You’ve heard this before, right? Articles discussing the meaning of names? This is not that. Yes, the meanings of our kids’ names were cool to read about in books or on-line. But, that’s not why we chose them. The many name books we had were used very little for origin or meaning. In the scheme of things, that meant very little to us.
What did? What’s in a name? Well, there were a few things more important to us than others. We took this job VERY seriously! We were giving a human being life, then an identity. Obviously anything that could be rhymed with poop, nipple, or anything of that sort would not work. So, Harry Brock? Nope. Do we hate him already? Then there’s the Top 10 baby names list. Back to that identity thing…. Which leads me to the most hated question when I was pregnant with baby #1, a boy. “I guess he’ll be _____ ______ _____ the 4th?” My husband is a 3rd. This has caused me hell in our life, and I wasn’t about to make that worse. Why is it so bad? Because putting a number at the end of the name does not stop the confusion of who is who. I grew up with this.
My father went by his middle name because he was named after his grandfather and they didn’t want the confusion. That idea worked for my parents, who named my older brother after my dad (his middle name) and then used my brother’s middle name for him. Keeping up so far? Then came school. In the small parochial school we attended, letting others know by the first day what he answered to was simple. Then high school. Too many teachers, students, strangers. Day one and he suddenly had a different name. My father’s name. Phone calls (because remember way back then the whole family had ONE NUMBER TO SHARE – GASP!) became a pain in the tuckus, as some people needed me to go as far as asking for a physical description of who they were calling.
Forward more than a decade, and suddenly I am getting phone calls looking for my husband’s father. I’m arguing with people anytime a legal name has to be verified for anything that my husband is who he says he is, even if their paperwork says differently. Do I want this to continue with another in the mix? Hell no! And we both felt that we had this wonderful chance to give our child himself, just him, to be. No baggage of someone else’s past, or pressure to achieve the same accomplishments. I know there are many of you out there who have named your “Jr.”, with the best reasons in the world. I’m not saying you made the wrong choice for you! There was just no way we were going down that road.
 So, how do we come up with something not too common, doesn’t rhyme with fart, and really means something to us? Well, we had a system. A system that started before the first pregnancy, when I was still trying to get blood sugars under control enough to get pregnant. We made our hoping list. We wrote down the names of those we wanted to honor. We looked for variations of these names, or other ways we could associate. I went to some college basketball games with my grandparents when I was younger. Fond memory for me. Our oldest’s middle name is the name of that college. His first name is a variation of a dear uncle that passed away. With each child, we went back to our original list of ideas. Two names we used were found by an addictive method – I still do it. We watched the credits of every show and movie, looking for that name that would jump out at us.
Then comes pregnancy #4. This was Viggo. Viggo made it to the list before Dax, but it just felt wrong for baby 3. We had Marco and Vida, and it felt like we were getting lazy by smashing their names together. So when we found out we were having another boy, I went into panic mode. I thought we didn’t have anywhere to start. Then I told Jackpot I wanted to bring back Viggo. I still loved it. The middle name was going to be a little harder.
Nothing left on our list worked with Viggo. We couldn’t go with something like Bob, either. Too big of a contrast. And we had to carry on the tradition of pulling in a family connection. So, I presented two choices. The male version of my mother and I’s middle name, Patrick. Or, his grandfather’s last name who had passed away the year before. Humphrey. Now, know that there only seem to be two reactions available for this name – love or hate. Neither will bother me, so go ahead and feel it. I felt good about offering this one up. All the other family association names were to my family. My argument being that they all get his family’s name (the last one). This is a kinda touchy subject in our house, with me having kept my name and adding on his with a hyphen. This, I swear, is the only time you will detect a major feminist viewpoint from me, and caveman one from him. So, we just leave the subject alone.Â
 Here was the problem: I was one of the haters of Humphrey. I tried to tell myself it was because it was his mother’s maiden name, and I really didn’t want to be reminded of her every time I heard his name. Yes, that was part of it. But, while the name sounded cool to me alone, paired with Viggo – well, it sucked. Here’s how I knew.
We were at my niece’s high school graduation, and I heard every senior being called up by their full names. I realized that on three of the most important days of their lives, they would be addressed by that full name. Their baptism, their wedding day (or days –Â hopefully not), and their graduation day (or days- hopefully many). I heard the voice saying Viggo Humphrey, and in my hormonal state I almost started crying, thinking I’d be the worst mother ever to do that to him. Viggo Patrick. Yes. Solid. Unique, yet not over the top. Cool, yet approachable. Perfect! Except I had already handed Jackpot the keys on this one. So, for the sake of the future well-being of our unborn son, I had to act.
