We had a long discussion (as in, several months long) when I was pregnant
with dd and it really helped once we knew the baby's sex. We were able to focus much more closely on girl names and avoid the "boy name fight" we'd been having (and are having again).
In DH's family the "traditional" name for the first boy in any family is SALVATORE. And since we already have a long, hyphenated, last name I just can't see naming an itty bitty teeny tiny babe Salvatore on top of everything else. Especially since he'll be surrounded with uncles, cousins, grandfathers, random male relatives of all sorts with the same exact name.
My DH actually has Salvatore as his middle name (his mother was Irish and
only lasted a year or so in their huge Italian family since she was and is
something of a rebel and wasn't about to let anyone tell her what to name
her son) so he's agreed to that at least. So if it's a boy we're thinking a short first name, like OWEN or AIDAN (DH is an Irish citizen through his mom, and we're both half Irish/half Italians) paired up with Salvatore.
If it's another girl (my hope!) we'd like to name her SOPHIA TAMAR. My mom's favorite aunt was named Josephine and while that's a bit too long for us, we thought Sophia would be a nice adaptation. And Tamar has a prertty sound and is a bit less common.
We try to balance a more traditional name with a more unusual name since that gives the little one more of a choice as they get older and their personalities develop. We live in a very "crunchy" area and I grew up with a lot of kids who wound up hating their names since people assumed a lot of things based on those names (apparently applying to college or trying to get a job in a more conservative field wasn't really helped by a name like "MorningJoy" or "Summer Sea"...and a close friend named Faire actually changed his name legally when he hit 18) so I do want to give my little ones options.
DD1 is named LAIA ANNE...again, short names to balance the big long last name, one common name and one a little more unusual, and Anne honors relatives on all sides of the family (and it's with an "e"
).
Of course, it took a good month before the name sounded like her, but now I can't imagine her with any other name.
edited to add- we didn't tell any family or friends dd's name till AFTER she was born (even though we'd picked it long before that) since we didn't want to deal with any negative comments. It was a really hard secret to keep but worth it in the end!
with dd and it really helped once we knew the baby's sex. We were able to focus much more closely on girl names and avoid the "boy name fight" we'd been having (and are having again).
In DH's family the "traditional" name for the first boy in any family is SALVATORE. And since we already have a long, hyphenated, last name I just can't see naming an itty bitty teeny tiny babe Salvatore on top of everything else. Especially since he'll be surrounded with uncles, cousins, grandfathers, random male relatives of all sorts with the same exact name.
My DH actually has Salvatore as his middle name (his mother was Irish and
only lasted a year or so in their huge Italian family since she was and is
something of a rebel and wasn't about to let anyone tell her what to name
her son) so he's agreed to that at least. So if it's a boy we're thinking a short first name, like OWEN or AIDAN (DH is an Irish citizen through his mom, and we're both half Irish/half Italians) paired up with Salvatore.
If it's another girl (my hope!) we'd like to name her SOPHIA TAMAR. My mom's favorite aunt was named Josephine and while that's a bit too long for us, we thought Sophia would be a nice adaptation. And Tamar has a prertty sound and is a bit less common.
We try to balance a more traditional name with a more unusual name since that gives the little one more of a choice as they get older and their personalities develop. We live in a very "crunchy" area and I grew up with a lot of kids who wound up hating their names since people assumed a lot of things based on those names (apparently applying to college or trying to get a job in a more conservative field wasn't really helped by a name like "MorningJoy" or "Summer Sea"...and a close friend named Faire actually changed his name legally when he hit 18) so I do want to give my little ones options.
DD1 is named LAIA ANNE...again, short names to balance the big long last name, one common name and one a little more unusual, and Anne honors relatives on all sides of the family (and it's with an "e"
).Of course, it took a good month before the name sounded like her, but now I can't imagine her with any other name.
edited to add- we didn't tell any family or friends dd's name till AFTER she was born (even though we'd picked it long before that) since we didn't want to deal with any negative comments. It was a really hard secret to keep but worth it in the end!
All of my dc have been named by the time I was 5 mo along. R & M just came to me very early on and dh and I turned T over in our heads for a while.
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