Names, Names, Names...AHHHHH

OK, so not to revisit this name thing over and over (and over and over....) but here is the name saga as it stands now. As many of you know, and as I have mentioned in previous blogs, I have some definite ideas about the names my children get named. Namely, they must be unique, and they would (preferably) have some meaning or significance. The unique thing is the big, huge one!!! It is big enough that Wes and I always go though this whole process in choosing them.

Before I explain that, I should mention that the Social Security Administration has a website that tells you the most popular baby names for the previous year in the US based on the Social Security cards issued for new babies. It also has a place where you can see the popularity of a name from any (or all) year(s) in the past 100 years. (If you want to check out what I mean, click here.) So, this process Wes and I go through in choosing our kids names is that we come up with names we love that seem unique to us, then we go to that site and check to see if those names have ever been on the SSA's top 1000 names anytime in the past 100 years. So far, none of our children's names have been in the top 1000 names anytime in the past 100 years.

At this point (if in fact you have made it this far in this story) you might be thinking, "What the heck is wrong with Beckee that she is so concerned with having SUCH unique names for her kids?" This is a question that I myself have thought a lot about recently, and I think the answer stems back to my elementary school days. For one thing, I NEVER have any school classes without at least one other "Becky/Rebecca" in it. This would have been OK (not ideal, but OK), if it hadn't been for my 4th grade teacher. That class was a particularly Beckee/Rebecca filled class. There were I believe 5 of us in there. All of us were named Rebecca, and all of us went by Becky. This was confusing and unacceptable to my teacher, and since none of us would willingly go by any other name but Becky, our teacher decided to assign us names, yes...assign us names. One was lucky enough to be Becky, one Becca, one Rebecca, (I cannot remember what the 4th had to go by), and I, the 5th, was assigned Reba. That's right, Reba. A name I had never been called, and a name I did not like. I obviously refused to be assigned a name like that, and began experimenting with different spelling options for Becky (I believe it was Beki that whole year. It wasn't until 9th grade that I settled on Beckee). This spelling change has been my only unique feature of my first name since then. This common name thing only got worse, much, MUCH worse when I married a Johnson. Now I had a common first and last name. (As a matter of fact, when I got married I was working as a teacher on a temporary drama project in an elementary school, and there were 2 other teachers named Becky Johnson working there as well.) So, I think that is why the unique thing has been such a big deal...(Also, I should note that I am aware that having a unique name is not always everyone's favorite thing as they get older, so we have given all three kids common names as well in case they decide to break my heart and go by some other name than the ones Wes and I painstakingly chose for them.)

So, now that you are caught up on the psyche of Beckee and the reasons I want unique (or to quote High School Musical 2 that we just watched before bed time-I need something inspiring to help me get along...I need FABULOUS!!!). This is the deal with our names right now. Since I had Solace, there have been many names I have come across that I LOVED and wanted to name my next girl. Some of the names have become unusable (like for example, Paris-obviously now you cannot name a child that thanks to that Hilton terror). There is one name that I was pretty much totally set on, and Wes also liked it. So, I pretty much thought we were done with the name game stress. Oh boy was I wrong!!!

The other day I was at a playgroup with a couple women here discussing the name I love. One of the other women is also pregnant with a girl, and due in 6 weeks. She and her husband also happen to be good friends of ours. so, I was talking about this name of mine, and she mentioned that the name is also the name her husband wants to name their child. Immediately this puts a damper on the name for me, but does not totally count it out yet-just because they like it too doesn't mean it is super popular. Then my friend said "We looked it up on the Social Security page and saw it was like 30 most popular name, so we figured you and Wes would never use it anyway." OK-now it was out and I was devastated. And I realized that I had skipped the crucial step of checking the SSA page in my baby name decision this time. After spending the next 2 nights literally waking up with nightmares about the baby not having a name, Wes and I sat down with the laptop and got on the SSA page. ALL 4 OF OUR TOP FOUR NAMES ARE ON THERE!!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHH....SO, now we are branching out and have a list of about 15-20 possible other names for baby, but none of them are clicking for me as much as my favored name (or any of the other 3 in the top 4). So, there you go-my name trauma! Will this child have a unique name? Will it be one I like? Will I go crazy thinking about this?! Probably...