I could name a million more daughters, but when it comes to picking a name for a son…it’s been hard. We’ve fallen out of love with the boy name we had picked out for Madeline and Annabel, so we started this pregnancy at square one.
I have downloaded a bunch of Baby Name apps, flipped through books, and scrolled through websites. I am not exaggerating when I say that I have easily looked at two or three thousand different names. I’ve found probably fifty names I like. I’ve written them out with our last name, googled the full names, researched meanings. I’ve ranked them. And Mike has shot down almost every single one.
Mike either has a bad association with a name, or has a cousin with that name, or doesn’t think it sounds good with our last name. He thinks boy names should sound strong, but shouldn’t get him picked on (he says Spohr is a hard enough last name to deal with). He wants a name that would sound just as good on a quarterback or a class president or a spelling bee champion – a leader’s name, a name that compliments but doesn’t distract. And I, of course, want that too, but we seem to be slightly apart on what that name would be.
Now, I will say that we have agreed on a first and middle name for The Acrobat, and they are good names. They go well together and well with Madeline and Annabel. I was really happy with them at first, but now I have doubts. I worry that maybe we settled on the names because they were the only ones we both liked. And I think that maybe I am uncertain because I haven’t had that flash of YES! THIS! like I did with Madeline and Annabel. Their names sounded perfect from the moment we said them out loud. This name IS good…but still I hesitate.
I never understood how people could go to the hospital and not know what they were going to name their baby. I’m a planner by nature, so I couldn’t comprehend how anyone could go nine months and not come to a decision. But now I get it. I don’t want name regret. My uncertainty is making Mike a little crazy, but I just want to be sure. And I have no idea how I’ll suddenly know I’m sure…but I’m hoping I’ll have a moment of clarity before he’s born.
I never thought naming a child was hard, but I never had to name a boy. Until now.
Aditi says:
Our moment of certainty only came a day or two after our daughter was born. And even then the spelling of the name became a highly contentious issue!
RzDrms says:
Alexander Jackson Spohr
or
Alexander Jack Spohr
(although I prefer “Jackson,” since I believe first, middle, and last names should have a different number of syllables.)
Ryan says:
Woooo I really like the sound of that. I love the name Jackson too
karen says:
My aunt was going to be one name, then after arrival my grandparents looked at her and went “Margaret”. And that is how she remained.
Have your decided on names. But dont forget, until its down on the certificate, his name can be changed if something better comes along or he looks like a xxxx instead!
Veronika says:
You know, it’s ok to change your mind. Nothing is set until it’s on the birth certificate. It’s ok to keep searching until something gives you that “Yes!” feeling. With my first three children, they were all named before birth. Last two, not so much. My fourth was named at a week old, but just because we had to and were in a rush to get her passport. Fifth wasn’t named until he was closer to three weeks old. He did a stint in the NICU and I refused to name him until I got to know him one on one. Choosing someone’s name is a big deal.
Hayley says:
We changed our daughters name 2 days before she was born. I am so glad we did!!
I found naming our son much harder though, we too had fallen out of love with te original boys name. I suggested his name reading out from the name book and just picking random names!! It’s unusual ( well we thought it was but our daughters classmate has a brother with the same name!!) but we still love it 13m on!!
Mary says:
Wow, that’s what happened with our son … over 16 years ago now! A girl’s name was easy, but a name for a boy? My husband shot down sooooooo many! We finally settled on James, and I never thought I’ve have a son called James! I had a very strong feeling it was a boy, and when he started stretching my tummy every which way I decided this was no James, it was a Jimmy – my only regret is that I didn’t get that on the birth certificate, because he’s only ever called Jimmy now. I blame pregnancy brain
Maddie says:
Hello,
We went into theatre for my emergency, quick get him outta there, C-section, with a list of names, with one at the top of the list we both liked, but I needed to see him before I would commit to it. Luckily for him, he looked like his name! We went for Archibald, to give him the option as a future CEO or Board member, but he’s been Archie from day one. I can’t imagine naming a child until you’ve met them. I do cross stitches for my pregnant friends, and have had to unpick three as they were adamant their baby would be called ‘X’ but when they were born it got swapped to ‘Y’.
Don’t beat yourself up too badly, you can’t plan everything, you might have to wait until the acrobat is born… Deep breaths!
Jacki says:
I agree with Maddie, I think you should take a few names with you to the hospital you will have your YES moment once you lay eyes on him.
Kris says:
This is exactly what we do. Heck, we never found out the gender until the child was born, and this happened three times.
To be honest, I can’t imagine giving a child a name without seeing him or her first. We were pretty sure the name for a daughter would be one thing, but we had two other first names in reserve. When I looked at her, I mumbled, ‘Oh, this is Second Name,’ and my husband agreed.
My second child waited about 4 hours for a name. My third child? About 36 hours. He was born at 2 AM and went through that entire first day with tons of visitors, and no name. We wanted to be sure, and we still love the name we gave him.
sherri says:
We had a name picked out for baby 1 and baby 3, but baby 2 wouldn’t spread her legs, so we never knew what we were getting until she was born. My husband was sure she was a boy (I knew she had to be another girl) so we had a BOY name all picked out…but nothing for a girl. We tried; we really did, but nothing we could agree on. She was born, and the doctors and nurses kept coming in…”Oh, she is beautiful…what’s her nam?” Um…we don’t know. We finally HAd to name her when they told us we couldn’t take her home until she had a name. I love her name, but it was forced out of us in order to be allowed to go home… Her name is Kelsey.
Lillian says:
Baby naming is tough. I love my name and I think that made it harder–the pressure was on. I went into the hospital with a name ready and then when she arrived I knew that wasn’t going to work. And then, just to complicate things, once the first name changed the request for a family last name for her middle name was made and she didn’t end up with a name until just before the birth certificate lady showed up. Now I am happy with her name 3+ years later but I kind of wish I had chosen a different spelling (not crazy, but like the difference between Annabel and Annabelle)
Lilian says:
I had to post my thoughts as a response to the above post, as I’ve never met anyone with the same name as me, albeit spelled with an extra ‘l’. I totally agree with you Heather, I went into hospital with both my girls names decided in advance, although back then we didn’t have the technology that exists today, so I didn’t know what gender my girls would be, but I was prepared with names for both boys and girls. I know you’ll have your names set in stone by delivery day!!
Lillian, who are you? You are the first person I’ve ever ‘met’, albeit in cyberspace with the same name as me!!! Awesome!!!
Where are you located?
Lilian x
Mommy says:
Just wanted to let you know that as a teacher, I’ve seen your name many times over the years! It’s a beautiful name!!
Kimberlee says:
I just wanted to say that I love the name Lillian (either spelling). And it was my babysitters name when I was little, she was around 60 years old back then… It’s been on my TOP 5 Girls Name list forever! Here’s hoping I get to use it in the future.
Kim
Lilian says:
Well Kim, I hope you get to use it. It would be nice for there to be a new generation of Lilian/Lillian’s!!
Lilian says:
Oh thank you. I’ve always loved it, except for when I was younger, everyone would shorten it to ‘Lil’, which I hated.
Lillian says:
I grew up in the Midwest–and I think the only Lillian I have met in person was a very elderly woman at a museum when I was about 7. I have met a lot of Lillies of various spellings and I meet tons of people who had aunts or grandmothers named Lillian. I was very tempted to pull a Lorelei Gilmore and name my daughter Lillian but I decided against it.
