After “when is it due?”, and “do you know what gender it is?”, the most commonly asked question is definitely “do you have a name picked out yet?” We’ve been talking about names since before Olyvia was pregnant, but we’re still stuck on a name.
Somewhat ironically, we had a girl’s name picked out that we both really liked, and was decided on very early (Juliana Emma Meyer). The two closest boy’s names so far have been Joshua Alexander Meyer and Samuel Alexander Meyer. Samuel (Sammy when he is little) is probably in the lead at the moment, but we’re certainly not decided (it doesn’t help that Olyvia’s mum’s dog is called Sam).
We like the idea of a name that can be shortened, so that he has plenty of options later on (Juliana, Julie, Juls, Jul, Jem, Ana; Joshua, Josh, Joshy; Samuel, Sammy, Sam). We’re avoiding a family connection to the name (partly because you can’t name the baby after everyone, and still only have three (hyphen-less) names) – Emma was after one of Olyvia’s friends, but that’s the only connection to someone we know.
There’s the “you can’t name the baby until it’s born” meme, which Olyvia somewhat subscribes to, but I don’t really. Until then, suggestions are welcome! (Olyvia also doesn’t like using the name of anyone she has met that she doesn’t like, even if she hasn’t seen that person since primary school, which makes things slightly more difficult!).
As an aside: I still really like the Baby Name Wizard (NameVoyager), which shows you how popular names have been in the last hundred years (in the US, I’m guessing) in a neat little Java application. It would be nice to choose a name that’s not really obscure, but isn’t really common, either. (It’s fun to put in names of celebrities and watch the popularity of the names rise and fall with the celebrity’s fame).
BadTomatoes 