The Name Game

We finally pulled out the baby name book this weekend. Since baby is coming on Thursday, if not sooner...we decided it's probably a good idea to at least have a couple of names in mind before we go to the hospital. It's funny...with the first two, we didn't even have a name book. We just had names we liked, and that was it. Lexi would have been Jacob if she'd been a boy, and Jacob would have been Allison if he'd been a girl. With Lizzy, we were clueless and broke down and bought a book. Of course we didn't really study it until we were in the hospital. I remember sitting in the whirlpool and between contractions, Brad would read off some names he liked. Finally, I said "I'm picking Elizabeth if it's a girl...you pick the middle name". And so, we decided on Elizabeth Marie, just hours before she was born.

Good thing I didn't get rid of that baby name book, because we are once again at a total loss when it comes to names. Lizzy really wants to name the baby Abby, after Abby Cadabby (Elmo's friend on Sesame Street). It's obviously a two year old thing...Lexi was two when Jake was born, and she was determined to name him Bob (after Bob the Tomato from Veggie Tales). That's exactly why we have a dog named Bob. But we are not getting more pets, so this baby just might end up being named Abby.

We sat down as a family last night and paged through the book together. We let Lexi and Jake vote on names they liked, and I think we've got a boy name and a girl name picked out. I'm not going to tell them to you, just in case they change. But I am now a lot more confident this baby will have a name within the first few hours after birth.

In the meantime, I looked through the name book again this afternoon, searching for a girl middle name. I got a little sidetracked. The book is called "50,001+ Best Baby Names". It lists names and meanings, but it also has lots of fun lists, like "over-the-top names to avoid" and "names for future poets". I found myself looking through those lists for my name, Brad's name and the other kids' names. What I found was pretty interesting..and funny. Here's what I learned about our names and nicknames:
Brad

• Charmers (funny, because his mom always told him he had "Brazzle-dazzle" and would charm his way through life, which he has done)
• Names of rich Americans (Brad Pitt)

Jody

• Future truck drivers (I'm sure this is because my name is spelled with a "y", instead of an "i", like all the cool Jodi's in the world. Yes, I'm still bitter about my stupid name spelling.)
• Future Nobel prize winners (um, ok)

Alexis/Lexi

• Names to make your baby popular (she's well on her way... she recently had three invites for parties on the same night!)
• Ms. Perfect (yes, that's my Lexi...never do anything to upset the apple cart)

Jacob/Jake

• Powerful names
• Future lawyers (I can see this....he's a smart kid that loves to argue)
• Biblical and Saintly names (let's hope this makes him an honest lawyer)
• Comfy names
• Future mechanics (again, I can see this... he's very good at fixing and building, with Legos anyway!)
• Names to make your baby popular (according to the third grade girls, Jake is already popular!)

Elizabeth/Lizzy/Liz

• Future royalty (Queen of England)
• Powerful names
• Names that get shortened (yup..my Elizabeth is only called Elizabeth when she's in trouble..which is actually a lot!)
• Names to give you a leg up in life (if she's a failure, it won't because of her name)
• Ms. Perfect (compared to Lexi, no way!)
• Names for smart kids (this scares me.... I'm afraid she's already too smart for her own good.)
• Future doctors (now this would be ok... she could support her truck driving mother in my old age)
• Names that sound presidental
• Brand-name babies (Elizabeth Arden)
• Future models (she is pretty cute...)
• Names for the handsome and beautiful (again, she is cute...)
• Comfy names

I've also discovered that my children's names are, ahem, pretty common. Elizabeth has made the list of top 25 names every decade since the 1950s. Jacob was the fifth most popular name for boys in the 1990s, and was number one from 2001 through 2004 (the most recent year in the book). And Alexis first broke into the top 20 list in the 1990s, was in the top five in 2001 and 2002, and the top ten in 2003 and 2004. No wonder I always hear people talking about Lexi and Jake.... guess they're not always talking about my kids!

So what does all this mean? Probably nothing. But just in case, I'm going to revisit the names we picked out.. I'd hate to have picked a name from the "future crooked politicians" list without knowing it... my child may never forgive me!