Fun With Names

I don't know that I was ever really cognizant of names. Obviously one thinks of names when there are new babies born to friends, family, etc. I think about names a lot now and whenever I hear a new one that I sorta like, I write it down. Once I have a good list going, I quiz my husband for his thoughts. I was surprised to learn that we don't really similar preferences when it comes to names. I think his names are boring and he thinks mine belong to nerds. We're probably both right.

I have noticed that when you think of names for your baby, many names have strong meaning for you. "Oh I like that name, but I went to school with a girl with that name and she was a pain" or "That boy was mean to mean in school". We have had many a good laugh over name lists so I'm going to try to share some of our name associations with you over the next few months.

First, let's start with me and my favorite names as a child. As a kid, for a time i wanted my name to be Jessica. Why oh why didn't my parents name me Jessica?! If I was Jessica, I wouldn't look like a skinny boy with glasses and braces. I would have long beautiful hair. Then there was my Stacy phase. Avid readers like myself might recognize those names as one of the Wakefield Twins of Sweet Valley and the Babysitter Club Member from NYC. Stacy was so cool because she had a poster of Manhattan up in her bedroom. Granted, I probably was more like Elizabeth Wakefield than Jessica, but Jessica seemed like the glamourous fun twin. Sometimes when I am at Goodwill, I want to buy one of the Sweet Valley High books or the Babysitter Club books just to read them and laugh. Classic literature they were not.

Some other names from my childhood include my cabbage patch kid doll, Evey Kelsey. This is the name she came with, not one I bestowed upon her. Oh Evey. I loved you so much I rubbed chapstick all over you and caused you to have permanent dark grey spots all over your body. (Next time you are at our house, I'll show you Evey and her grey spot ailment).

Then there was Baby Jelly. So named because her body was in fact made of some sort of gelatinous goo. Baby Jelly suffered a horrible death after she was left in a hot car. I did not know this until years later.

Then there was Samantha. Oh how I loved that name. It went to our dog, who was really just called Sammy.

What about Jem. "Jem she's truly outrageous. Truly truly truly outrageous". Jem was a Barbie wannabe. She had a band called the Rockstars. I didn't like her as much as Barbie but I still was a fan and thought she had a cool name.

And Miko! I for the life of me cannot remember if I came up with this name or if it was manufactured by the Barbie empire. The Hawaiian Barbie was named Miko in my house. Pronounced MEE-Ko. She was like the Angelina Jolie of my Barbie collection. Alwasy stealing Ken away from the Blondes. (A quick google search confirmed that I was not that creative. Miko was the name given by Mattel.)

So that rules out Jessica, Stacey, Evey, Kelsey, Baby Jelly, Samantha, Jem, and Miko for the girls. Back to that baby name book we go!