Monday, January 23, 2012

Fabulous article on naming your baby.....

Baby naming

Don't get me wrong, I know that you all have named your children appropriate names (many of which I adore (J.W. being my favorite!!)), but I found this article and just had to share it here.  Naming a baby is tough work and required a lot of thought, and I'm not sure that everyone in the world realizes this.  Honestly, you should see the names that people come up with.  Working in a pediatric clinic, you see it all (as I'm sure many teachers can also attest to).  I understand that YOU think you are being unique when you spell a child's name atrociously (and just plan incorrectly), but your child has to a) learn to spell it, b) pronounce it for everyone they meet, and c) spell it constantly because no one can spell it correctly.  Neveah, Jaxon, Maddyson,

We're struggling with this currently as the name we both love and agree on has the initials G.U.T.  It's such a fabulous first name, it would go really well with Spencer, and the whole thing flows really well, but how do you give your kid a name with such atrocious initials?  I really want to, but just can't (the U is a family name which is why it is tip-top in the running for a middle name).  The other name we loved and were going to use was just used by B's cousin (whom we see very regularly as they live close to us), so that's out.  So now we really have very little to work with.  It's not that we don't see eye to eye on naming, it's just that we know a ton of little boys and a lot of them have used the "normal" names that we like.  I can't name my child Jack or Will.  They're darling names, but we know a ton of them under the age of 3, and I don't want my next baby to be one of three Jacks in his room.  My besties have Ben, Henry, and Patrick, so those are all off the board too.

If you have any favorite baby boy names that you'd like to share in the comments, I'd love to hear them.  Remember that our last name starts with T and we would prefer to use a U (first choice), J, or W (all family names) as the middle name.  So Benjamin U.T. wouldn't work either!!  Help, ladies!!! 

16 comments:

  1. This is tough! I totally agree with the initials! One of my friends initials were ERK which just sounded terrible. I have no idea but have you though of names starting with vowels to not get the -ut sound. Maybe Andrew, Evan, Austin, Alexander. Honestly, no idea but good luck and can't wait to hear the name once your precious little boy is born!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Our boy list was short and sweet - Henry or Oliver. Oliver would leave you with the initials - OUT, but I thought I'd pass it along!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I laughed so hard- and that was a great article by the by- Charlie (but obvi Charles), Henry and Simon are my fav's

    and I luv _UT already :)

    xoox

    kHm

    ReplyDelete
  4. Could you use the "U" name as his first name and then the "G" name for the middle name ? The initials would be UGT. You could call him by the "G" name that you love. For example,
    U.Garrett Thomas. Congrats on your upcoming arrival! I have 3 boys and they rock!I always thought I would have a girl. I'm girly and love to shop! But now that I have the boys, I would not change a thing. I love being the only "girl" in a house of "boys" ! Once they get into sports and school, you will meet other moms of boys and you will share a bond only moms of boys have. Best of luck and if I think of a name I'll leave it for you.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I love talking about baby names with my single girlfriends. I'm sure it will be fun to find out in the future what names we actually end up using.

    Do the initials really matter to you? People rarely go by all three of their names at once. Having the initials GUT doesn't seem so bad to me anyway (although I'm not the one who's going to have to live with it), so if you really love the name, I would go with it. You could also use something else for the middle name, or rearrange them to UGT and have him go by his legal middle name.

    I love Victor, Charles, Alexander, and James. Also the family name Walter. I agree with you about William. I love it and we have several in the family but there are so so many out there.

    Either way, I can't wait to find out what you pick!

    ReplyDelete
  6. P.S. Baby naming is so fascinating country to country. I live in the Middle East right now where people RARELY go with the made up names that you see in the States. It is very important here to have a name with family connection and/or an important meaning and there are tons of repeated names. Also, I saw a while back there was an article about families in China trying to make their children's names more unique (to stand out among millions!). The parents were coming up with different spellings of typical names, and the government was trying to force them not to do that. Apparently, they were having trouble printing ID cards because the computers are only programmed to type a certain selection of commonly used Chinese characters, and the parents were picking really antiquated or obscure characters for the names that the computers couldn't print.

