Naming a kid is hard y’all.
There are so many things to think of. Some of these were a fleeting thought, and others were reasons why names got crossed off.
- Do you want a family name? If so how do you explain to the other family that you didn’t go with theirs (if this is even a concern)?
- Does someone close to you already have this name? And do you want them to have the same name?
- Does someone in your past have this name? Is that a good or bad thing?
- Is there a connotation that goes along with this name? (ie stripper names)
- Could there be bad nicknames associated with this name? (ie Josie Grossie)
- Do you believe in the meanings behind names?
- Do you want to be original or more traditional?
- Are you ok with it being a common name?
- What about spelling?
- Will their initials spell something? (I mean seriously do you want your initials to be COW, DUD, or BUT if you had a say?)
- And above all else, you both need to like it and agree.
We have been keeping a running tab of names that we like for the past couple years. Whenever I heard a name that I liked, I would run it by Tom and then add it to our list on my phone.
To be honest, I have kept a list since I was a little kid. I was totally that girl who envisioned being a mom from pretty much day one. I often got the name books in the Scholastic Book fairs in elementary school. So one can say that I have always been interested in names.
Once we found out we were pregnant we got serious about our list. We narrowed our boy names fairly easy to a couple that we really liked. The girl names were much harder.
We both had our likes but we kept having to restart because we knew someone with the name (student I wasn’t fond of or someone Tom hated) or it just didn’t feel right to one of us. Namely, we had issues with the connotations that go along with some names…
This is so stressful people.
You want to pick a solid name that your child can be proud of. You don’t want them to hate their name. (I went through a phase where I hated my name because it was so common, and wanted to change it to Crystal. Why, I have no idea. Parents, I do love my name now, so thank you.)
The name is the first identifier for someone. So much is revolved around a name such as memories and their experiences. I mean think about it when you say someone’s name a lot more comes to mind than just that one word.
So how do you pick a name that can mean so much to someone before you even meet them?
You just kind of wing it to be honest. (While thinking about all the questions above of course.)
And once you know, you know.
And without further ado, our little guy will be…
George is a name that we both have loved for a long time, like before we were pregnant long time. So that part was easy. And neither of us have had bad encounters with a George or has it been stolen by someone close to us (I kid about the stolen part, well only sort of.) Really, we just know famous George’s: George Washington, George Brett, Prince George…Tom and I actually played a game of “Last Word” with who can beat the other with famous Georges. Just try to see how many you can come up with!
The middle name proved to be a little more interesting of a conversation. (We considered for a time to name him after George Brett-we love our Royals. Also the middle name “America” was discussed…sadly.)
But we finally settled on Lawson.
Lawson is Tom’s middle name. (If we would have had a girl, she would have had my middle name.)
It is so great to call him by his name.
Our little George.
Also George has been dubbed as our ninja baby (thanks to our dear friend Sandra) since he surprised us with his sneaky entrance into the world. The nickname has kind of stuck, and he keeps pulling out little surprises for us. At our appointment last week, we found out that we are actually more than a week further along than we thought. George is growing so steadily and like a champ, and the last two ultra sounds have not been consistent with our previous due date. So we are actually 20 weeks tomorrow, which means we are half way there! Our new due date is September 15th instead of the 25th.
Do you have names picked out already? How would/did you go about picking a name?
findingmyyellow.com 
I’m 20 weeks tomoro too, got my scan at midday. We r finding out hopefully and have been making a shortlist of names, I never thought it would be so hard. 🙂
I know! It is a lot of pressure! Have fun at your appointment. Finding out is a great experience!
We have been thinking of names since before I found out I was pregnant. We have one boy name and one girl name for this child, and several other girl names, but we’ll be in trouble if there are more boys! We just couldn’t agree!
That’s how we were with girls! We could not agree on anything.
I absolutely love it!! I imagine it’s a ton of pressure to pick a name, but you did such a fabulous job!!
XOXO
Chelsea
http://www.anchorsaweighblog.com/
Thanks Chelsea! I am sure it is not the hardest parenting choice we will have to make, but it sure was difficult!
YAYY! I’m so excited for you two and about the name choice! I’ve been eagerly awaiting the post and loved hearing your thought process… I never even considered half of those questions- sounds stressful. Miss you lots and love reading your updates. Can’t wait to meet George Lawson!
Also, thank you for my end of the semester card. I loved loved loved getting mail. It meant so much and it came at the perfect time. I think this was my hardest semester of school ever. You are so thoughtful!
It is definitely a process! And you are so welcome! I miss you and our girl times!
Aw such a cute name for the little one!
Thanks! We love it!
So sweet! George Lawson is such a cute name. I’m so happy for y’all.
Thanks so much!
I also hated having a common name growing up, 4 Jessica’s in my 3rd grade class was the worst! I always wanted to be a Bridget, no idea why.
My husband and I have the same initials so we decided early on that our children would share those initials as well. Luckily the boy name I’ve been obsessed with since I was young fits, and we found a middle name we love that has significant meaning to us (it was our first duty station after we were married). If we have a boy, he will be Jacob Riley. If we have a girl we are clueless, I don’t have a single J name that I like for a girl that doesn’t have a negative connotation associated!
I like George Lawson! Great choice!
I have a common name too. Yay 80s babies craze! I like the idea of sharing initials. That will be super cute!
George is a great name! A classic and no one will ever have to ask him how to spell it. I like that for each of your bullet points of consideration, you included a follow-up question. Specifically, “Does someone close to you already have this name? And do you want them to have the same name?” I’ve heard a lot of people say, “I can’t name my baby x because that’s so-and-so’s name,” I totally get that if it bothers you, but it’s not an automatic disqualifier in my book. I have an uncle, two cousins, and a brother named Brian. My brother and one of the cousins (in the family we call him BK for his initials) are actually only a month apart. My mom and my aunt both loved the name. I love that they both used it. I probably wouldn’t ‘take’ another person’s baby name if it was particularly unique, but then again, it’s not like one can own a name.
Enough babbling from me, though. I love the name y’all chose, and more importantly, you guys love it! Congrats to the ninja baby on getting a name!
Naming them the same name as someone we know wasn’t automatically disqualified. We just weighed if it would be a pain to have several people by that name or if that name had been tainted by someone. Another one was do names sound the same. My niece’s name is Ava, and we really liked the name Eva, but we thought that might get confusing. In the end we decided we wanted an original but traditional name.
Love the name! And love the middle name! Reading a book right now and the guy’s name is Lawson. Just love it 🙂 I know when the time comes we are going to have hell deciding on a name.
Thanks! We are in love too!
So exciting! I’m not a nickname person, but in my husband’s family, everyone has a nickname. I’m paranoid that they’ll try to call whatever kids we have by a nickname that I don’t want!
Yea my family was very concerned about having the ability to shorten the name into a nickname too. Finally having a name sure is fun though!
I love the name yall picked out!!! Its perfect!!!! Your right there’s so much that goes in to pick names!!! I’ve had a list for ever of girl names and we have a set boy name that we would use but I so badly won’t a girl. That is when the time comes.
Thanks!
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