Our new baby girl is due in 10 days. For the past 19 weeks my hubbie and I have been trying to decide on her name. He made up a “Wanted” poster for the refrigerator and we encouraged anyone and everyone who entered our house to contribute names. We poured through the baby name books (I was so dismayed to see that “Omarosa” is now incorporated into the lists…)

We made up a short list of every name that we both thought was pretty good and have been trying to weed out the ones that we liked less over the past few weeks.

Last night, we decided! It wasn’t easy - we had to consider what we would call her as a baby - what derivation of her given name would be used when she was in school? What cruel playground name could other kids come up with? Was there any meaning that we were overlooking? What would her initials spell?

Referring to her by a proper name, rather than “TBD”, means so much. Starting to give her “pet names” or nicknames makes her into a person……. a little being that we are about to meet and love.

So that got me to thinking - of the hundreds of downright ridiculous names in those baby naming books. Of people that actually think giving a baby a name that is impossible to spell, or means “Oh Sweaty One” in Greek, or is a silly play on their last name (I did go to school with a girl named Chandra Leer) is a clever thing to do.

It’s funny that we almost always conjure up an image of the person we think we are about to meet based on nothing but a name. For instance, what if you were a single man and a friend wanted to set you up with her friend “Bertha”? Not likely. I know a guy named “Pendleton Wickersham III”. (The “third” just really makes it fabulous!) He’s a really cool guy, laid back and friendly - but boy does he sound pretentious from his name!

So in the end, we hope that our little girl’s new name is one that represents her and who she is to become. It is the first of many major decisions we will make for this little one as she comes into the world and becomes her own person.