Lilian says:
Lillian, yes I’ve met many Lily’s or Lillies. It’s nice to feel original, and not have a name that so many others have! I laughed at your Lorelei Gilmore reference!
Alison says:
Boys names are definitely harder. I have a girl and two boys and our baby boy was two days old before he was named. We did not know if he was a boy or girl but our boys names were Sam and Ryan. His name is Cooper. He didn’t look like Sam or Ryan. Personally, I like the sound of Jack Spohr. It’s a strong name and it has such meaning to you and your family. I think Jackie would love it!
Tonya says:
Ooh! I love Jack also! There. Just let the readers name him. Lol!
I did the same thing you are doing both times I was pregnant. I had my girl names picked out since I was eighteen. (I didn’t have kids until I was twenty-nine.) I could name girls all day long. But boys? Nope. Part of the problem was that I was a teacher and had bad associations with so many boy names. Part of it was that we both come from huge families and a lot of nice names were taken. The names I finally settled on were just that….names I’d settled on.
Try not to stress about it. You have chosen beautiful names for your girls and I’m sure whatever your boy name is, it will be just perfect.
MissyK says:
I love the idea “Jack Spohr” for Jackie!
Erica Frey says:
I was just coming on here to say that I think Jack Spohr has a great, strong ring to it. I, of course, might be biased because I have a “Jack” and I have a “Madeline” so I think the names also go well together. And what better name for captain of the football team and chess club and future President of the United States! lol!
Kimmie says:
Oh yes, agreed, it would be lovely to honor Jackie’s memory by somehow incorporating her name with your son’s. Our boys’ names were Adam, Ben, or James… The we had two girls and never got to use them.
Auntie_M says:
I have to chime in with the others here with a Jack or Jackson or Jaxson…for Jackie!
I am also biased for just good ol’ “Jack” as my Irish grandpa’s name was Jack. According to Wikipedia, there is a theory that Jack is Celtic in origin, meaning “Healthy, Strong, Full of Vital Energy”….I like that!!!!!
And, while Jack is a very popular name in the UK, it’s not as popular here…and it works well as both a 1st & middle name.
I’ve always liked how you’ve done a longer 1st name that can be shortened with a shorter and more “old-fashioned” if you will middle name.
But whatever you name this child, I know that it will fit him and regardless of what the name books say, the true meaning of his name will be “longed for & desired.”
Julie says:
You’ll know when you see him. It will just feel right.
B says:
I feel your pain. We took FOREVER finding the perfect name for our daughter. We had been talking names FOREVER. We had a list of two or three we liked for both sexes. Once we found out it was a girl, none of the names on our list worked for us. We named our daughter 8 hours after she was born. It fit perfectly just like she did! You will get it and no one says you have to have it picked out before he arrives!
Brooke says:
I was the same way when I was pregnant with my daughter before I knew I was having a girl. We had the girl’s name picked out very early. We could never agree on a boys name and when we had one picked out I still wasn’t on board with it. Good luck. I’m sure it will be an awesome name.
Tracy says:
With my son it was pretty easy, we picked Matthew because it wasn’t a name of any close friends or a family name. Aaron fell into place as a middle name so he’s really a MAT
Fast forward 9.5 years and my ex didn’t even want to talk names he always said we talk in the hospital. I’d names picked out that I loved Jacob, called Jack for a boy and Amelia, Emmy, for a girl. I was breaking tradition for a boy because I was going to throw Walter in as a middle name. It’s my dad’s name and the exes grandfathers name, and health wise he wasn’t doing to well and actually passed on about 3 weeks after Em was born.
So at 35 weeks in the hospital we went with my choice for a girls name Amelia Morgan. Which the math person in me also liked because there were the same number of letters as her brothers name and her initials were AMT to his MAT.
You’ll know when you see him what his name will be, it’ll just fit perfectly.
Aubrie says:
My husband and I have been married 4 1/2 years and have no kids, but we have 2 boy and 2 girl names picked out. LOL. Everytime a friend gets pregnant, I hold my breath until I hear that they haven’t chosen our name, but they are a little different and not very common.
Erin W says:
My husband and I were the same way when we had our son. When I wsa pregnant with his older sister, I actually cried tears of joy when we found out she was a girl—knowing we didn’t have to come up with a boy name. It’s just HARD! We had to face the music with our 2nd one…and like you said, we agreed upon ‘Carson’ only because it was a name neither of us were outwardly repulsed by saying it out loud. Carson wasn’t my favorite, and while I’ve grown to like it (not LOVE) it suits him…and most importantly, when I ask him if he likes his name, he responds with “I LOVE IT!” But yes, I agree, boy names are difficult! I’m sure the name you picked is perfect!
Margie says:
We came up with the boy name easily. It was the girl name that was hard. We still don’t have a girl name. Good thing we had a boy.
We named our son Noah Alejandro Zezatti. The Zezatti is my maiden name. It’s so rare and I love it so I gave him 2 middle names. We kept the name a secret until his birth though only a handful knew what it was but were sworn to secrecy. Wowza, people go crazy trying to get it out of you. Stay strong, you two!
I’m sure your name is going to be lovely, Heather. I can’t wait!
Mommy says:
Boy names are IMPOSSIBLE! You want something sweet and cute for a baby/kid, but it needs to be strong and dignified for when they are a grown man- sorry to those that chose trendy, cheesey names for their sons, but I can’t imagine most of those names being taken seriously if their boys are future doctors or lawyers!
I thought naming our first son was hard, and then we went and had another one! The good news is that both of our dads got to be represented in the middle names. For both of our sons, we chose classic, normal, timeless names that had nicknames for when they were young and they could go by their full name if they chose to also. I like that they have the option.
One thing that we did a lot when we were deciding on names was we took them for “test drives”- my hubby would use the potential name when ordering at Starbucks and we would see if people could spell it/pronounce it, and how we both liked hearing it being shouted out when his order was ready, we would introduce him as that name if we weren’t ever going to see those people again (at the park, for example), to see how a grown man felt about having the name, etc. We eliminated A LOT of names that way, and it was kind of fun too!
Oh, the other thing we did when we were down to two names with our second son, is we flipped a coin, and as it was up in the air, we both randomly said “heads!” and then we knew what we were hoping for- and that we both really wanted his name to be that one!
Last thing, I promise. My guess is that you will go with a “J” name. There are so, so, so many cute boy names that start with J! I know this because our first was named a J name, and so was our nephew and godson so I refused to pick another J name for our second- and found there were tons that I loved!!
Good luck, Spohr family! This is a huge decision, but don’t worry. You picked the most gorgeous names for your daughters, and I have no doubt you will pick the perfect name for your son too!
Marie says:
Our first son was named before he was conceived. We used my husband’s middle name which is Lee. The second son was named and refined after I watched the movie “Jeremiah Johnson”. And yes I am old thank you! lol
Third son – we picked out two names with middle names attached. When he finally came out we decided that neither would do – he didn’t look like a Philip or an Andrew. His name is Adam. I do not like names that can be modified or nicknamed. That is the reason they all have short names. If you name the kid Elijah – then call him Elijah not Eli. That’s my opinion. We also had to have a girl option even though we never believed that we’d have a girl.
