The Name Game

*Updated to add another of my newest favorite names.*

After reading Sara's baby name post today, I kind of want to talk names a little more for our little guy. Sara is due exactly 1 day before me (and my last ultrasound actually dated me one day ahead), so now I feel really behind.

A little family naming history and thoughts:

I should state up front that most of the names I discuss are one's I've thought about. Matt has not approved or vetoed my list yet.

Matt and I have a difficult time picking out names. We tend to agree more quickly on girls' names, but obviously that has never helped us. I remember going back and forth just like this last time. So far we've both thrown out names that the other mostly shoots down. This has gone both ways. And every name that Zachariah has mentioned, one or the other of us has said no. (It's pretty cute watching Zachariah get involved in the discussions. We've tried to explain that we likely won't rely on his opinion in this matter, but it's fun to hear what he has to say.)

I'd say that our naming style leans towards traditional/biblical. I know when most people see our names- Matt(hew) and Sarah, plus our son's name- Zachariah, they think biblical/religious. That was never our intention. We truly just fell in love with the name Zachariah without really thinking about the religious connotations. That said, we are a Christian family who is very involved in our church, and of course knowing this name has some biblical significance was a nice bond. But I'm not against other names. However, I feel we will have to stick with traditional/biblical, so this name will fit with our strong Zachariah.

Matt's name is Matthew Charles. Charles is his father's name. His brother's middle name is the same as his father's middle name. Our first son is Zachariah Matthew, in the same sort of tradition. If I followed that tradition, our second son would be named Firstname Charles Lastname. While I wouldn't be against honoring Matt's dad like this (or Matt for that matter), I feel like I'm leaving my dad out in the mix. Plus Matt's sister gave her son the middle name Charles, so the name has been honored in the family already.

I wouldn't mind honoring our fathers, but feel I'd have to do both. My dad's name, Mark, just doesn't work well with our last name. They both are 1 syllable and end in "k". It just sounds too abrupt to my ears. If I use Charles Mark Lastname, it honors both dads and flows better. But that means our son will have the same First and Last name as my father-in-law. It's not a bad thing, but I think it would be a bit confusing. Plus Charles isn't a name I would normally choose for my baby.

At this point my preference is that the baby's middle name be after someone in my family. It would either be Mark (after my dad) or John (after my only deceased grandfather). I'm leaning towards John.

Names that have been mentioned:

Here are some names that I've considered for first name position. I'm not completely in love with all of these names, but they are starter ideas.

• Carter
• Ezra
• Harrison
• Isaac
• Isaiah
• Joel
• Josiah
• Tyler
• Lincoln
• Nolan
• Simon
• Peter
• *Daniel

So far Matt has said no to Joel and Josiah. He doesn't like anything that sounds like "Joe". He thinks Ezra (which was one of my first favorites, but I'm losing it now) is too "girly" sounding. Most of the rest he hasn't said anything, or I haven't share with him yet.

Zachariah's current pick is Leo. I don't mind it, but Matt doesn't like it at all.

Matt's pick is Johann. Johann Peter to be exact. While I didn't think badly of it at first, it's really rubbed me the wrong way. It would be pronounced "Yo-han", and I think that would be a little too "uppity". He was looking at names in his German heritage like Johann, Franz, Conrad, and some others. I said no to pretty much all of them.

How we name:

This list is not the end. I have a feeling it's only the beginning. I really want to pull some more ideas and thoughts out of Matt. I don't have any strong favorites at this point. I'm hoping we'll com across a few that work for us.

With Zachariah, and with this one too, I didn't want to name the baby until I saw him. We went into the delivery room with 3 favorites, which all worked with Matthew as the middle name. Last time our list was Jamin, Zachariah, and Ryan. We both agreed on all of them, but the first was my pick and my favorite. When he was born one of the nurses said, "What are you going to name this big boy? He needs a big, strong name." I knew right away she was right, and Jamin just did not suit him at all. He was a whopping 9 lbs 11 oz and needed a sturdy name. Zachariah just suited him.

I'm glad that I waited to meet him to make the final decision. Otherwise we would have scrambled to choose something else since my top choice didn't work.

We did not tell our family or friends all of our favorite names. I remember throwing a few of our ideas out to my mom, but I never gave any indication of what we might choose from those. It kept the opinions down. So when our baby was born, we presented them with the name at that time. It was his.

I'd like to take the same approach this time. I would like to have a few top names or name combinations (if we don't completely settle on a middle name before that). Then I want to name our baby when we first meet him.

Opinions:

OK, I've shared a LOT here. I think I needed to get it all out. Out of the names I've mentioned what do you like? Or do you have other ideas based on these here? I'd love to hear them. I'm open to anything.