What’s in a Name? {The Baby Name Game}

What’s in a Name?

Naming your child(ren). It’s a tough decision to make. Your child will carry this name with them forever – unless they hate it so much they decide to change it. For those parents who can decide, with one hundred percent certainty, what their child’s name will be before said child is born, kudos to you! I am not one of those parents. As we are expecting our second baby at the end of 2018, the name game is at the forefront of my mind. And, apparently, everyone else’s. Co-workers, friends and strangers in the grocery store keep asking what our baby’s name will be. I get some pretty crazy looks when I respond with“I don’t know. We’ll choose a name after the baby is born and we’ve gotten a look at her.” 

Picking the right name to fit your child is a lot of pressure.

Your child’s name should fit his or her personality – a lot of pressure for someone you’ve just met and have no idea what they will be like as they grow and mature. Picking a name, telling others and receiving monogrammed gifts all before the baby is born personally freaks me out. It goes back to my birth and those of my brothers. You see, my parents chose names for all three of us before we were born. And told friends and family what our names would be.  And changed their minds, and our names, after we were born.

It went something like this:

Oh a girl! We will name her Jennifer. Fast forward through my mom’s labor, biting my dad’s hand and all that jazz. The birth certificate is filled out. The excitement wears off. My dad gets a real good look at me. And says, “She doesn’t look like a Jennifer. She looks like an Amy.” The birth certificate has to be changed.

A couple of weeks later, my mom receives a phone call from a friend. It went something like this.

Friend: “How is Jennifer?”

Mom responds, bewildered, “Who is Jennifer?”

Friend: “Are you okay? Do I need to come over?”

Mom: “I’m fine. Who is Jennifer?”

Friend: “Your baby? How is your baby?”

Mom: “Oh! We changed her name. She didn’t look like a Jennifer.”

You would think my parents learned their lesson after my birth.

But no. Two more times – they chose names. Luckily, they didn’t complete the birth certificates until my dad got a good look at both of my brothers and decided the originally chosen names just wouldn’t work.

What happens when you and your spouse can’t agree on a name?

My husband and I cannot agree on baby names – at all. With our first child, we butted heads about names. He had certain names in mind that he had apparently been holding onto for YEARS. I didn’t like them. AT ALL. He didn’t like the list of names I had. After months of the husband staying up until all hours of the night searching every baby name app ever released, we finally narrowed it down to two names. After our son’s birth, I was rolled into recovery. I gazed lovingly at my husband as he held our newborn and very bluntly said, “So what are we naming him?!” And that was that.

As I enter my third trimester with our second child, we are playing the name game – AGAIN. The husband has names that he just loves, and I hate. And vice versa. So, I guess we’ll see what she looks like once she’s born and then pick a name from our short list. That’s just how it works for us.

Tell me, which name game camp are you in? 

Amy Craft-Peltier
Amy was born and raised in Lafayette, LA. She attended UL Lafayette and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Health Information Management. Amy works remotely for a healthcare company based out of Lafayette, LA. She and her husband Toby have two children - a rambunctious, loving boy and a sweet baby girl - and one dog. When she isn't working or spending time with her family, Amy enjoys quiet trips to Target, good food and, depending on the time of the day, coffee or wine.