So it’s Lee, Jeremy and Adam and none of them have nicknames or can be shortened unless you really work at it.
My suggestion is keep a couple names in mind and then see which one he looks like. One thing to keep in mind though is the 3 initials together. I made that mistake with the first one and remembered to pay attention on the 2nd and 3rd to how the initials look all together. An example – UPS – Ulysses Peter Spohr – that wouldn’t be good eh?
Hugs from Minnesota (with 40 ft of snow)
Marie
Sara says:
I laughed about the nicknames. My name cannot be shortened, or so I thought. My older brother once dated a girl for a few months who called me Sa and I always cringed when she said it. Even Sar (which is what my brothers have always called me when they’re bring lazy) is better than Sa. I can’t even pronounce Sa on my own (hard A, soft A? I don’t get it).
Sara says:
Funny – my sister calls me “Sa” – she pronounces it “Say” – and I have never understood why! So much for having a name that “can’t” be shortened… I love my name as it’s spelled, but everyone insists on putting an “h” on the end which drives me nuts!
Heather, I am in the same boat – but with a girl’s name. 32 weeks now and we have so many that I like, but no “ah ha” moment like we had with our boys (Jackson and Nolan). I am hoping we get there before she’s born, because my husband has threatened to write down whatever comes to mind when they give him all the forms…
Kay says:
I couldn’t disagree more about the nickname thing. I’ve never had a child, but from experience with my own name, nickname potential can be a wonderful thing. My given name is Kayla, but I absolutely hate it. It was trendy when I was born, since know at least 10 others with my name. I believe people develop personality traits based on societal notions about people with certain names (I.e – a guy named Norman must be a geek or a girl named Heaven is bound to be a slut (NOT my opinion, but I think the theory is valid)) and have noticed that a majority of girls named Kayla *that I’ve met* seem to be either slutty idiots or “I’ll fight you” types. After performing my own little experiment, I found that I was treated with respect and taken seriously by my peers and authority when I introduced myself as Kay much moreso than when I introduced myself as Kayla. Honestly, if not for the option of a name-based nickname, I’d feel it necessary to change my name entirely. I understand not wanting tons of alternatives or ridiculous nicknames, but one or two possible nicknames which the person being named can also allow the child to grow with the name or adjust it to suit them.
Mommy says:
Totally agree about the nicknames.y name can’t be shortened, and I always wished I’d been able to have a nickname when I was a kid. Both of my boys have names that can be “nicknamed” and I love that they have options- something to be called when they’re little and then the grown up, full version for when they’re adults or to go by as children if they decide they like that option better!
CJ says:
Oh, baby name regret!! When my youngest daughter was born, we went with Caden, thinking it was a popular boys name, but uncommon for a girl. We “made up” her middle name. When she was 11 months old, I realized I ALWAYS called her by her first and middle name. Caden didn’t fit her and I loved her middle name….so, when she was 11 months old, we changed it. Her middle name became her first name and we gave her my wife’s middle name. And it is her. Completely.
Stephannie says:
For our first son, the name was easy – we both love it and agreed on it immediately .
When I was pregnant with our second son – we had same issue as you and Mike – every name I came up with, my hubby didn’t like.
When I came up with Sebastian, even then he was like, “eh, it’s OKAY, I don’t LOVE it.”
But for the rest of my pregnancy, I called him by his name. We had “back up names” that we liked, but I still called him Sebastian.
The day he was born, I looked at his face and had the moment you’re looking for – the “YES! Look, you ARE a (in my case) Sebastian!”
He could be nothing else…and even my hubby agreed, he truly could be called by no other name.
Breathe – you’ll know whether his name “fits” the moment you see his sweet, little face.
Rachel says:
Don’t worry, you will feel it. My husband and I were convinced our 3rd was a boy and never did agree on a girls name, but of course had a girl. It took me another day but I just kept thinking about it and looking at her and I decided and it felt right.
Sj says:
The minute I read you were pregnant I thought -it’s a boy. Baby Jack!!
Jackie says:
When my brother and I were 23 and 17, I asked my dad if he ever wished he named us something different. He looked at me like I had 2 heads! He said he’d never really thought about it – those are just our names – but he could see Kevin (my brother) being named Wes (the boy name they picked out for me – a family name, too – Kevin was after the kid from The Wonder Years!) Rather than regretting the name, he said he would have been happy with either. I wonder if my mom feels the same way!
Jennifer Dawn says:
THIS. Girls name are cake. When we found out I was pregnant with our second (first was a girl), the name was easy. Violet Grace. Done. (And we had about 50 other awesome names on back up! You know, in case we had triplet girls or something…) Boy names? Not so much. My husband and I simply could not agree. It’s nearly impossible to have that “YES!” moment when it’s inevitable that you’ll have to settle/compromise on a name.
We had two names picked out for the majority of my pregnancy but neither of us were 100% wowed by them. Our family was shocked when a completely different name was announced at his birth! We had thrown Liam around a bit, but my husband was always more attached to it than I was. But one day I suddenly decided to pair it with the middle name Benjamin and it just felt right. So about a month before Liam Benjamin was born, we finally had his name. No regrets, but BOY, it was hard.
Catie says:
We didn’t know what we were having, and had 2 solid girl names picked out. However, we were still wavering on the boys name. Up until the night before, we were still throwing out names, but kept going back to Link Allister. Sure enough, it was a boy. We named him Link Allister, and I stared at him for the first week thinking “did we really name him the right name?”. But honestly, we couldn’t think of anything we liked better. Now, I LOVE it and he’s a total Link.
Moral of the story: If you can’t find anything else you like better, go with it. It will turn out OK (I think…!)
Kim says:
Yah, I know exactly what you mean — way back when I was pregnant with our second child my husband and I could not agree on a boy name. My husband’s father was Richard and my father was Thomas. We couldn’t agree on Richard Thomas or Thomas Richard. Somehow I think I would have lost the battle … but luckily we had another girl and that name was loved by both of us — Anna Katherine.
Kayt says:
Boy names are soooo hard!
I had a hippie dippie moment with both of my pregnancies that THIS was their name. With my son, it was Gideon. I had a dream, and his name was Gideon, simple as that. Well, my husband thought I was nuts and absolutely shot it down. We ended up fighting about it for months, and settled on James. I don’t like the name very much; I wanted something much less common. However, he’s a Jamey, and it suits him. I still regret it, I think he would be a great Gideon.
With our second pregnancy, part of what scared me was that I hadn’t had a dream about the baby, and I was devastated, but not too shocked, when it turned out to be a blighted ovum miscarriage.
Third pregnancy, I knew she was a girl, and her name was Fiona. It bugged me, because I had really wanted to name her Daphne or Louisa. Fact was a fact though; she was Fiona. I didn’t take no for an answer that time from my husband, and since he had more say for our boy, I got the final say for our girl. She’s four months, and it’s perfect for her.
Mommy says:
I love the name Fiona! And I adore the name James!!! Great baby names!
Becki says:
Boys names are tough although I knew when I was growing up what I would name my baby if I had a boy. I had been at a baseball game with a friend and there was the cutest little boy there with a baseball cap on backwards and covered in dirt (I could see the cuteness through the dirt). His name was Matt. I just feel in love with the name after that. So Matthew Scott it was. He is now 31 years old and the best son, brother, husband and father I have ever known.
When do we get to hear what The Acrobat is going to be named?
