The name game

With Stratton, we thought about and talked about names a lot more than we have with this pregnancy. I guess it being our first, we were excited and it was fun. This time, however it seems a little more daunting! I’d love to stick with another “S” name, and have that alliteration in his/her name but “S” names we like are few and far between. We’d like to include a family name this time like we did with Stratton. This time from my side of the family, which really doesn’t leave a whole lot of options. It will probably be a middle name.  There is just so much to think about- it’s easy for me to get overwhelmed! Here is some of my criteria to help me stay focused!!

1. I try to be practical, thinking about how this is not just a name for a baby, but one day will be a name of an adult. I try to think of the name in question on a baby, child, teen, college student (graduation), young adult (looking for a job), married adult (what it will look like on wedding invites), and older person. . .if it doesn’t seem to fit all those categories I throw it out!  A name has to stand the test of time.  Example: Poppy for a girl, super cute and really popular. . .but can you picture a 80 year old lady named Poppy?

2. No funny spellings. It should be spelled the way it sounds! And be easy to pronounce. And I don’t like names that have a ton of different spellings. I feel bad for Jarrod- his name is NEVER spelled right. Even family members frequently get it wrong. There are just so many ways to spell Jarrod, the most common being Jared, which is how it is spelled on our wedding picture dvd! My name is sometimes hard, but I can usually tell people that it’s Christina with a “C” and they get it right.

3. It needs to have a flow. Like Stratton (2 syllables ) Staggs (1 syllable). It usually has to have one more or less syllable than the last name, to have a flow. Most guys have a good point in naming their boys. They think about how it’s going to sound being called out by the announcer at a football game or baseball game. . . . “Stratton Staggs on the tackle!” As silly as that seems, having a good flow with the first and last name and sounding good when said aloud is a big deal. I mean the kid is going to hear it said like that from the time they are in daycare to college graduation and beyond! Roll call!

4. It has to go with “Stratton”.  Example: “Happy Birthday, from Stratton and Joe.” Doesn’t really sound that great- no offense to any Joe’s out there.

5. It has to look good written out. This is a hard one for me, since I am so visual and drawn to names that look great in print. Example: I love the way the name “Thatcher” looks, but alas. . . it’s sort of hard to say and spell. Especially to a toddler.

6. Another bummer is the fact that our name begins with an “S” sound, which makes it hard for names like Hayes, Myles and names that end in “son”- like Anderson but are really hard to say with Staggs. There are so many names that end in “son” out there right now that I like so I’m not totally knocking them out if they end in the “S” sound but they’ll definitely lose a point or two!

Ok, so I might be OCD about it, but it’s a big deal! It’s a lot of pressure naming another person! Please let me know if you have any good names you’d like to submit as a contender! We have a list of some names we like (see poll on the right), but you know Stratton wasn’t even on our radar until after we found out it was a boy and I saw it two places in a week (once on Nymbler and then on a invoice that came across my desk from Stratton Seed Co. in Stuttgart), and it just seemed right and fit most of the criteria! So if you have some suggestions, please share we are very open to ideas!

Here is a fun website that I like for baby names.