Like any rational pregnant woman, I told him how sucky I thought his family name was, and that couldn’t be on his diploma, his many degrees and PhD, and Oh,God! what if at his first job at the grocery store they see it on paperwork and think there’s no way a Viggo Humphrey could interact with customers. He can only go get carts. and then it’s going to storm and he’s going to get struck by lightning! Does anybody else see how serious this is?
His totally rational response? He’s worried that Viggo won’t like Viggo and will want to go by his middle name instead. He might shorten Patrick to Pat, and he thought Pat sounded horrible. Because Hump sounds better?
I told him the name better be ready by the birth. He could announce it to me as he introduced him to our first visitors – Viggo’s siblings. As he said the name, Viggo Patrick, I saw the same look of complete satisfaction that we got it right as with the others. He loves it now. And if you’re a Humphrey relative, it’s not a sucky name. It just wasn’t for Viggo.
What are your thoughts on baby names? Let me know in the comments below!
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Those are definitely unique names..i dont think ive heard od them before. I also wanted a super unique names that stood out and to say the least..they always stand out in personality alone.
My kids names were pulled from greek mythology..something my husband and i loved before we had the first one. But we certainly put a lot of effort into them.
My oldest is a boy, 8 named Apollo kai. The sun god, with a hawaiian middle name defined has ocean..so my husband made a little line that goes, “Apollo as bright as the sun, and as deep as the ocean”.
My second child a girl, 2 is named Artemis Kiana. Artemis is a bow and arrow goddest, in greek mythology as she is the twin of Apollo–the better of him. We expected the third child to be a girl but we got a girl the second time around so we reserved the boy name we had. Kiana her middle name is, also hawaiian for moon.
Our third child is also a girl named, Cassiopeia Reign. Her first name is of a star that posseidon turned into. Her middle name is french–queen. We went with something different in her middle name since apollo & artemis are twins in greek mythology.
We’re hoping for another, and he would be named, Theseus Alexander. The saviour of greece and alexander from alexander the great.
Its amazing how important it is to make sure their names are great. Because it does stay forever!
Thank you for sharing how you came up with your kids names. ☺
Your children’s names are beautiful! They definitely won’t have kids in their class with the same ones. 🙂
Naming a baby is so hard! We had no idea what to name our oldest until he was almost 2 days old. But for our 2nd, we knew his name about 4 months before he was born. You just never know!
My youngest brother was 7 weeks premature and my parents didn’t have a name picked out yet. I was a freshman in high school and loved The Beatles. Every day my friends would ask what his name was. I told them Ringo. 🙂 I felt this urgency with each to have a name picked out by the 3rd trimester, just in case. I was worried I would be way too tired once they were born to be trusted naming them. So many people say they wait until they see the baby,though, and they just know. I’m way too much of a planner for that!
Lol I thought we were the only ones that watched the end credits for names! Mostly for middle names because all of our kids’ first names start with Kh. None of them have any affiliation to family. However if our next baby is a boy we are considering naming him after my husband’s brother who passed. Choosing baby names can be exhausting but fun at the same time!
Right! We were like this is an awesome thing we get to do, and such a challenge. But by baby 4 we were stressed. We both agreed that even if we didn’t have our many other reasons not to have any more, we couldn’t do the name thing again for another boy! We still had 1 more girl name in reserve, and weirdly I still can’t bring myself to tell anybody what it was. It still feels special and private, only to be revealed at birth. Which will never happen since I’ve shut down the factory. Maybe it’s the crazy thing I reveal on my death bed that nobody knows what I’m talking about. 🙂
The names in my family are meaningful to use also. My boys’ first names are original to them, middle names are their grandfather’s and greatgrandfather’s middle names on my side of the family and last name is their dad’s.
I think it means a lot to the kids to have the family ties,too. The ones that are old enough know that #3 has my maiden name as his middle name. Every once in a while the others ask “Who am I named after again?” I always think that’s so sweet. 🙂
I really enjoyed reading how you and your husband choose your babies names. We chose traditional family names as our children’s middle names.