Mommy says:
I love the name Matthew!!! Classic and strong.
Amy says:
My daughter didn’t have a name until she was two or three days old. Her middle name came even later. Of course, she was born quite early (and we never managed to discover her sex in utero, despite having wanted to quite badly — she never cooperated during ultrasounds …), but even if she had been born at term we probably would have waited to see if any name we had picked out ‘fit.’
We had lists of both girls’ and boys’ names, and the boys’ list was definitely shorter. It does seem much easier to pick a girl’s name — or at least there seem to be a lot more options.
Deb says:
Don’t worry – it will come to you. My second son had a name for 24 hours after he was born – Justin – and in the middle of our first night with him in the hospital my husband & I both said – it’s not right. Our families had met him as Justin, my older son met his baby brother Justin, then we brought him home with a different name, Nicholas…. it’s not official until the birth certificate is signed. I’m so glad we changed it that sleepless night at the hospital as he is definitely much more of a Nicholas than a Justin.
Laura says:
Boy names are way harder than girl names. We had a few contenders when DS was born, but until we saw him in person, we weren’t sure which would work. Once we saw him, we knew. And it still fits him perfectly. I don’t understand people who pick out a name in advance, tell the whole world, and then that’s it. What if you meet the baby and the name just doesn’t work anymore? And, since we already knew the gender, we wanted to keep something a secret-so we didn’t even tell anyone the contenders, mostly because we didn’t want anyone’s commentary. With DD, we had NO clue. Nothing really struck us, even though we thought girl’s names were easier. After she was born, we struggled for hours over a name. Even today, I am not 100% sure we picked the right one, even though the one we picked has always been my favorite girl name. Not sure it fits her. Such is life.
Rhonda says:
Don’t know about California,but here in Md you have up to six months after the baby’s births to change the name on the birth certificate. I wish I had known.
We have a weird thing in our family of naming kids and then using the middle name as the first. My son is David Alexander, only because my x wanted him named after him and I didn’t..I didn’t want him being Little Dave, Jr his whole life, so we switched the middle name so he’s not a junior and he’s always been Alex. Yet every legal document he has, and for every teacher (until he might or might not correct them) he had, he is David.
Karen says:
We’re also in the camp that goes to the hospital with 2 names – well, 4 really, because we don’t find out the sex. Sometimes just looking at your new baby really helps!
And I always like to talk up my oldest’s name – Malcolm! An excellent, strong name – no very negative connotations – and I think Malcolm Spohr sounds quite nice.
Beth says:
We went into surgery certain we knew Ben’s name. When I first laid eyes on him, I looked at Phil and said, his name is Benjamin Alexander. It was a different combination of Ames than we’d planned, but it works for him.
Karen says:
I had to do the boy naming thing three times. Not easy. Piece of cake with my daughter, though, you are right. Once you name him, you won’t regret it. He will grow into his name and before you know it, you won’t be able to imagine him as anything else. I was not 100% sold on my youngest son’s name, but now (7 years later) he is sooooo Troy, it would be just stupid if he was anything else!
sho says:
Here’s a resource that may help: http://www.laineygossip.com/Name-Nerd/Lifestyle/Category/1284
Casey says:
Thank you for this… I feel less crazy! I’m having a boy in April and we had no trouble at all with my daughter’s name but a boy name has been a challenge. We’ve agreed on one too but only because we both like it, while neither love it, so I guess we’ll just wait to see what he looks like when he comes.
Lindsey Cote says:
We are having the exact same problem…except we are on boy number TWO. It was hard enough picking a name for the first one, and I really didn’t commit to it until I was nearly 37 weeks pregnant – and that was only b/c he was breech and we were attempting a version that could result in an emergency c-section, so I thought I better have a name picked. We THINK we have a name this time, but I’m just sitting on it to make sure I still like it in 12 weeks! Boys names are SO hard!
Adrianne says:
Have you ever considered just going with Acrobat Spohr?
In all seriousness, I know exactly what you mean. Names are a big deal to me, and honestly when my husband and I agreed on our daughter’s name (a year before I even got pregnant), I knew that when I did (get pregnant) it would be a girl and her name would be Annabel. I almost feel like I’ll know when it’s time to get pregnant with the second when I have that moment of clarity with a name. So far my husband and I don’t really agree on ANY names, boy or girl. However, if I were to have a boy someday, I think that Annabel and Oliver sound so great together! Any chance you’ve picked out Oliver for your little man? It also has that literary element that you love:)
Sarah says:
I LOVE Oliver. I have two girls now (Madeline, goes by Maddie, and Sadie, goes by Sadie-bug). If we ever decide on a third child and it’s a boy, we’ll go with Oliver. Hubby doesn’t know that yet, but I’ve gotten my way with both of my girls I have never regretted my girls’ names since they were born!
Bridget says:
I hear ya! We have 2 boys and the first born’s name was picked before he was conceived. Problem is I blew I favorite 2 boy names on his first and middle. Had I known I was having 2 boys I would have spread them out. So for #2 we knew the middle name, but I spent the entire pregnancy waiting for divine naming intervention to hit me with the most perfect first name that felt as special as my firstborn’s. Alas, it never happened.
I was in pre-op (scheduled c-section) and still accepting name suggestions from my sister via text. In post-op my husband looked at me and said well, are we going to call him Tom? By then it just seemed to make sense that that’s who he was. 20 months later I’m very happy with my Tommy boy and his name, but there was no moment of naming euphoria. Baby euphoria? Yes, absolutely! But not name euphoria. In the end I love him just the same. Uninspired name and all.
Rebecca says:
Joseph Michael Sphor….that’s the acrobats name.
Lisa says:
Deciding on a boy’s name was rather difficult for us, too! We’d had a girl’s name picked out long before we finally conceived, but we weren’t nearly as sure of a boy’s name. And sure enough, at 20w, 4d we found out it was a boy! We vetoed some of the names we’d thrown around before and started over. We both love classic, even old-fashioned names, but didn’t want anything popular/ common, or ugly. Also, we wanted something with cute nickname potential, but still something that’d grow well with him. When we decided, we were sure! And now that he’s here (2.5 months old now), we couldn’t be happier with the choice, and we’ve gotten lots of compliments.
I so think Jack would be lovely as a nickname, with Jackson being the full name.
BTW, my son’s name is Calvin. We often call him Cal.
cindy w says:
We were one of those people who didn’t know the baby’s name until she arrived. I knew the second I found out I was having a girl, that her name was Lucy. But Dave didn’t like it. He kept arguing for other names, but I couldn’t warm up to them. I just knew she was Lucy.
When my sister came to visit right before my due date (to take care of Catie while I was in the hospital), we were still arguing about the name, and I said to her, “It’s not like he’s going to stick around to raise her, I should be the one who gets to name her.”
Turns out I was right. And he finally caved on the name thing. Which is good. Because she was almost Zoe for a minute there. (Nothing against the name Zoe. It just wasn’t right for her.)
Kim says:
Boy names ARE hard.
I had a girl name forever. It was Schuyler (pronounced Skyler). And my 2nd was a girl. I also had Bronwyn, Portia, Gemma. (I had ordered all girl, you see. LOL)
My first and 3rd were boys. Had no clue. We couldn’t agree. We finally went with Rhys (“reese”) Morgan and Ryder Atom. Now that is totally what they are. Took MONTHS though.
