David–out of nowhere–started talking about baby names the other night as we were settling in for bed. This was rather odd because I am the one who is minorly obsessed with names, and have been searching the world over for good ones for as long as I can remember. I am the one who always makes name suggestions; David is the one who exercises veto power. VERY rarely does he bring anything to the table, and it’s usually a joke.
I realized he was serious about it when he got up and grabbed our family tree off the wall to look for ideas.
I realized he wasn’t as serious as I thought when he began suggesting gems like Julyous and Olaf, Lucretia and Levina. I’d point out a legitimate option, like Grace or Amelia, and he’d counter with something like Mimhs, Orlena, or Addie Krapf.
And then? Well…and then there was Maud.
David got distracted with singing and making up new lyrics to the Maude theme song, we both started creating ridiculous portmanteaus out of our mothers’ and grandmothers’ names, and it all went downhill from there.
Incidentally, does Lubra Lincola sound more like an off-brand soft drink or a prescription medication for weird skin conditions? It’s too hard for me to decide because I keep picturing a dude in lederhosen shouting “Liiiiiincolaaaaa!” from a mountaintop.
If we end up naming our kid Suzabeth, it’s totally not my fault.
We're pretty settled on the first name. But I told Neil the middle name was up to him on this one, as I have come up with all six names we've used so far (I'm retaining veto power).
Some of the suggestions he wrote down on the back of yesterday's tithing slip:
Axel
Xavier
Joseph
Aaron
Blanket
He also logged onto FamilySearch.org the other night and went back to the 1500s on both of our family lines making ridiculous suggestions (although I think it would be funny to do Neilson, because both of us are Scandinavian a few generations back).
should be interesting. This is the longest it's ever taken us to decide on a name–usually we've got our top choices picked out by the end of the first trimester. Apologies in advance, little Olaf.
Oh, please name your kid Blanket. That would make my day.
Also, David's cousin almost named her last boy Malcolm Xavier…until her mom pointed out that naming a white boy Malcolm X might not be the best of ideas.
A few thoughts:
Does David have any legitimate suggestions?
Lubra Lincola sounds like a laxative.
Little Suzabeth will inevitably grow up to play the sousaphone. 100% Guaranteed, or your money back.
I loved my Aunt Maude. She was funny, articulate and had the longest hair I ever saw. She was married to Charlie and they were so in love. She was one of 3 sisters-Mary, Maude and Mildred. There you go!
Lydia: I said the same thing about the sousaphone! We're gonna have to start playing Beatles music nonstop until some inspiration strikes.
Mom: Awesome. Makes me kind of wish David didn't think Maude was such a funny name.
have you read Freakonomics? I was rereading it the other day and the name chapter was totally fascinating in the midst of all this decision-making (although I think you're at a level of education where nobody needs to worry about you naming your child Temptress). actually, when we were discussing this at book group a few weeks back, one girl said that when they were living in kind of a backwards part of the country, a couple in their neighborhood named a child Gonorrhea, because they read it on a bathroom stall and thought it sounded so pretty.
oh, and if we go for a family name, my grandfather is named (honest to goodness) Edward John Francis Xavier Aloysius Peters (at least, that's his confirmation name. and he actually has two birth certificates from two different states so it's a little mysterious anyway).
hence the fact that Neil is actually considering Xavier. because hey! family name!