Baby naming

Tell me, what are your "rules" for baby naming.  Do you believe that a baby's name should be

Traditional (only family names for you!)

Modern (all the celebs are doing it or my baby will NOT have the same name as anyone else in his class)

Trendy (yup, love all the names on the top 10 list of 2009)

Classic (if the name didn't exist 90 years ago, it shouldn't be around now)

Androgynous (doesn't matter what the sex of my child is, the name is ______ regardless) (okay, usually this is more true of naming girls than boys)

Simple (everyone can spell it, everyone can say it)

or

Creative (lots of extra y's, named after your favorite artist/author/musician, some people ask how you made up the name)

As for B and I, we definitely fall in the traditional, classic, simple category.  A few of our personal rules include

1.  It cannot have punctuation in it.

2.  It cannot be in the top 10 list for the last 7 years (alas, poor Emily).

3.  A substitute teacher must be able to pronounce and spell it.

4.  The middle names will be family names only (first names may be as well, but it is a MUST for a middle)

5.  It cannot have a heavy slant towards a country to which we have no ties (ie- B says we can't name our child Maeve, Colin, Ian, or Shannon as they are too Irish)

Can I tell you that he is WAY pickier than I am??  He has a few names he likes, and he is sticking with them.  There's very little budging going on.  It's funny because he is so easy going in real life and isn't insistent on much.  Totally opposite when it comes to naming puddin' though!!  I also have to say that since I work with children, I also have a lot of names that I can't/won't use because they remind me of a patient or because it's waaaayyyy too popular in the nursery.  It's been an interesting process.  We still haven't even plucked through a naming book.  We've just thrown out names as they've come up in real life and either said "love it", "hmmmmm", "like it but for this couple", "like it but not with our last name", or "he$# to the no".  There haven't been a lot of "love its", btw!

Would you like to know a few of the names that I love that have been vetoed?  Mkay, thought so....

Evelyn (oh so pretty and classic, still trying to squeeze this one in)

Elyse (my cousin's name- B likes it however we've decided that's like playing favorites)

Eleanor or Ellen (Smelly Ellie- bad nickname, B always says "Eleanor, gee I think you're Swellinore)

Jane (it's been "called" by one of the besties if she has a girl.  We both love it and hope she gets to use it!)

Margo (B has some weird Royal Tennebaum's reference about a boy being in love with his sister???  I've never seen the movie)

Bowen (B's friend's last name, he can't do it, and it's probably too trendy for us anyway but cute, huh?)

Ben (luckily, bestie already used it)

Emerson (B says it's too androgynous, I love it for a boy- Emmers would be the nn)

Tate (doesn't go well with our last name at all, plus no "formal" name to go with)

I do have to say we are set on our boy's name.  We both love it.  In fact, if we were to have a second boy, we've got that one's name picked out too!  For whatever reason, those were both easy.  We think we are set on a girl's name as well.  I still go back and forth due to the fact that we are not set on a nickname yet.  (And I still really want Evelyn). We're working on it!!

So, since we're all friends here, but we'll never be neighbors (so we don't have to worry about "copying" each other), tell me your favorite "type" of name, your favorite name for a boy and a girl, and any names that have popped into your head that you think we need to name puddin'!  Remember, classic, simple, traditional!!