Sarah W says:
Someone mentioned this name for their daughter that they didn’t like it. My sons name is Cayden. He is a quaterback and was the spelling be champion!!!:) We decided on his name the night before I was going in for a scheduled c-section.
I think Cayden Michael Spohr sounds like a great name:)
CJ says:
I never said I didn’t like the name. I LOVE the name. Had I not, I wouldn’t have given my daughter that name in the first place. Her middle (now first) name simply fit her better and has a great deal more meaning for us. The name is great. I did, and do, love it.
S says:
We were never going to find out what we were having. My husband couldn’t decide on our 2 boy names (and the baby was going to be named after him, so it should have been simple!). Our first child is a girl, so his indecision lasted 3 years/2 pregnancies. When I actually had my son (Baby #2), the nurse asked what his name was and I almost started hyperventilating because I yelled out “I don’t know!” My husband finally made his decision about 2 minutes later as soon as the nurse stepped out of the room. Now with Baby #3, we are back to square 1.
All this to say that I truly feel for you! I’m going through the same thing right now.
Emily says:
I seem to have the opposite problem … I can think up boys’ names all day long, but struggle with girls’ names!!
Even so, I’m a planner like you so I have to have something the moment I set foot in the hospital. Good luck with The Acrobat! I’m sure whatever you and Mike have chosen is wonderful!
AmyMD says:
Before I was born, and for a few minutes after, my parents planned to name me Amy-Jo. Hyphen and all. And not in the south, either – in Massachusetts.
Until the nurse asked my mother, oh, what is her name? My mother told her and the nurse said – no, you cannot name her that.
My mother said… okay… Amy Melissa, then.
I am forever grateful to that nurse and even had the opportunity to meet her as an adult and thank her. Item crossed off bucket list.
It became clear years later that my mother was forced to choose “Melissa” too quickly, as she declared that she wished she chose “Marissa” and started calling me Amy Marissa instead, which delighted my friends to no end. They still call me that.
When I got married, I took my maiden name as my middle name, since it clearly held no special meaning, hahahaha….
Heather says:
I downloaded a huge list of baby names into an excel spreadsheet, and gave a copy to my husband. We each went through our respective lists (we had boy and girl names, as we didn’t find out the sex) and hi-lighted the names we liked. When we were both finished, we put the lists together and shortened it to the names we BOTH hi-lighted (and yes, there were quite a few!) So then we had a list of ones I liked, ones he liked, and ones we both liked – it was much easier coming up with a name from there. Good luck!!
Lisa says:
I had felt since 8 weeks along that the little person in my tummy was a Micah. We found out last week (at 17 weeks) that he IS a Micah (damn good thing because we hated our girl’s name, and he just didn’t feel like a little girl). So don’t worry…when it’s right, it’s right. If it takes you longer to find his name, that’s ok. You’re just finding his perfect name!
Madeleine says:
I didnt know what I wa having with either pregnancy but really wanted boys. With my first I had plenty of time to think since I was on bedrest and knew I always loved the actor Spencer Tracy, lol. Everyone thought I was nuts but I hadn’t begun my nuttiness yet. My son was born at only 27 weeks and it was touch and go yet when the lady came to my room and asked a still groggy me for a name I answered “How long can it be?” she said as long as you want. And so Spencer Javier William Alexander Roque who weighed a mere 1 pound 12 ounces came to be. He is 6 now and finally knows his entire name lol although we shorten it to Spencer J.W.A. Roque on paperwork. My second was a fulltermer no problems and we shortened his by one name. Scott Adrian Michael AKA Scottie. My family still thinks I’m nuts but I can’t imagine my Spencer or Scottie being anything else. You will know.
Margie says:
Yay for you!
People still think I’m crazy for giving my son 2 middle names. Whatever. I had him so I name him. That was the deal I made with my husband. I’ll put your last name as mine (though my maiden name is now my middle name) so long as I name any children we have. My son’s 2 middle names are actually my brother’s name.
Noah Alejandro Zezatti Cuevas
HA!
Your names are lovely!
CJ says:
When I was 12 I went through a Nathaniel Hawthorne and Knights of the Round Table phase and decided that if I ever had a son his name would be Tristan Nathaniel. I thought it was such a strong, but beautiful name and different, but not odd. When my husband and I found out we were having a boy we agreed that the name I chose at 12 was perfect for our little one. It suits him well and our only problem is that people think we named him after the character Brad Pitt portrayed in “Legends of the Fall.” *sigh*
Julie says:
Not that that’s a bad thing! LOL Brad Pitt was never hotter!
Rach says:
I’ve always been a name person. I was in the fifth grade and decided my daughter’s name would be “McCann”. I even made a sign that read, “I love McCann”.
??!!
I was absolutely positive what our last daughter would be named before she was born. My husband was OK with it, too. He had a name he just ADORED (and he doesn’t have many opinions about many things), but I couldn’t stand it. It sounded like the noise a deranged bird makes.
Guess what: the SECOND I saw her I knew that his name was her name, and now I couldn’t love it more.
I hate to say it, Heather, but you might just have to SEE him.
I remember thinking how odd it was that parents could name their children before they saw them, even though we named our first two that way. I still laugh at the story of her name…but it was just *her name*, and no other name would have fit her.
Christen says:
I have the opposite problem! We’ve had a boy name picked out for years, and we still love it. It’s a name I’m starting to see a little more, but still not all that common. I am having a really tough time with girl names! I have a few I love, but it seems that I always love the names that will probably get mispronounced 75% of the time. As someone who has a common name with an uncommon spelling, I am sensitive to that – I have to spell my name every single time someone asks for it, and I constantly have to tell people my name is not Christine, Christina, or Christian. Ugh. Names are hard! Such a big decision. I’m sure whatever you guys pick will be lovely!
Joy says:
I can’t wait to hear what you name him!!!
MG says:
I’m a planner with some things but not everything. Our first, we knew if he was male he would be a III, not for everyone but I love it! We had a girl name too. Our second….nothing. We didn’t know gender, I guess we had a girl name but he was a boy. We didn’t know for days. Our third, we knew was a boy and had a name. Our fourth, only my husband knew the gender and was sworn to secrecy. I didn’t have a boy or girl name, ended up being a girl. Then I got a HORRIBLE spinal headache and couldn’t really concentrate on it….she ended up getting named what my first two would have been named if they were girls. Not my first choice by a long shot but I still liked it. Nobody liked my other girl names…I guess nobody being my husband and some of my boys. It sucks not knowing……I am a VERY indecisive person, very. So I have a hard time with it. Good luck!
Amy Boyle says:
Man- Boy names are tough. We had the first one down. We were able to agree on our second boy fairly easily. The third? We were totally stumped. I agree with you on the “strong” names. All of ours are fairly traditional and I think they go well together: Sam, Michael, Molly, and Ben
Jessica says:
I’m still not sure about my daughters name (and she is 10 weeks old). I love it for her, but I never fell in love with the name itself. We had a boy name (Dax) picked out for sure before the gender scan, but the girls name process was quite the process.
Ann says:
We have a 6 month old boy and I didn’t think we were EVER going to settle on a name for him! We finally sat down with the top 1000 names from last year, and first I crossed out any I didn’t like, then my husband crossed out any he didn’t like. We ended up being left with 8 names. Out of 1000. I wish I were kidding! We stared at that list for several months and finally settled on our top choice.
