What's in a name

Someone once told me that one of the toughest things to do is to name a child. There are many difficult things in life, so I'm not sure I agree entirely, but will say that there's a lot of pressure to pick a good name. Kids are brutal with nicknames, initials can accidentally spell out bad things, and everyone has opinions on names of people they already know that can positively or negatively impact the decision. Even with Addison we still struggle with the dilemma of whether she should be known as "Addison" or "Addie" (or as my mother likes to say "Addie Mae"). There's a lot to consider.

So here we are, a few months before baby #2 arrives, and playing the name game. We have no idea if peanut will be a boy or a girl, which just adds to the fun. Now there are some general rules that we've been trying to hold to, such as no living relatives, no close friends or their children, and no celebrity names. Essentially we don't want to put pressure on anyone that we are naming our child after them.

In general I've learned that I like pretty names, so choosing girls names is much easier for me; boys names seem to be much more difficult for me. I even find myself liking a lot of boys-names-for-girls but not for boys. Example, I like "Kyle" for a girl but not for a boy, although I'm not sure if it is on either list at the moment. Derek tends to veto a lot of my suggestions, which is thankfully keeping the list to a manageable length.

I'm sorry to say that at the moment the list is in so much flux that I don't want to share any possibilities here yet, but perhaps as we get closer and start narrowing down the names list, I'll share it with y'all. But for now I'll continue to toss ideas around in my head while pushing Addison around on her new tricycle.