The Name Game

We have a little more than 2 months left before the arrival of this little guy and we still don't have a name picked out. It's not that we don't agree on names, but it's just nothing is popping out.

With Emily, I liked Emma and Ella. David wanted more traditional and we went with Emily. Then, I told my Aunt Rosie the name who suggested that Rose would be a nice middle name. We loved it right away. All set. If Emily had been a boy, we would've named her Noah Michael.

I don't remember who suggested Benjamin for our little man, but we both agreed on that. His middle name is David for obvious reasons. I realize for me, names are attached to people I've known. Noah was this hunky tall drink of water on All My Children in the early 90's. I thought he was hot and a bit of a bad boy, so I like the name because it reminds me of him. Same thing with Ben, the unattainable guy on the show Felicity that I used to watch. Sometimes I hear a name and think oh no, I knew a girl/boy in school with that name and they smelled like feet or whatever. It's funny how names become so synonymous with a particular person.

If the baby in my belly were a girl, we were going to name her Allison Elizabeth. Allison was (and is) this wonderfully fun cute girl that was on cheer with me. Elizabeth was my best childhood friend who died after I finished high school. It was simple. Until we found out the baby in my belly has a penis.

We still like Noah after almost 6 years, but it's not giving us the wow factor because it's been on the back burner for 6 years. We've gone over a few other names...Samuel, Luke, Jacob... I'm a stickler on what the shortened version is as I know that always happens. I know in this small country town Jacob will turn into Jake. Not that there is anything wrong with Jake, but we like Jacob. I've never called my husband Dave, but we'll meet people and within a minute, he goes from David to Dave. I'm pretty sure at this point that we will stick with Noah. It says something that we still like it after all this time. However, we are leaning towards Gregory for a middle name after David's maternal grandfather.

We also have a difficult last name. It doesn't flow with everything. Also, I'm not about to do a difficult first name paired with a difficult last name. We always have to pronounce and spell it for everyone. So, we need something simple for a fist name that is clear cut.

We aren't into weird spellings or gender neutral names either. I met a lady who told me her daughter was also Emily, but spelled Emmaleigh. Are you kidding me? Then, Emily wanted me to paint her nails because Teegan wears blue nail polish. I thought what Mom is painting her sons fingernails. Teegan is a girl. Didn't know that. In any case, we are traditional and won't come up with anything too crazy.

Speaking of, I ran into a Mom and her son in Walmart the other day. Her son was in Emily and Ben's gymnastics class. We chatted for a minute when she said we should exchange numbers to keep in touch and try to get the kids in the same class. She's friendly enough, so that was fine. I programmed her number in my cell and told her I'd call her. We hadn't exchanged names at that point, so we got that formality over with. We finished chatting and said goodbye when she said, "Bye Ruby, it was great to see you." Ruby? My name is Ruby? I didn't correct her though because I kind of liked it. To me the name Ruby conjures up an image. Ruby is fun. Ruby is beautiful. Ruby is the life of the party. I long to be Ruby one day after I deliver this baby.

It proves that a name means a lot. Now if only we could come up with one...