My husband was like Mike, but a step or two worse – if he’d ever met someone with that name, let alone a bad association, it was out, and he was really picky about how it sounded with our slightly unusual last name. I didn’t think the baby was ever going to have a name! He does, and we love it.
Cheryl says:
We had our son’s middle name picked out for months (named after my dad and grandfather) but couldn’t agree on a first name. When my son was born, my husband took one look at him and said he looks like an Andrew. Wasn’t even one of the names we were considering in our debate! I think sometimes you just have to wait to see them to know what fits.
Veronica says:
We had the opposite problem. We had a boy name picked out before we were even married! He would be named after family members with great manly souding names, he would be Jacob Edward. When we finally got pregnant, and right around the time of the “big” ultrasound my sister informed me about a series of books and soon to be movies about some vampires and that name went in the Trash!!! We never did pick a second boy name, we will use Edward for a middle name if we ever have a boy in the future.
We had a terrible time picking the right girls name. It had to be a strong female name, when you said it, it had to “say” GIRL. Nothing unisex for us. After reading books and looking at a bunch of websites and saying so many names out loud, my husband finally looked at me one day and said “I have decided what the name will be if it is a girl.” I was sceptical, but went along with his sudden declaration… what he said next blew my socks off… “She will be Rachel Sierra” And I fell in love, that was IT, that was THE name. The very next day we learned we would be welcoming a baby girl into our lives.
Fiona says:
I had a name picked out before I even met my husband….. Loveday. I personally thing it’s a beautiful name for a girl. My husband thought it wasn’t any good so we picked Naomi, which we both love. But a few weeks ago he said, oh, wouldn’t Loveday have suited her? And I had a pang….that I should have stuck to my guns. But in the end, I love her name, and she suits it. Maybe for the next….
But my advice for you….DONT SETTLE if you’re not sure.
x
Nanette says:
Just go with “Nanette-O Spohr.” Problem solved!
daisybv2 says:
Good Luck! I had the same probelm from Day one we picked out 3 girls names and then when the last 2 were boys we were stumped.
We originally picked out 2 other boys names but because we shared before we knew what we were having they were stolen one by a friend the other by my cousin. It was always soooo much harder for the boys names. I just dont understand.
Rebecca says:
Good luck! Can you throw a bone to those of us stuck on naming girls?? =) Your daughters’ names are exquisite, so want to share your “leftovers”??! =)
Mommy says:
Yes!!!! Spill it, Heather!!! And what was the boy name that you fell out of love with??? I need name suggestions!!!
Amy K says:
My in-laws couldn’t agree on a name before my husband was born, or once they’d seen him, and he still didn’t have one until it was time to go home from the hospital. Apparently his mom had brought a Graham Greene novel in her hospital bag, and while they were packing to leave, they both saw the book cover and said, “Huh, Graham isn’t such a bad name,” so that’s what they chose.
Fast forward to a few years ago: my husband and I could agree on exactly one name for our daughter. Every other name was vetoed. We tried to come up with others, because the name we loved was Welsh and uncommon and she would be doomed to a lifetime of spelling/pronouncing it for people, but in the end that’s what we went with.
You might just need to meet your baby before you decide on the perfect name for him. Maybe hold off on those monogrammed items for now.
BakingSuit says:
I’ve never met a Mitch I didn’t like. My brother is Mitchell John and so far, it’s been a name for all occasions.
I also love Cormac, Brad (not Bradley) Rory, and Jonathon
If it’s helpful, my SIL went into the hospital thinking that they were going to name their son Brody and when they met him, they said, “No, he looks more like a D.” and that’s what they went with
Jay - The Dude of the House says:
With both boys we narrowed down to a couple finalists and didn’t officially decide until a few hours after they were born. In retrospect, I’m glad we waited because the runners-up were not nearly as good.
Karen says:
I’m in the camp that likes to see the baby’s face – it just seems to help confirm! I love baby name websites and books, though, so there is a lot of work that goes into arriving at the hospital with 2 strong options for each sex.
My oldest is Malcolm, and I absolutely love it. Strong, not too common, and we’ve had only lovely comments about it. My second was a girl, and her boy options were Calvin or Jonah.
Good luck!
Karen says:
Urgh, my first comment didn’t seem to post, so I added this one, sorry to spam at you!
Ann says:
My son’s name is Malcolm and we’ve also gotten lots of good feedback on it! My husband’s other top choice was Calvin.
Emily says:
Also a mom to a “Malcolm!” So, I totally agree that it is a great name!
Caela says:
My husband and I are going through the same thing right now. We had a boys name all picked out, then found out we’re having a girl. We’ve paged through books and websites, and we have narrowed it down to two names…one that HE loves, and one that I love…he doesn’t seem to like the name I love so much, and I like the name that he loves, but I’m not as in love with it as he is…And I’m the exact same way about regret…I keep saying “what if she’s a month old and I change my mind?!”….everyone keeps telling me that when she’s here it will just “fit”….but I’m not sure if I believe them!
Tracy says:
My husband was the same way! Haha! I had thought you would go with John (a/k/a “Jack”). Then you’d also have a Jack and Annie – like the brother sister characters in “The Magic Tree House” series which you will become way too familiar with in a few years!
Heather says:
We have two kids and went about naming them in two different ways.
With my son, we had about a half dozen names picked out for both a girl and a boy. We waited until the baby was born, took a look at him and discussed for about 5 minutes although we really didn’t need that much time. Once we saw him, we just knew what his name should be.
With my daughter, we went into delivery with one boy name and one girl name. After I delivered my daughter, my husband started calling her the name we picked out. The problem was, I didn’t think the name fit her- at all. I keep looking at her and thinking she looked like a Sarah (a name we hadn’t even considered). Thankfully that passed in a day or two and now, 4 years later, she is who she is. Her name is a perfect fit and I can’t imagine her as a Sarah now.
Moral of the story- no matter what you pick, it’ll be perfect. Promise!
erin says:
Oh boy names are so much harder than girl names! It seems like there’s such a wide gap between the old traditional names, and the new trendy names. We have four little boys and really struggled to come up with the last one. It didn’t help that we didn’t know his gender till he was born, so we were tossing back and forth boy names while we were waiting, already having picked out a girl name. We needed something that went with our three other very traditional names, but wasn’t boring. Our boys are Benjamin Adam, Isaac Allen, Andrew Ward, and our daughter is Madeleine Kate. In the end we went with Thomas Martin, but we never had an “aha!” moment. But now that’s who he is, and we love it!
Good luck on your searching!
Mommy says:
You picked great names!!! I love the traditional, beautiful, classic names! And yours all go together perfectly!
Denise says:
When we thought our baby was a boy (I’m due in March), we had chosen Jack. Things changed when we learned we are having a girl. Whatever you chose, it will be wonderful.
Amy S says:
When I was born, my parents couldn’t decide a name for either gender. When I was born, my mom liked tomboy-ish names, like Alyx, Taylor, Riley, and Hunter, and my dad liked more feminine names like Grace, Lucille, Lillian and Clara. Neither of them would back down so I ended up named Amy Elizabeth, after both of my grandmothers.
