Life* á la mode

The name, or the person? Some couples make a list of names for their soon-to-be-born child and stick to the top two. Some other couples realize their names just don’t fit and the baby’s name finds itself after birth.

As a Catholic, I got to pick a confirmation name when I was 14. I’d always wanted the initials T.J. so I went through all the J names – Jamie, Josephine, Jessica, Joan, Joanne… nothing rolled off the tongue properly when combined with my last name. I settled on Jane because someone told me Tabitha Josephine was just a mouthful. I shouldn’t have listened to them. It’s bad enough that my Chinese name is the Chinese equivalent of Jennifer, I had to go pick Jane.

But! Jane it was, and I got my initials, which no one has ever used.

I have a point… really I do. Anyway, my pregnant friends B & K have made a list of names for their firstborn. They’re also going to let the baby’s sex be a surprise so this name game is even more fun! I started thinking of some of the names I like kids to have and my favorites are still the classics:

For boys (because I’d rather have a boy) Matthew, Christopher, Benjamin… names that I appreciate more in their entirety than their nicknames. But I also like others like Caleb, Graeme, Andre, Shawn – all good, handsome names.

When it comes to girls, I know what names I’m staying away from. And I do want to apologize if this offends any of you and let me say that I don’t dislike these names, I just don’t have great associations with them, and it doesn’t just apply to one person, but a few, even many people I know or know of who possess these names are just… well, they haven’t left a great impression on me. Again, this is not a personal attack. This is, after all, my blog. So here goes…

Dorothy. Fits a tiny, silver haired old lady who takes Sweet n Lows wherever she goes.

Cassie, Britney, Whitney, Jennifer (seriously, I knew almost 12 Jennifers in college)… now I know some perfectly awesome Whitneys and Jennifers, this is nothing against people who have these names, I just personally wouldn’t name my child any of those.

Names I do like: Naomi, Portia, Renee, Mallory, Emma, Chloe, Zoe, Lara… there’s a bunch but those are my top few. I also like Eloise but I’m not sure I’d name my non-existent and never-going-to-exist child that either.
No. I am not with child. I don’t plan to be so don’t ask. It was just a fun conversation shared with my friend who is due soon and it was thoroughly enjoyable to see how other people felt about certain names. I can’t wait to see what they end up naming their wee one when he or she is born.

What are your favorites and why?