Recently, Beyonce and Jay-Z welcomed their new daughter into the world: Blue Ivy Carter. The internet was in a flurry discussing whether this was a good or bad choice of name, what it means, and even had it wrong in some cases (some were reporting it as Ivy Blue rather than Blue Ivy...the horror!). All this nonsense just confirmed what I already knew to be true about baby naming: you will be judged no matter what you do! Luckily for us, unlike Bey and Z, the discussion of our choice in baby name will not be a worldwide trend. However, no matter what we decide on we will be judged. I freely admit I am the worst baby name judger of all, so this is probably where my paranoia stems from. Just for the record, I do not hate the name Blue, but will there be a Blue Rammelsberg in the near future? Definitely not.
Now that I am on the other end of the naming game (the giver rather than the judger), I have new respect for every person who has ever named a child. Naming a baby is hard. It will be a person's name for their whole life. Do you use a popular name that everyone knows how to pronounce? Do you go for one-of-a-kind names that will make your child stand out? Do you stick with family names? All good questions that I think all parents need to decide for themselves.
Popular names:
My initial thought was "nothing in the top 10." My name is Jessica, which was apparently the number 1 name in 1985, the year I was born. I didn't have any classmates with the same name until high school, but they were a dime a dozen in college. Plus, for whatever reason, people confuse it with Jennifer ALL THE TIME! I like my name, I just wish it were less common.
Here are the top 10 boys and girls names of 2011:
Girls
- Sophia
- Emma
- Isabella
- Olivia
- Ava
- Lily
- Chloe
- Madison
- Emily
- Abigail
- Aiden
- Jackson
- Mason
- Liam
- Jacob
- Jayden
- Ethan
- Noah
- Lucas
- Logan
Like I said, initially it was top ten, no way. Since then I read some good information in one of my favorite prego books (The Christian Mama's Guide to Having a Baby by Erin MacPherson - it's great). She made the point that in the past few years Jacob has been the number one boys name, with 5,500 out of every million babies born being given that name. That is still less than 1%. So I guess you could say I am no longer opposed to anything just because it is on the top 10 list.
Unique Names:
I think there is a sliding scale on what qualifies as "unique." I can get behind different names as long as they are easy to pronounce. Example: my cousin named her baby Aniiah, which I think is beautiful yet unique. I do not care for names that make no sense. Example: a friend of ours told a story of a girl whose name was Le-a (pronounced Ladasha because the "dash" is not silent). Enough said about unique names.
Family Names:
This is a tricky area. Initially we were thinking of incorporating a family name into Baby Ramm's middle name. But then we got to thinking that it might hurt other family members' feelings if the baby were not named after them. Or it would put pressure on naming the next baby after someone from the other side of the family. Plus, when it comes to girl names we run into a bit of a problem. Our grandmothers' names are/were Vera, Juanita, and Ardis. Perfect for the lovely ladies they belong to, but not great baby names. (There was also a Helen but we have been informed that name is already taken :).)
So where does that leave us? Yes, we have picked Baby Ramm's name (we have one boy and one girl name all ready to go!). So when will it be available for judgment by the court of public opinion? I guess you'll find out on or around June 6, when the ink is dry on the birth certificate :).