I’ve never been super happy with my name, aside from the family connection, so now that I am having my own baby I feel like the pressure is on. We don’t know the gender, and don’t plan on finding out, so we need one of each. We currently have 3 girls names picked. One is my favorite, (Annabel Sophia), one is his favorite (Scarlett Amelia), and the third (Georgia Abigail) is our compromise. For boys we are having a tougher time. I want to use my dads middle name (Joseph). For first names I love Henry, and DH loves Jack. I like Jack, but I know too many, and I really dislike Jackson. We both like Miles and Reid, but they don’t feel right. So right now, it looks like if this baby is a boy he will be Henry Joseph. But like you, I don’t have the overwhelming feeling that that is his name like I feel with all three of Annabel, Scarlett and Georgia.
I am glad you are due before me, because I LOVE Madeline and Annabel’s names, so maybe the Acrobat’s name will help inspire me!
Adrianne says:
I don’t think you can go wrong with ANY of those names!! I love them all. We have an Annabel and 17 months later, it still feels like the perfect name (for us). Good luck and congrats on your little sweetie:)
Kirsten says:
Oh man, I’m with ya – the name thing is TOUGH! My husband vetoed Adam until I was about 8 1/2 months pregnant, and then he changed his mind and now Adam Jacob (or AJ as we sometimes call him) fits him perfectly. But we struggled SO MUCH with the boy name – that we have no idea what to do about this one….have to pick both since we don’t know what it is Molly was our girl name, but we’ve decided it against it this time….
I’m hoping to get ideas from commenters – there have been some good ones so far! Keep em comin ladies!
Suzanne says:
We’ve had four boys and a girl. Girl names…no problem. Boy names? So. Hard. I don’t know why. Of course we’re happy with the ones we FINALLY AFTER MONTHS OF DISCUSSION agreed on, but I feel your pain!
Julie says:
When I was pregnant, I had numerous girls names (all with a middle name of Grace, after my Grandma) but the only boy name I liked was Jordan Matthew. At that time, the New Kids On The Block band was popular (this was 1990) and while I wasn’t a fan of Jordan Knight, I did like his name a lot. Flash forward to my due date, and my son’s father (who dumped me when he found out I was pregnant) showed up at my door to see if I’d had the baby, and realized I hadn’t. He started quizzing me on names and I said I liked Jordan for a boy and he said “OK, I like Jordan Matthew!” Well, there goes my name, I refused to let Dickface think he named my child! So 2 weeks later when my son was born, his name was Jordan Nicholas. It was, after all, 2 days after Xmas so Nicholas seemed appropriate, and my nephew was dating a lovely girl named Nicole Jordan at that time, so it all fell into place! And now my baby Jordan Nicholas is a 22 year old junior at Ohio State. Time flies when you’re having spawn. haha
Kim says:
Oh girl, I hear you on this one. Seth’s name was easy, Elliott’s was a little harder, but still not bad. This baby (who I am SURE is a boy) probably won’t be named until he goes to Kindergarten I have girl names galore, but coming up with 3 boy names? Ugh.
Andrea says:
It’s interesting how differently people go about naming their kids. You say you don’t understand how people can go to the hospital and not know what they are going to name their baby. I actually could never name a child before I met him or her. No matter how perfect a name might sound, without looking at, cuddling and holding my two babies, I would never be able to be sure it was the right name. It might be the perfect name, but for someone else!
For example, we were pretty set on Annika Rose for our second daughter, but when we saw her and spent some time with her, it was clear she simply wasn’t an Annika. It just didn’t fit her personality. Stella Rose fits her SO much better. But no amount of time thinking, planning or researching in advance could have told me that. I had to meet her to know it. So both times, we have gone to the hospital with a short list of three or four names and made the decision after spending a day or two with our daughters.
(Just to clarify, I am not judging your process in any way. Everybody names their kids differently and there is not right or wrong way to do it. I’m really glad you’ve found a name that you like and hope that your doubts get settled. I’m so happy for you and Mike and can’t wait until Acrobat is here safe and sound!)
Christine says:
Naming boys were so hard for us! We have 2! We didn’t know until after they were born. With the first we were pretty sure but waited until after we knew him for a day to announce. I wanted to be less drugged up too! Make sure I was sure!
With # 2 – he was literally named 30 minutes before we went home, on day 4, right when birth certificate office closed. Right in under the wire! We were so unsure. We are positive now and have never had regrets. It was just so hard for us!
Girls names would have been easy.
I’m a planner too. We are both CPAs! Not like us!
Hang in there. I think sometimes it is clear after you meet them and hold them and then you feel that sure moment!
Barb in Michigan says:
For the Beatles lovers in your family…. John or Paul .. no one HAS to have a middle name.. what about John your maiden name Sphor?
Or Paul Adam ? Adam has part od Maddies and Annablle in it..
John Adam Sphor
Paul Adam Sphor
Just know how much the Beatles have meant to you and the girls.
Emily says:
OH MY GOSH, yes. We had this exact same deal with our son, to the tee. I was convinced that we wouldn’t have a name by the time he was born. We finally settled on two names that we agreed on, but one of the names was shared with a friend’s cat, so we went with the other. Heaven forbid we ever have to pick another! If we’d had a girl, it would’ve been a piece of cake!
ella says:
Madeline—Maddie
Annabel—Annie
Oliver—Ollie????
Just a thought
Also, I saw this on pinterest! I don’t know how to connect Pinterest account to Pinterest account, so I figured I’d share it on here! I thought you might find this useful!
http://pinterest.com/pin/240168592600427428/
aqua6 says:
We had our daughter’s name picked out three years before she was born. Since she was born at 25 weeks, this worked out handily that we had it picked already. Our second is a boy and it was SO hard to find one we agreed on. I think part of that is because boys’ names keep turning into girl names (Sean, Erin, Skylar, Quinn…)! They rarely go in the other direction. Also I wanted a name that was clear to spell, easy to pronounce but not too common. Fortunately we aren’t having more than two kids!
Chris says:
We didn’t know the gender until my kids were born, back in the 70’s, so we had 2 of each picked out and waited until we saw them to see what felt right. James Robert for the boy and Karen Dawn for the girl, and they both fit them perfectly. When my daughter was having her daughter I wasn’t thrilled with her name but now it totally fits her, Ally Jae. You’ll know it when you see him.
Jeanie says:
I so wanted to name my daughter Jamie. Her dad’s name is Jim, but that really had nothing to do with it — I just like the name Jamie. Jim would not have it because of a “fat little kid” he went to kindergarten with whom he “hated.” That was 45 years ago, but I’ll never forget it. I love the names Landon and Gideon for a boy, but it doesn’t look like my family will be having any more children any time soon. No one listens to me, anyway.
Glenda says:
I had a boy and girl name picked out for both of my pregnancies, as I didn’t know what I was having, and I don’t regret the names. I didn’t feel like I had to see him/her in order to name him/her.
Delania says:
Same here, boy names are tough. We found a name that worked, have books and cards written to that name and then a week before I gave birth a name in a magazine article jumped out at me. When I looked at my newborn son I knew right away he was Cole, not the Cameron we had been thinking all along. I couldn’t imagine him with any other name.
Leslie says:
They came by for FOUR days and asked us her name, we could not agree/decide….I’m one of THOSE!
But I will say I’ve never regretted her name for a second!
Kristy says:
When my 3rd daughter was actually born a son, we were scrambling. I picked Connor mostly because it doesn’t rhyme with anything awful.