    My friend had his baby in Germany and they wanted to name her Mackenzie, but the German's did not "approve" of the gender neutral name. Basically, the hospital had a list of girl names and boy names and the first name of the child HAD to be from one of those lists! They named her Mary Mackenzie.

    Anyway, naming definitely requires a lot of thought and says a lot about parents and their country!

    ReplyDelete
  7. New reader here, you caught my attention big time. This is too crazy and I must have baby fever because all I can think of lately are baby names! I even have a draft on my blogger for the topic for a future post!

    My absolute favorite names are: Spencer, Griffin, Grayson, Brayden, Barrett, Parker, and Oliver.

    And keeping with UT in the end, what about AUT:
    -Andrew U.T.
    -August U. T.
    -Abbott U. T.

    or

    EUT:
    -Edward U. T.
    -Easton U. T.
    -Evan U. T.
    -Ethan U.T.
    -Egan U.T.
    (EUT looks nice as a monogram, I drew it out for you;)

    I may have slightly over commented on my first comment to you, but ask and one shall receive. You picked my favorite topic!

    Best of Luck!
    VRB

    ReplyDelete
  8. So many great ideas in the comments above me! I LOVE the name Charles and CWT is very cute! I am all about the baby names...I have mine all picked out!

    ReplyDelete
  9. I work in a hospital and I've seen some of the names people give their children. Sometimes, I think countries like Germany have the right idea. I'm a firm believer if you pick names from your family tree, you can find interesting names and your child with still be unique in his or her class.
    On my baby boy list would be:
    Victor
    Isaiah
    William
    Andrew
    Adam

    ReplyDelete
  10. JW was an easy one for us since he is the Fourth. (Made easier by the fact I like the W name) If we were to have another boy, it may be more difficult - our absolute favorite results in the initials WTF. I have mixed feelings on that one. (He, too, would go by his middle name). We haven't really gotten past those....I know I have a list somewhere - I'll find it and send you some!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Baby naming is so much more challenging than I ever thought! It's one thing to find names that I like....but another thing altogether to find names that my husband and I BOTH like! He is more into modern names, and I love traditional names. My sister's 2 kids are Luke and Charles (nickname Chase). I love the name William, but husby says it's not his cup of tea. We are all over the place. AND thank you so, so, so much for your advice on weaning. I'm sad to be weaning, but that's only compounded by his not wanting to take a bottle. We have an errand planned this afternoon to buy tons of bottles/sippies to find the perfect one!

    ReplyDelete
  12. The unique spellings are the ones that really get to me!

    I love Simon, Andrew, Finn, and Elliot. Jack, William, and Benjamin are my top names but so popular right now!

    Good luck! I'm sure whatever name you choose will be great :) My sister has a name for my nephew but they aren't telling anyone until the birth. I think that's the way to go! Otherwise everyone has an opinion when you are pregnant! ;)

    ReplyDelete
  13. This is the very reason why monograms feature the last initial in the center in a larger font. To avoid awkward spellings. But, I do understand why you wouldn't want to go there. I don't know what some people are thinking when they name their kids. A woman I know named their new daughter Coco. We don't live in L.A., lady.

    I understand wanting your child to have a name where he's not one of 10 in his class, yet try to stay traditional by using a family name. Best of luck with your decision. I'm sure he'll have a wonderful name.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Hmm, initials are important to we preppish types, so I can see avoiding the "G.U.T". Is your "u" name one that could work as a first name, with the "g" as a middle initial?

    PS - This also made me giggle because, as mom to a Jack (an important family name for us), he'll assuredly be one of many in his class. Our last name is so unusual, however, that we intentionally picked something very easy to say/spell & "normal" for him. Different strokes, right?

    ReplyDelete
  15. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Since Ben and Henry are out what about any of these:
    -Oliver
    -Charles (Charlie)
    -Sam
    -Peter
    I have a Ben, Charlie and Lily! Reading your blog all the way inTokyo (originally from Michigan!). Good luck!

    ReplyDelete

Things I need to know......