whats in a name?

Just over two years ago

when we found out we were expecting our little Dollop

we started 'The Name Game'.

The one where every time you have half a minute to think

you start discussing possible names for your impending offspring.

We spent most of my pregnancy having that same conversation at least every month

and more than likely a whole lot more than that.

The funny thing is that I can remember us having a baby name discussion

long before we were married,

long before we were engaged,

long before we were even living together.

For six years we had maintained that we had a boy's name and girl's name picked out

ready for when we had babies one day.

And then we found out we were pregnant . . .

And for me the reality and responsibility hit like a ton of bricks;

I was choosing a name for an actual person to have to live with.

It would have to suit them as a baby,

as a small child,

as a teenager,

as a grown up working professional

and as an old person.

That is one hell of a responsibility.

Needless to say

in an instant I had gone right off the names we had had picked out for our entire relationship.

So the husband and I talked,

and bickered,

and argued,

and threw strops (that might have just been me),

and talked some more.

We vetoed each others' suggestions

but didn't always have other names to offer in their place,

mainly because we had such different ideas about names.

He argued that finding out the babies gender would have at least halved our task.

I argued that he was just unoriginal, unimaginative and just didn't care enough.

'The Name Game' has proved to be a difficult one both times round for us,

because as it turns out we like different things.

I like more unusual names,

not wacky and out there,

but not the sort of popular names 

where there will be five other children with the same name in their class at school.

The hubby isn't a fan of standing out from the crowd particularly

and would consider popularity to be a good thing.

We finally decided on babies names for Dollop

the night before I went into labour.

I think that the baby was hanging on in there knowing that if they came to soon

then they would be nameless.

And we actually ended up picking the boy's name that we had liked all those years.

I mean, talk about going full circle.

But in a moment of madness where we didn't think things through

we used both our favourite boys names on the beautiful boy.

His middle name could so easily have been his first name if he'd been born a little earlier or a little later.
We love both names and were so excited that they went well together,
but we had failed to think about what would happen if we went on to have another boy one day.

So this time around we are back to the drawing board.
The girl's name that we settled on last time
we no longer like,
plus it doesn't really 'go' with our beautiful boy's name.
And we used our two favourite boy's names for him.

It would be fair to say that we are finding it just as hard this time around,
if not harder.
Because I keep insisting that is needs to go with the beautiful boy's name
while not being 'matchy-matchy'.
And any matching initials to any of us are out as far as I'm concerned too.

So we are back to the regular conversations about names
and what we like one week, we hate the next
and we still don't really agree on the types of names we want.
I still want slightly unusual,
the hubby still likes the most popular and common names,
and now you can add to the equation that we'd like it to 'go' with our little man's name.
Talk about an impossible task.
So out the baby name books come
and evenings are spend flicking through them for inspiration,
while talking, bickering, arguing and strop throwing,
all in search of just the right name to give Splodge when he or she arrives.

One thing is for sure
that once we hold that little baby in our arms and give it a name,
we won't look back.
I think any doubts you have over names tend to fade away once they are actually attached to your child,
and you don't tend to think twice about your choices.
And if Splodge is anything like the beautiful boy
they will gather an assortment of nicknames in a quick space of time
and only really have their full name used by mummy.

But feel free to offer any suggestions,
anything modern but not too wacky and not too popular.
We're all ears.