My daughter picked the name Kylar for her son long before he was born. I didn’t really like it at first, but I love it now. The name just seems to fit him.
Maria says:
I always wanted to have a son named Henry, and almost one year ago I got my wish! It’s the perfect name for him. I had a much harder time choosing my two daughters’ names. For a long time my favorite name for a girl was Grace, but my best friend used it for her daughter so that was out. We ended up naming our first daughter Alice, and it suits her perfectly! When I was pregnant with boy/girl twins last year, I knew that the boy would be Henry but we had such a hard time deciding on a girl’s name. My husband REALLY wanted to name her Penelope, but I wanted to name her either Annabel (because it’s such a gorgeous name!) or Norah. We decided that if she was born with dark hair she would be a Penelope, and if she was a blonde I could choose either of the two names I liked. Well of course she was born with a full head of dark hair! I gave in and we named her Penelope. Three months later all that hair fell out and now she’s blonde and blue eyed. I got screwed in that deal! Still, the name suits her (we call her Penny for short) and I can’t imagine her with any other name. You’ll know whether the name is right as soon as you see him! And you have fabulous taste in names so I’m sure whatever you pick will be classy and cool.
P.S. Have you checked out nameberry.com? It’s wonderful for researching names. I lost so many hours of my life to that site last year…
Milly says:
With my son, I’ve always known his name. I actually picked out his name when I was 15, and it has always stuck with me. Before we found out that he was a boy, my husband and I went back and forth on girl names, and never could figure one out… Now that we are working towards #2, we have a girl name, but no idea what we’ll chose for a boy name! Bah!
Good luck! I’m sure whatever name you guys choose will be perfect!
Marinka says:
Fine. I’ll name your son.
::Sigh::
It’s like my work is never done.
xo
brittnoelle says:
I am a lover of names. Always have been. I wrote stories of families with half a dozen kids when I was in elementary school just so I could name them. In Junior High all my homework had names scribbled in the margins.
I’m a Brittany. I hated my name until my early twenties. I’m not a “Brittany”. In college I sat down in an English Lit class on the first day and the teacher called roll. When he got to my name he looked at me and said, “you’re not a ‘Brittany’ are you?”
I, too, could name a million girls. I could go on forever. That’s the problem. There are so many girls names that I just love that I can’t narrow it down. I have a list full of Lila, Winter, Genevieve, Colette, Evangeline, and on and on and on.
Boys names are actually easier for me because I have fewer that I LOVE. We’ve already agreed that when the time comes a boy will be Atticus Gray. To Kill a Mocking Bird is my FAVORITE book and my grandmother’s maiden name is Gray. But for a girl….eeek, how will I ever choose between all the options.
I’ve been trying to guess what you’ll choose since I read you were pregnant. I see Holden, Oliver, Milo, Benjamin, Owen, and Henry as great choices for you family.
Janey says:
I like the older traditional names for boys personally and it would seem you two favor the traditional too!
Michael, Christopher, (my brothers names in fact Thomas, Samuel, … Although I did consider Aiden if one of my twins had been a boy.
Have fun with it! And I agree, seeing him will help immensely!
Katrina says:
Naming another person is a huge responsibility! I like traditional names for boys and more unique names for girls. So far we have Anthony, Audriana, Afton, Alex, Avery, Adam, Aislynn, Andrew and Aria…and this last baby is a boy and has already been named Aiden by his siblings! As soon as we found out he was a boy, the kids just started calling him Aiden. I kept telling them that we hadn’t named him yet so STOP calling him Aiden! But they didn’t listen to me. After a couple of months went by, my husband and I just shrugged at each other, “So…do you like that name?” “Yeah, I do” “Me, too. So I guess that’s his name!” I guess it will be fun to tell this little guy in the years to come that his siblings named him!
Mommabird2345 says:
I love all of my children’s names. I think their names suit them.
The boy’s name we had picked out was Brandon, but we had 3 girls (and are not having any more babies). I also like the names Justin, Jack & Jacob. (Yes, I do have a thing for ‘J’ names. 2 of my kids have ‘J’ names I can’t help it).
Annalisa says:
We only settled on a girl’s name because we’ve had debates on baby names long before we actually started years before we felt ready for kids. We were kinda relieved when we found out we were having a girl, since we never settled on the boy name question. We’re not even talking mild disagreement, we’re talking diametrically opposite tastes in names.
If we ever have to pick a boy name, I’ll probably chicken out and make it my dad’s, just so we don’t have another endless debate (it was the only name where we were in mild agreement).
ColleenMN says:
I like Jack! She’d be proud.
Becca Masters says:
Our baby is due in 5 weeks, and we FINALLY have names, but won’t tell anyone.
It drives me mad when you’re choosing names and people say “REALLY?!?” or “I hate that name!”
I can’t wait to hear what you call your little boy. exciting times!
Melissa says:
I sympathize with the last name struggle. Ours is Dix. ‘Nuff said.
Needless to say, the last name took many of my choices out of the running IMMEDIATELY. For example:
Ben Dix
Justin Dix
You see what I mean?
We ended up with names we really, really liked. My son’s name is Teagan, his middle name John (after my uncle and godfather and all around favorite person growing up). For my daughter’s name, we both loved the short name of Maddie (in part for me because of your darling girl), but struggled with choices for the first name that would get us there. Madeline is so popular. Madison is beautiful, but we also live very close to the city so it seemed..odd. We ended up with Madigan, and her middle name is Belle after my husband’s grandmother. So we have Madi for short and we often call her Madibelle.
I couldn’t be happier with our choices. I will say, I love that Teagan has the option of being TJ too, if he chooses to and I think TJ Dix sounds like someone famous.
Good luck with your search!
Elizabeth says:
Hello,
I went to the hospital with 2 names but needed to see our baby before we named him!!
Here’s a suggestion based on your requirements:
Evan Michael Spohr
Evan means- young warrior
this young boy has to be a warrior to get here and you all have had your struggle!
As a teacher, I don’t hear this name that often and it is also a form of John (if you have anyone in your family with that name.)
Best of luck for a healthy and full-term pregnancy!
Leslie K says:
His name will be perfect, and I can hardly wait to hear it!
RzDrms says:
P.S. If you make his first name Jack or Jackson, then Jackkit will think he’s named after him! Kit might git jealous!
Natalie says:
I loved a certain name for my middle son my entire pregnancy, but I kept having a nagging feeling about a different one. I ignored that little thought until my son was born and it became louder. Every time I looked at him and tried to call him my much loved name, it just didn’t work. I tried the name that sat in the back of my mind the whole pregnancy and it just clicked.
Christina says:
I’ve had to name 4 boys and am now tapped out! We don’t know what we’re having this time but if it’s another boy I don’t know what we’re going to do. Here are my boys’ names just for fun.
Joshua Drake
Nicholas David
Ryan Christopher
Alexander Joel
I’d like another name that either has 4 letters or a 4 letter nickname since the others do. I wish I hadn’t used Joel with my last baby’s middle name because it would be the top of my list. I also like Cary, but everyone else (husband and kids) thinks it’s too girly. We’ll keep looking. Can’t wait to hear what name you’ve picked. Good luck!
ryan says:
Jackson! Or Jack!
Traci says:
Nathaniel. It means ‘gift from God’. You would have options of Nate, Nathan, or Nathaniel. It’s sweet and strong.