LOVE your blog. A.
B. I have questions/suggestions/whatever and I would like to first apologize for rambling!
OK--questions.
1. I wonder if you might be willing to put up some kind of open forum every now and then for people to post cool names they've heard, or interesting sibling pairs, or whatever (without last names, obviously). I think it would be really fun to discuss. For example, when I was in ES there were--I sweartogod--sibs named Christina, Christian, and Christiana.
2. What's up with month and color and flower names? Or I guess all noun names? How come--and I don't mean this snarkily--some are considered names and some aren't? See: June/May vs November, Lily/Daisy vs Peony, Violet vs Yellow...
3. What are your thoughts on giving kids in the same family different last names? I love my name--it's Vanessa S____ V____ Steck which is possibly the greatest name ever. I am definitely not changing it if I get married, but I'd also like to give my kids my last name--at least some of my kids--and I don't think I want to hyphenate anything. What do you think? Would it be horrid to have, say, Annie Steck and Cora SomeoneElse'sSurname?
thanks!
1. Oh, good idea! We sometimes have things like that (what names have you had to give up because of surname compatibility and what is our favorite Z name and cool names from our family trees)---but I think they would be fun to do more often, and I don't always think of it. Or, now that we have the new non-due-date order, people can submit a question of that sort! Ooooo, that would be fun! Yes, if anyone has a general name-related discussion question, they should submit it. Come to think of it, I have a couple on the spreadsheet from wayyyyyy back---perhaps I'll do one after this!
2. I know, isn't that weird? Violet, Rose, Lily---YES! Tulip, Carnation, Daffodil---no. April, May, June---YES! February, July, October---no. One thing I find particularly interesting is the BORDERLINE word-names. That is, a FEW people use December, and Magnolia, and Emerald---but VERY FEW. I think those make a nice choice when someone wants something a LITTLE out-there but not TOO out-there: the use of other word-names from the same category make the names easier to accept, just as unusual rhyming names are easier to accept ("It's like Natalie, but without the N" or "It's like Jenna, but with a K instead of a J").
3. My mother's friend Donna was telling us that she knew a family where all the boys had the dad's surname, and all the girls had the mother's surname. Wait, no, I think it was a whole CULTURE where they did that. Seems like a good idea to me. The downside is that until it becomes a cultural norm, it gives the wrong signals: a family where the children had two different surnames would, I think, be assumed to be a blended family. It's none of their business + who cares + people who know you will know the real story + nothing wrong with blended families---but it's the sort of thing that can feel like too much of a hassle to take on.
But if I were you, I'd want to keep that name TOO. One possibility is to keep your own name and give the children their father's surname (which is done often enough to be familiar), but then give the children two middle names: either a new middle name plus your surname, or your second middle name plus your surname, or something of that sort. We did something like that in my own household, when I was loathe to give up my own name.
