things like occasionally needing to correct a form where the information has been entered as if the second middle name is the first of two last names, or where the first middle name has been entered as if it's a second first name, but I think that's happened maybe four times total in the twelve years since we named our first child. AND, it hardly ever comes up: middle names show up mostly on forms and never in introductions, so he'd be Weston Schmidt when he's saying it or writing it on his homework. It sounds to me like your reasons for using two middle names outweighs the small hassle, so I'm voting yea on that one.
About the R names. That IS pretty cute and compelling, to have the girls wanting her to have an R name. Do you think they'd settle for an R middle name? Renna Rose seems fine to me (I will probably suddenly realize what you're alluding to and then feel very silly!), but it's too bad Renna has the same number of letters as the other two, in addition to all three starting with Re-: I don't think they sound so much alike, but they look alike. Regan, Reese, Renna. Well, I wrote that out to illustrate the problem, but actually that's kind of cute. I don't know WHAT I think! Let's see what everyone ELSE thinks!
Name update! Caroline writes:
After all the concern about baby girl names, we needn't have worried... We welcomed Weston Zachary Ivo Schmidt to our family on Feb. 23, 2011. He is absolutely perfect and honoring both of our families with his two middle names worked out perfectly as well! Although my husband was concerned about having mouthful of names, as soon as he held Weston he proudly called him by all FOUR names without hesitation! I've attached a pic of our little guy... thanks for the advice!!
