Things to Remember when Naming a Baby

The names we are given at birth shape who we become, and parents are burdened with that responsibility. They have to consider everything from how the name flows and spelling and pronunciation problems to unfortunate nicknames and initial-spellings. I honestly had a friend who named his boy Aaron Steven Smith. Nice name, horrible initials.

When my mom was pregnant with me, my parents had heated discussions on what to name me. My mother always wanted a Kathryn Elizabeth. My father didn't like the nicknames Kate, Katie, Kat, or Kathy. Although my mother teases me now that she was going to name me Wilhelmeina Ernestina (apparently it was an old family name), they finally settled on Melissa Ann.

When I finally came into the world, my father saw me first. My mom asked, "Well, what does she look like?" He responded in all seriousness, "She's got red hair, big feet and she doesn't look like a Melissa." I'm unsure how they chose the name, but I became Heather Janelle.

My younger sister, who was supposed to be a Hillary, was named Erica Danielle. Funny story here. In researching our names, we already knew that heather is a flower. What we didn't know was that Erica means "heather" in Latin. So, combined with our very similar and rhyming middle names, we basically have the same name. Did our parents know? Absolutely not.

It is important for siblings names to flow as well. It would look a bit odd for a family to have a very modern name like McKenzie paired with an old-fashioned name like Olaf, for example. Sibling names shouldn't be too similar, however. I do know a mom who named her kids Carly, Kylie and Kyle, and another family whose boys are named Kirby, Kelby, and Koby.

My son's name came to me in a dream. His father had some serious hang-ups about names. "Nothing too biblical" was what I heard all the time. We couldn't agree on anything. Finally he suggested having a junior. But since his name was unusual enough, I vetoed a junior.

That night, I dreamed about letters floating in the air, spelling his dad's name. Then suddenly, the letters rearranged themselves, spelling the perfect name for our son. It was unique, but not too unusual. It honored his father's name without the confusion of having a junior. His dad actually liked it, and we gave him my father's name as his middle name.

Our daughter was difficult to name as well. We decided to let the definition of the names guide us. We already knew her middle name would be after another family member which means 'moon goddess', so we had to come up with something that would complement the goddess. Her father chose a name which means 'dark-haired'. It suits her.

Trends in naming children are very interesting, and they have a tendency to repeat. In looking through my family history book, I noted that the names of my ancestors repeated frequently throughout the generations. Names like Jacob, Joshua, Matthew, Christopher and William are all on the Top Ten list of boys names in 2006, and were all names of my relatives since the first came over to America. Emily, Emma, Isabelle, Abigail and Samantha are all older names making a comeback.

The bottom line is this: the general public will pass judgment no matter what the child's name is. John is too plain, Jayden is too unusual, Buffy is too girlie, Edith is too old. The most important thing to remember that it suits the child. My boy's name means 'rambunctious leader', and I can't think of a more perfect moniker for my little tyke.