Juliet:
"What's in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet."
Romeo and Juliet (II, ii, 1-2)
Joe and I have begun the conversation about names for the little man. The above citation from Shakespeare is obviously referring to a surname...the infamous troubles between the Capulets and the Montagues. In that context I can agree with Juliet's assertion that the importance of the name as a connection to family or tradition is negligible compared to the quality of substance of the individual bearing the name.
Even with that rationalization that the name itself is not as important as the person he shall become, the choosing of a name for another person is one of the first big decisions we must make as a parent. There are so many options for names-so many we would rule out based on prior associations in our lives, rule out based on the fact that so-and-so just named their new baby that name, rule out based on not wanting to have our kids with names starting with the same letter (yikes!!). The easiest part of this process, at least at this point, is the ruling out of names.
Last night while checking out a baby names website we really got a kick out of some of the ruled out names...Brick, for one. Joe was still laughing this morning about naming our child Brick Duprey. Also, he thought it was equally special to name the boy "Jermaine"-add our last name to that, and if you still don't get it, Google Janet Jackson and check her boyfriend's name out. ;)
Of course, at this time, Baby Boy Duprey's name is Max. Amelia loves this name, but she knows that Max is the "belly name" and might not be his name when he is not in the belly. She has even told her classmates and teachers about how her baby brother has a "belly name". I think Max is a good name (full name Maxwell). However, when "Max" grows into a man I don't want the story regarding his name to be that we "named him after a cartoon bunny who only speaks in monosyllabic utterances and gets bossed around by his big sister bunny". I know not all men named Max are named after 'Max & Ruby', but our "Max" would be so it would be hard to dissociate that connection.
We have found a handful of names we do like after our preliminary search. I guess neither Joe nor I ever had any real preconceived notions of what we'd want to name our children, so this process is hard for us. I'm also feeling some pressure on this selection because of "Max"being a male. It feels easier for me to ponder female names and to like more of them that I see. Perhaps that is merely because the pressure is off for girl names so it's easy to nostalgically look at those and think "ooh that would be so sweet". Now, here I am looking for names that will fit the baby kicking my bladder right now, who'll be a sweet little one, but eventually grow into a man. We need to find the "Name for all Seasons" for this man....but thus far we have not.
1/29/09 UPDATE: uh oh, MSNBC is narrowing our choices:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28916131/
Headline:
1 comment:
Exciting! As you know, Max is my first-choice name for any prospective boys I might have. It was my grandfather's name and makes me smile. I think the concept of a 'belly name' is adorable, and of course thinks it makes a great 'real' name, too! I haven't seen Ruby and Max, so I guess I feel sheltered from the commercialism of it - but how cute to connect Amelia to her future brother that way!
It's weird, boy names are SO much easier than girl names for us. I think because we both really love traditional boy names, a top 10 list appears without even trying.
You guys will get there! Try scouring your old family trees for inspiration - ours has some kick-ass names on it. :-)
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