Check the new blog background! Doesn't it remind you of a shirt you might have had in elementary school? It's in honor of Sophie's b-day this month. It was either this or Barbie. There is enough Barbie in my life already. So, we went with mini cupcakes and floating strawberries and rainbow stars. (Somebody was tripping over at the pyzam.com!)
I am obsessed with discussing baby names. This is a shared sickness. There are many a gal (and a few dudes!) out there who obsess like I do. I know this because I run into baby name discussions everywhere I go. And I am done with the naming! Yet still I obsess ...
The thing is, have you ever looked up the first impression your child's name gives? We did this before we had Sophie. Supposedly, people think of a dog (thanks, Oprah) or a large African American lady (again, thanks, Oprah). That was 4 years ago. Now, it is more commonly used for children who have been adopted from over seas. Interesting stuff.
Madeline's wasn't good. People think of that mean atheist lady, Madalyn Murray O'Hare. So, I looked up the correct spelling, different pronunciation and got feisty, fearless, orphan a la the Madeline in Paris books. I'll take it.
Eliza was also seen as feisty. (odd. Jeff and I are so ... what's the word? ... unfeisty.) She was also thought of as uneducated. Good grief! What burdens have we saddled our children with?
If we had gone with Tessa, my first choice long ago, the perception is sweet, unassuming. However, to my husband the name Tessa will always prompt him to say - Tubby Tessa. Don't know why. Obviously, this factored into our naming decision.
Overheard while walking out into the pre-school parking lot today:
Sophie - "Hold my hand, Mads. We might get some car on us."
18 comments:
Jacob means deceiver. Isaac means laughter. I guess we can laugh about being deceived.
I love your girl's names. I really love Eliza. I think the "uneducated" probably comes from Eliza Doolittle on My Fair Lady...but she became very educated, passed as a princess, and probably married a rich professor, so that should make up for it. I assume when most people hear my son's name, they think of a large city...but that's just me.
I love the girl's names, they are fabulous.
I love discussions of baby names as well, that is the one thing most everyone has an opinion on!
Jamie
One old lady (at Wal-Mart. I did not know her at all) told me that she tried to keep her son from naming her grandson "John Mark" because he never finished anything he started. I said, "He finished writing the book of Mark."
I do love the name game. There is some interesting research about how names (at least in America) cycle through the social classes. Names go from high-brow to middle class to white-trashy to...well, out of circulation and then usually back to high-brow again. Interesting!
After choosing Lucy's name, we found out later that it is derived from the name Lucifer... By then it was too late to change it. You think that might have been made a little clearer in the naming books! Fortunately, there's been no resemblence so far!
Jenny
I liked the name Cooper, but all Jason could say was Cooper Pooper! What is it with guys and rhyming names?!?!?
Where did you look up these names? It would be fun and interesting to try!
Ha! Chandra, all this time I assumed your son's name was Harrell! X-Box wife, I just googled, "baby name impression Eliza" and so on. Different sites for all of my info. My girls' names were kind of hard to find! Hope yours are easier!
That's his middle name!:)
Danna -- Good to hear from you! The Harding blog world seems small sometimes and I have loved having the opportunity to reconnect with people.
I will try to think of some good birthday ideas for you, but in the meantime, there is a great website out there that I use all the time (I am not THAT creative!) for party ideas. It might have some help for you:
http://www.birthdaypartyideas.com/
Good luck!
I love the name "Peter" but there is no way I can name by child Peter. Think about it: "Peter Schwieter!" That kid would be asking for a fight!
I love this post!
You are so funny, Danna...We thought that we were going "old school" by naming our oldest Grace. We also named her after a dear family friend, but an older name, just the same...then after she was born, every person we seemed to meet had a girl named Grace or that middle name....I guess that is what my mom was thinking when she named me Jennifer. Yeah, that is original. Sorry mom, but it's not...
Oh, and we thought that Parker was so cute, too. The girls call him, "Parkie Yorkie..." (to give them a little credit, his middle name is York and we do indeed have a Yorkie dog here at home...) but still Parkie Yorkie????
Love the kids comment at the end of your story. . .
I love you girls names! Very pretty! Most people say "Dora?" when I tell them Nora's name for the first time. It's annoying.
I am happy to be Sophie's girl...I couldn't think of anything sweeter!
You have inspired me to look up my kids...interesting! It is funny that everyone has an opinion on names!
Love the girls names!!!! I can't tell you how I look forward to your daily blogs. Unfortunately, I don't get to read them daily but can't wait for the moment to check it out. You make me smile!
Just found your blog. I love the names you used for your girls!! So I ask your opinion on our dilemma (since you love names & all).
We are expecting baby #4 in July - a boy. We already have a Nathan Daniel, Caroline Esther, & Andrew William. We have always liked John Mark, but scrapped it because our last name is Wayne & we don't want him to ever be called just plain John for obvious reasons.
So, since Hubby really wants to use John Mark this time (& I hate the look of Johnmark!), should we...
...go with just plain John Mark (seems a bit short to me),
...go with John-Mark Joseph,
...or leave out the hyphen & name him John Mark Joseph, making John Mark his first name? Is that possible?
What would you do? Do you have any boy names you've liked? We could start fresh if we found another name we really liked.
Needing a third, outside, non-relative's honest opinion. Thanks!!
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