I'm really happy with the fact that my husband and I decided not to share our baby name with anyone prior to his birth. A few close family members know at this point, but beyond the inner circle, no one has any clue what McBaby's name is, and it's pretty cool. Our decision was based not only on the obvious--avoiding people's stupid reactions to the fact that we weren't going with Jack, Noah or Aiden like everyone else in America right now--but also because picking this name literally took 2 years to do.
Yes, your math is correct--I've been looking at baby name books since before I was pregnant. It happened right when we returned from our honeymoon and I realized I suddenly had a ton of free time (ton=the 20 minutes prior to bedtime which was previously spent contacting wedding vendors, writing vows, creating seating assignments) to dedicate to a new hobby. So I purchased "100,000 Baby Names" from Barnes & Noble, and began highlighting.
This was basically a solo project until this past November, as my husband pretty much flat out refused to play the name game with me until we found out the sex. So yes, even when I was clearly pregnant and just didn't know the sex, he still wouldn't humor me. One time I forced him to tell me one name he liked, and he said "Mike." Mike the Baby. Rude. But I didn't really mind, since I wasn't even ready to commit to anything quite yet.
Once we finally found out we were having a baby boy, it became Game. On. My highlights were categorized by different colors which indicated the heirarchy of names on that given week. Slowly but surely 10 names were whittled down to 6, then to 3, and ultimately, THE name was chosen. I was the one who'd found it (obvi), and when I first presented it like I had so many other rejected monikers, my husband laughed at me. Usually when this happened, I shrugged and moved on. But something told me to be persistent with this one. So then I told him to really think about it, and try saying it out loud randomly throughout his day. And the next time I brought it up, he said he really actually liked it, and it was pretty "badass."
Besides two other names of the 80 I'd likely suggested, this was the only name he'd agreed to liking. Now, I know a lot of women who just name their babies whatever the hell they want because they're the ones acting as the human incubator for 9 months, so their husband's opinion doesn't really mean shit. But it was really important for me that my husband and I jointly pick a name. Obviously I'm pretty emo when it comes to the subject matter, and I just think a name is such an important part of a person's identity. We all take such pride in our names, and it's one of the most personal traits about a human being--which is why it's so ironic that you get your name from someone else. That's why I feel so strongly about this subject.
I cannot for the life of me understand why people name their kids trendy names. Unless it's a family name that you've always known you've wanted to pass along, it seems rude to me. For example, I've always loved the name Gavin--but would I name my child that knowing that it's the 37th most popular baby name in U.S. right now? NO!
Frankly, I could care less if people hate the name I've giving to my first child. The fact of the matter is, it took years to decide on, hours of conversation, listing of pros and cons, weighing against alternate names, and we feel like it's just the coolest, most bad-ass, precious, unique, classy, and perfect name for our little guy. Can't wait for the world to meet him.
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