Setting: Brunch with a bunch of Peace Corps friendsUm, thanks.
Topic: Baby names (you can see where this is going)
Commenter: Have you chosen names for the twins yet?
Me: Yes, but we're keeping them secret until the babies are born.
Commenter: Oh, well, just don't name your girl [insert our chosen girl name here]. It's a terrible idea to name a girl [insert our chosen girl name here]. I've met a lot of those lately. She'll have the same name as every other girl on the playground. I wouldn't do that to her if I were you.
Mostly I can blow off what people tell me about baby names. Honestly, it's not anyone's choice but mine and GH's. But the truth is that I've been a little worried lately about the "trendy" factor of our girl name, so this woman's comment really hit me where it counts. Never mind that I've always loved this name (It's the name of a favorite author and children's story character. Also, French.) and wanted to use it for a long time, and as it would happen, it is getting popular now. Although according to the Social Security website, it's popularity is declining.
Grrr. I'm mad at her for making a dumb comment and annoyed with myself that I care. I think I will have to go drown my sorrows in a Hostess cupcake. I have had such a craving for those for about a week now. Talk about something I normally don't eat, but what's a girl to do?
*Disclaimer: People have said countless stupid but well intentioned things to me since GH got sick. I try to remember that comments like, "You're only given what you can handle" are intended to be helpful even when they're not. But that's for a different post.
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10 comments:
I believe you have chosen my Older Daughter's name. It was not popular 18 years ago, it became VERY popular about 10 years ago, and it is, in my humble opinion, the most beautiful name there ever was. Go for it!
Whatever name you pick someone will have some "helpful" comment about. We picked names for our twins (both girls) that we really liked and that weren't very popular (we thought) and weren't near the top of the ssn list, and of course, now we run into people with kids with those names EVERYWHERE. You can't win for trying. But the important thing is that you like the name and that you can tell your daughter how you and hubby selected it.
It's so annoying when people give you their unsolicited advice about names. I really liked the name Elliot for a boy, but a friend told me it was nerdy.
I chose a name I thought wasn't terribly popular (and I'd had it in mind forever, because it's my grandmother's name) but in my small circle of acquaintances, there are two other girls with my daughter's name. The only way to avoid that is to choose a really unusual name, but then the other kids are going to make fun of your child. You really can't win.
It's a beautiful name (if I've guessed it), and in fact I wish it was mine. I too say go for it.
I used to get grouchy when friends would keep their baby names secret, until I blurted out (to a friend who had warned me about how irritating it was when people do this) the fact that the name they had chosen reminded me of someone I hated in high school...
so even fully warned, I was the IDIOT we all hate. On the other hand, my lovely friends managed to go through our entire adoption process without ever once observing that the lovely, perfect, fabulous name my husband had chosen for our daughter was the name of...their cat.
We're all dorks. I thought our daughter's name was SO original, but it rhymes with/alliterates with/resonates with every trendy name out there. Sigh. I think it's most important that the names be meaningful and beautiful to you and GH.
Dorcasina, that cat story is hilarious (although perhaps it wasn't at the time). I have college friends who took their baby boy home from the hospital nameless because the father wanted to name him after their deceased cat and the mother wouldn't hear of it. They eventually agreed on a name other than the late cat's.
you've probably already seen this, but here's a baby naming website:
http://thebabynamewizard.ivillage.com/parenting/
And here's the name data she's compiled of the last 100 years- totally fascinating:
http://www.babynamewizard.com/namevoyager/lnv0105.html
I'm thinking your name is Madeleine? That is a wonderful, beautiful name. Tell your "Friends" to stuff it.
i just realized you probably don't want the name out in the open. I am **SO** smart :)
Rach, I will neither confirm nor deny the name, but no worries about putting it "out there." I'm OK with names being bandied about in the computer, just not by people I see *live* every day! And your comment about telling my "friends" to stuff it made me laugh out loud, so thanks!
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