Have Fun Choosing Baby Names

Are you going to have a baby and it is time to start thinking about baby names? I have been blessed with the opportunity to pick two baby names myself and I love to share my story!

What I thought I Wanted

First, I have to confess that I never planned to have kids but when I was in my teens I had a name in mind that I just knew I would use for my baby girl and it was: Chrystelleannne. Yes, I know what is up with that spelling? I think the reason that I loved that name was because my name seemed so boring to me, Linda, and the name I thought I loved so much was so long and hard to spell!. My favorite baby names for a boy was Alex or some name with Alex in it and that of course was the name of the first boy I ever fell in love with.

My Daughter's Name

Although I never planned to have children, when I did, it was the best time of my life and of course still is. When I found out I was pregnant with my first child I did not even consider baby names until my ultrasound revealed that I was having a girl. Once I found out it was a girl, the baby name picking panic began. I remembered that as a child and still today when people say my name, Linda, they often ask if I know that Linda means pretty in Spanish. Well by now of course I do and I wanted to incorporate that into my search of baby names. I had heard a friend who had a granddaughter named Bella and when I found out that Bella meant 'beautiful' in Italian, I knew that was the baby name I needed. I then searched every baby book to find out ways to use Bella without using just Bella (too short, remember I wanted a long name) and Isabella seemed too common. I stumbled across Arabella and fell in love! I had never heard the name before but I loved it. I did start to second guess myself until my Mom found and bought a cabbage patch doll named Arabella that sealed the deal! I chose my Mom's first name as my daughters middle name as my tribute to my Mom whom I love very much.

My Son's Name

The story of how I figured out which of the million boy baby names to use was much simpler than my daughters yet the process was lengthy. Once we found out we were having a boy we started throwing around different baby names and of course Alex was out since my husband knew the story behind that pick. We talked baby names for months and the only thing we knew was that I used my Mom's name for my daughter so my husband wanted to use his Grandfathers name for my son. Although I understood this, I was not sure I liked the name Gerald as my son's first name so the battle over boy baby names went on for months. Finally, we went to a hospital about 2 weeks before my due date because I felt funny and just knew something was wrong. They found out the baby had flipped and was now head up so they had to schedule a C-section for the next day. On the way to the hospital that next morning my husband finally said my favorite choice was fine so Nathaniel Gerald was the choice!

Have Fun with Your Choice

To this day I still think that choosing baby names is so much fun and I wish I could do it again and again. Whatever it may be, you do not have to choose your babies name the first day you find out you are pregnant. You have time to think it over and it will work out fine if you pick the name in the first trimester or the last. I would get a baby book the first day you find out and start searching through baby names right away, it really is fun!