I got to thinking more about baby names last night, mostly because of Donna, who pointed out that Hannah is the Hebrew translation for Grace. So I would actually be naming my daughter (who might still be a boy we won’t know until March) “Grace Grace”. This, of course has killed me! I now need to find a NEW perfect middle name……sigh.
Hub and I have been kicking around Carter for a boy. We like Cooper too, but I worry about him being called “Cooper the Pooper”. I mentioned Cade and Hub said you can do what you want, as long as it’s not Cade, so I guess that’s a no. My concern with Carter is that it doesn’t go with our other names. This really shouldn’t be hard, right?
I couldn’t sleep last night, so I decided to make a list of all of the names of children I went to Kindergarten with (circa 1982-1983), kind of as a base line, figuring that they were common names, so maybe I could pull out some middle names. After this though, I got to thinking. I wonder what would happen if I compared these names to the names of the kids in ED and CA’s classes at school—kind of my own name trending.
Here is what I came up with:
My Kindergarten Class
Girls
Sara (duh)
Susan
Jill
Kelly
Jamie
Jennifer (2)
Leanne
Jessica
Lisa
Julie
Adrienne
Boys
Kevin (2)
Eric
Christopher (2)
Nicholas
Curtis
Wesley
Chester
ED's Preschool Class
Girls
Celena
Madison
Emma
Mea
Marissa
Boys
Edmund
Brock
Liam
Griffin
Hayden
Siddharth
Matthew
CA’s 2-year-old Class
Girls
Caitlyn
Madisyn
Kelly
Zoie
Samantha
Boys
Liam
Joey
Ian
Davin
Max
After that, I pretty much decided that there was no hypothesis to make and that trending was not for me. It definitely did not help me in my own naming process. More than anything, it helped me fall asleep.
I think I’m going to stop thinking about baby names all together until we know what we’re having. I think it will make everyone a whole lot happier.
Does anyone have big Superbowl Plans? I’m making pulled pork in the crock-pot and my brother and SIL are coming over. I really don’t care much about the game itself, but I think it will be pretty cool if New England wins it all. We’ll probably have nachos and dips and lots of garbage to. The only thing that would make it better is ice cold beer………Maybe next year!
14 comments:
We definitely found it easier to think about names once we could narrow the field by half.
OMG, I love this post! I've been wanting to do something like this too! Well, I'll do AD's class if it helps you out:
Girls:
Ava (THAT IS HER OKAY, you know it and so does everyone else, I'm so over the AD thing. SIGH)
Mia
Kailey
Zoe
Kate
Sophie
Priscilla
Boys:
BETHLEHEM (argg)
Bryson
Sean
Preston
Grady
Garrison
I liked seeing your lists. It's interesting. Our girl middle name we had chosen (no matter the first name) was Nicole. I think it goes with a lot. And it's after a childhood friend of mine who died when we were seniors in high school. I liked using family or friend (or anyone we'd like to honor) ideas for middle names. Then I could do something different for first names.
I really like Carter. I think it works fine with your children's names.
Super Bowl. Well, our small group is having a party. I'm supposed to make a dessert. :D If Matt's still sick, I may not go though. Or I might go alone. We'll only be able to stay until half-time anyway, because Zachariah will never make it through the whole game. It will be fine as long as teh GIANTS win! (He he) Our whole small group is rooting for them. Ejnoy!
I REALLY love the names Hannah and Cooper. I wouldn't worry about Hannah Grace being repetitive; how many people would know that factoid anyway?
And kids will find a way to make any name rhyme with something stupid. Plus, Cooper also rhymes with Super. :)
The more I read you, the more we are alike. Our name for a boy was Carter (we chose it over Cooper b/c of the pooper rhyme, too!) but we had a girl. I still love that name.
I think Hannah Grace is still fine. If anything, it means that if it's a girl, she will really be graceful. Or something. It's kind of sweet that it's two names with one meaning.
Just because Hannah is a Hebrew name meaning "gracious," that doesn't mean it's the same name as Grace. They're still totally different names. TONS of names are connected by meaning (you can even search by meaning at BabyCenter, not that I'd recommend their iffy data), but they're still different names.
ALSO (look at me go! And this is even KNOWING you're feisty when you're pregnant!), the names of kids you went to kindergarten with are the common baby names from the late 1970s, not common names now. Those are now the "mom and dad" names, like Kathy and Susan are for us. If you're looking for what's common now, there are two sites you need:
1) The Social Security Baby Name Site. This will tell you what names are being used then AND now, and whether they're going up or going down. You can even search by your particular state.
2) The Name Voyager, which shows you just the part about where a name has been over the years.
But mostly, I agree about waiting until you know. I got FED UP with making double lists, and found new energy when I learned Henry was a boy.
Siddharth and Bethlehem? OMG what the hell are we doing to these poor little boys? But I am into names that are really names, unlike my lovely moniker which is a weather status and not a real name at alllll.
Sadly enough, my 'interesting and unique' name for my youngest is on the damn list. Gah. WHY is that? You think something is different, but not crazy and then every pregnant woman within a 100 mile radius names her bratling the exact same thing.
I am testy today. Can ya tell?
But! Just because I want to participate a bit, Jelly Bean has a Journey, Hailey, Kiki, for girls and a Aushaun, Yobani, Ian, for boys. Of course, there are a bunch of African American and Latino kids in the classes, which makes for different name tastes.
Sometimes, I get on hospital websites and look at the list of names used recently for newborns. And squirm in horror at various spellings and the terrible, unfortunate resuse of certain names. Sometimes I yell at the list.
I think Hannah Grace is still beautiful and lovely and perfect.
Good luck! Hannah was actually a big contender for my daughter L, but then it didn't happen. I've never been big on Cooper, though I do know an adorable one, so Carter would be my pick of the two. Good luck. I have no idea what I'd name a third if one were to come my way; though I do have some ideas.
screw the hebrew stuff, hannah grace is an awesome name! also siddharth and brock...really?
and also, i knew no way swistle could resist posting on this!
I forgot Finn for the boys! I saw it on the wall this morning and remembered.
I still love this post. I keep coming back to see if people have listed their kids' classes.
Yes, when I looked at CA’s door this morning I forgot a whole slew of kids. Must be the Tues/Thurs crowd who we don’t see.
For the girls, there are Julianne, Sofie and Angie and there was another boy’s name too that is escaping me now. In ED’s class there is also an Edelia and an Allanah.
To Siddharth’s parents credit—I believe they are straight from India---I’m pretty sure it’s kind of common there, actually. He is a really cute kid. : )
I tried to convince hub to name the baby Eli if it is a boy, but he was not having it.
Misty- yes, you can tell by the names that there is not a ton of diversity in our daycare center. And your name is LOVELY.
Swistle—I love you.
Actually, I love all of you. You’ve swayed me back to Hannah Grace. Thanks for keeping me sane. Here’s to 6 more crazy months!!
Post a Comment