Our Baby Name Game

Over the weekend, good friends of ours asked, “Have you been thinking about baby names? Or is it too early to do that?” Matt laughed and said, “We talked about baby names years before we even had kids. No, it’s not too early.” In fact, we have spent the last few months racking our brains over finding the perfect baby name. And the result? We’re still searching.

We explained to our friends that we have certain criteria, such as:

• The name must go with the last name Church, in a non-cheesy way. Grace Church is out of the question.
• The meaning should have a certain amount of richness to it and hopefully a Biblical background. That strikes Cameron from the list since it means “crooked nose.”
• It can’t be too popular, but not too off-the-wall either. Hence, no Emily or Apple.

Then add to those general criteria the fact that we’ve unintentionally fallen into a pattern when it comes to names. We started with a 5-letter, 2-syllable J-name and then had a 5-letter, 2-syllable K-name. Plus, all of our names have an “A” in them somewhere. So, ideally #3 would:

•  start with an L.
•  have 5 letters.
•  be 2 syllables long.
•  have an “A” somewhere in the name.

After explaining some of this, our friends laughed and said, “Wow. You put a lot of thought into this.” Yes, we do. It’s not to say the name we will choose will perfectly match all that criteria. Is an L name necessary? No. Does it have to be 2 syllables? Not really. But, those are just some of the considerations we’re giving to the search. Are we over thinking it? Perhaps. Do we have a tendency to over-analyze things? Certainly. But, I figure if this little person will be answering to this name for the rest of his/her life, we owe it to him/her to carefully consider the name and make a wise choice.

Even still, I must admit that after perusing countless name websites and books, I do envy those cultures where the parents leave it up to elders, or even dreams and visions to name their children. Perhaps if the search becomes too futile we can turn to an outside resource: eBay. Why not auction off the chance to name our child? Certainly that would solve our problem, perhaps be the seed money for his/her college fund and thus endeth the name game.