I’m going to come right out and say it: we still don’t have a name. This has lead to a bit of stress in our home, especially when you consider that – all the way back in February – Heather had already written a post worrying about our inability to find “the” name. So what’s the problem? If you were to ask Heather she’d probably nod in my direction, and though I hate to admit it, in a lot of ways she’d be right.

Girls’ names, for whatever reason, are easy for me to think of. In fact, before we knew we were having a boy, Heather and I had already agreed on at least a dozen potential girl names that we both thought were beautiful. This, despite having already come up with two terrific names for our daughters.

But boys’ names are impossible. Heather complains that I have an (often ridiculous) objection to every potential name, and she’s not too far off. Here’s a conversation we had last night:

Heather: “What about Gavin?”

Me: “Nuh-uh. That was the name of the kid Michael Jackson was accused of molesting.”

Heather: “How about Carson?”

Me: “No way. Everyone’s always told me I look like Carson Daly. I’d never live it down if I named my kid Carson.”

Heather: “What about Jeremy then?”

Me: “Eh, there was a Jeremy in high school who bullied me.”

Heather: “Oh. Well, at least that’s a more reasonable objection.”

Me: “Also, Jeremy’s spoken. Aaaaaaaaa-eeeee! I literally wouldn’t be able to look at the kid without thinking of Eddie Vedder.”

You’re probably annoyed with me after reading that exchange, so you can imagine how Heather feels after suggesting hundreds of names. All of my objections aren’t ridiculous, though. Most of the time the name just doesn’t feel like my son’s name, if that makes sense. Other names, like “Liam,” are tough for me to pronounce (I had speech therapy as a kid for “L’s” and “R’s”).

There is one name I like. It’s a name Heather suggested months ago, and its been the only one that’s seemed right. But Heather has grown less enamored of it over time, and says it doesn’t click in the way Madeline and Annabel did.

I asked Heather what she’s looking for in a name, and she mentioned it would be great if it could have three syllables and be able to  shorten into a two syllable nickname (like Madeline/Maddie, or Annabel/Annie). That would be cool, but it only makes the search even harder.

I’m really not sure at this point where the right name is going to come from. Heather has a hard time believing that I’ve done a lot of name searching considering I’ve only liked that one name, but the truth is I’ve looked at thousands of names. I’ve refreshed websites that suggest baby names until they’ve started to suggest things like Sisyphus. You know you’re in trouble when you’re up at three in the morning and saying, “Sisyphus Spohr” out-loud.

My hope is that if Heather and I keep thinking on this we will have a moment of inspiration and settle on a name that we both love. We’ve still got six weeks or so… but the clock is ticking!