I think the majority of people do end up working family names in there somewhere. To us, it connected them to the extended family. It was an exhausting process, though. I could not have done that 10 times!
i wanted to name my first born Noah because I watched the notebook and I wanted our son to be a reminder of my husband’s love. unfortunately, at the last minute, husband said that my son need to be named after his father because my husband was the only boy and my son will be the only one to carry the family name.
I love the reason you chose that name!I think a lot of people have last minute changes. Not knowing for sure the middle name of our last drove me crazy!! I know I never could have handled the last minute change. At least not with much grace. 🙂
I knew what name I wanted for our little girl years ago- just had to get my husband on board and now that she’s here it’s perfect! Madeline!
I know many people had a name picked out since they were very young. I always think it’s awesome when they stick with it. It was meant to be!
I love these ideas. I have twin girls, and I can’t tell you the difficulty we had naming them! We wanted names that were unique, bot not overly so; that complimented each other, but weren’t too matchy-matchy. Naming children is so hard, they keep them forever!
Caitlin
http://www.rogerspartyof5.com
Oh, twins had to be so hard! I would have been giving them numbers on the uniqueness scale, weight of pronunciation, divided by how different + alike they were, carry the 5 = I’ve gone totally crazy! Most people do match twins names, it seems. There are triplets at our school, and their names are so completely different from each other that I actually told the mom “Good job.” I have no idea why I did that. :/
it’s not easy naming a baby-but regardless of where it came from, if you like it-use it
Especially both parents! It was very important to us that we both loved the names we chose.
I really love the name Viggo! We ended up naming our boy Luca Jude. My husband wanted an Italian name because of his heritage and I have always loved Jude…so we compromised. Some of the family weren’t too thrilled but our child and we pick the name lol
Ha! Oh, we got looks, and comments behind our backs that made their way back to us. It was always the older people, though, that had named their kids things like Bob. Most people our age and younger like our kids’ names. By the way, Luca was on our very short list. Love that one!
I love learning how people choose names for their children or even their pets. My husband and I were convinced we were going to have a really hard time agreeing on one, but when we mentioned Lily, we both knew it was right.
I was so worried I’d fall in love with a name and he wouldn’t like it! Luckily, we only had the one “disagreement”. That was a close call in my book. 🙂 I still look at Viggo some days and go – Thank God he didn’t go with Humphrey!
We talked about baby names a lot! Did a lot of the same things you did. We even eventually had one picked out. Of course once the babe arrived, we realized we had it ALL WRONG. Luckily enough we were both on the same page with what we felt was a better name. Picking names is a tough tough process.
My mother had my name picked out since she was a little girl. When I was born she thought it was all wrong and changed it. Every time I was pregnant she pressured me to use the name if it was a girl. I love my mom, but I couldn’t give my child a name because my mom changed her mind decades ago!
I love your kids’ names! So unique and I think it’s so important to really think hard about what you’re going to name a person. Our first was easy. We visited my great grandmother’s grave in SC on our honeymoon and saw it, her maiden name – Corbin. My husband has always loved the name Quinn, so he’s Corbin Quinn. Our second son, we knew we wanted a G name (my name starts with G) and the husband mentioned Grayson (we call him Gray) and I was sold. We knew we also wanted him to have a tie to my husbands side of the family and decided to name him after my husbands step-father. We couldn’t decide if we wanted his first name, Keith, or last name, Young. Literally while I was in labor, my husband called his step-dad and ask HIM which name he preferred! So our youngest is Grayson Keith. ???? Love hearing how parents come up with their children’s names!
I always love hearing the stories, too! I get a little disappointed when I compliment someone on their child’s name and ask where they got it and they kind of shrug their shoulders. What’s up with that?
Those are definitely unique names! Choosing a baby name is so rough, especially when you both have different tastes and opinions. My husband wasn’t a big fan of the names we settled on, but now he says they fit perfectly.
My family was a little if-y at first, but now they can’t imagine them as anything else!
Hubby and I had a relatively easy time naming Doll (not her actual name). Funny enough, we both separately read the same article and loved the name. A couple weeks later we found out we both liked the name and that was that. Baby #2 though? We’re running out of time and we haven’t done much work to come up with a good one!
We also watched credits for name ideas 🙂
The credits thing was so overwhelming sometimes! I actually found the least useful to be name books. Out of 4 kids/8 names we only got 2 this way! We got tired of buying new books, or looking at websites, and coming up with the same ones over and over. We did find a couple of maybes from old family last names – like going back generations. There can be some really cool stuff there!