I’m Just Not Telling

“So, do you have names picked out yet?”

I must get asked that question a couple times a week, most recently by the two pregnant ladies at the pool who had just said they were looking for ideas and that my children all have such interesting names.  I see what you’re doing there….but no, we have nothing definite planned.

The Computer Guy and I tend to lean toward more off-beat names and then settle on something a bit closer to normal.  We’ve been told that our baby names are all over the place, following no discernible pattern.  I’d agree with that.  I’ve never once thought, “the children are named 1, 2, 3, and 4….I wonder what would sound good with that.”  I know people who do, it just doesn’t occur to me.  We tend to think of each new person as an individual and think about what name we like for them.

The truth is, I do have a name I’m feeling comfortable with for #7, provided she’s a she and not a he (we find out in 3 weeks), but it’s a bit out there.  I prayed about guidance for names, because I’ll be honest with you, I’m running out of fresh ideas, so I asked God for a suggestion.  I got a pretty clear answer, and while it’s possible He’s messing with me a la Horatio, it’s possible that He’s serious.  It’s not a name that was ever on my radar….ever.  I mentioned it to my husband who reminded me that while God can suggest things, we still have free will.  So, I told my teenager who usually shares my off-beat appreciation for things.  She’s not sold on it.  Then I found out that a person with that name had her cause for sainthood opened on the date of conception.  Could she be offering to look out for our newbie?

Am I losing my mind?  Possibly.  The thing is, we have one girl name I like and he’s not sure that he cares for.  He has a girl name he likes that I think is way too common.  We have a couple boy names we’re tossing around for fun right now.  Because this is one of the fun parts of parenthood.  We get to pick their names.  For a moment in our imaginations, they can be anyone we want them to be before we settle down to who they are.

In the past, we’ve told people the names we were considering only to be forced to listen to diatribes against names we loved and advice on what names would be a better choice and why.  We’re on #7.  Just this once, it would be nice to get to pick one and use it without a chorus of opinions.  I’d like to just say “this is our new baby, ________.” People can roll their eyes and whisper about it behind our backs, but I doubt anyone will say “really?” to our faces.  That will just be his/her name and the world will smile back, because it’s hard not to smile when you look new life in the face.

So, this time we’re going it alone.  We’re keeping it to ourselves and maybe from the children (because they blab, the big-mouths).  I can guarantee you only one thing, it won’t be Horatio.