Our cousin is expecting and her and her partner are going through the baby name process pretty publicly. It’s so much more than picking a name you like, well it was to us.
First you get a name you both like, then you have to see if it passes various tests you’ve come up with.
We wanted names that would be ok with kid nicknames, yet would also be professional enough for whatever like of work they went into. Could I see a lawyer, doctor, teacher, etc. all having that name?
I wanted legacy/family names.
We didn’t want any surprises. For instance our cousin was considering Orion as a middle name for a boy. Then with a little research they found out that yes, it’s a strong name. It’s got great history in Greek mythology. It’s in the Bible. It’s associated with characteristics most people would want their son to have. HOWEVER, if you follow the etymology, it’s urine. Orion was named Orion because he was basically born out of god pee and the name is come from ourios, Greek for urine. Last thing you want is your eight year old coming home from school upset and demanding to know why you named him urine.
We researched our names to the best of our ability and they passed all of the tests we came up with. Part of every child’s name is from someone in the family we admire and wanted to keep their name alive. Elaine is the name of my mother’s mother. Elizabeth is the name of Gourry’s great grandfather’s second wife. Joyce is my mother’s name. Our next kid better be a boy, because we’re running out of women in our family we would like to honor ><
