Picking a Baby Name, both for real and online

Picking your baby's name is one of the hardest part of pregnancy, or was for me anyway*. You want to find the perfect baby name, one that one get her teased, that won't be #1 on the baby name charts, that won't relegate her to a lifetime of Bella H, that won't immediately link her to the year she was born (Hi, Lisa!). If you're like me you pored over the baby name books, double checking the meanings and then checking the Social Security Administration charts to see where it ranked this decade or last decade. You choose the perfect spelling (please just use the "normal" one, will ya?) I used this website a lot, it was by far my favorite online resource.

We really struggled with naming both the boys. The Pirate was our first and we were unprepared for the pressure of choosing the right baby name for him. We had a name in mind for much of the pregnancy, but even as I was in labor we were reading baby name books. We narrowed it down to two and a few hours after his birth decided on one. The Bug was 4 weeks early and while we knew he would have his grandfather's name. we didn't have a clue what name we'd actually call him. We finally named him mere hours before his release- and it turned out that we named him a very popular name for his year (in the top 20, top 10 the year after his birth!)  We did not have internet access at the hospital.  I still love it, and it fits him perfectly.

Girl names were more fun for me. My family had a tendency to give girls the L sound in their names so I kept looking for a good L name. Fairly early on I realized we could name her a name with the nickname "Ellie" that would fit the bill. I fell in love with both Eleanor Frances and Ellis Katherine.  I was 99% sure she was one of those. The weekend before her birth Mike asked, "How do you feel about...?" and I liked it, but not more than the other two. The baby was born on Tuesday and what do you know, we named her the new suggestion. For the record, it even starts with an L! I'm a bit worried that it dates to the 80s and 90s, but it is still in the top 50 last year. It is, however, more of a classic name (think Mary or Caroline) than a trendy one (MaKayla or Bella.)

While I don't post my kids names on my blog, it's no secret what they are. If you google me even a tiny bit you'll find them. I don't go to extremes to keep them private and fairly openly refer to them by name in email. I considered actually calling the girl by her name on the blog, but to keep things uniform, I'll be choosing a blog name for her. I haven't done so yet, because nothing really strikes me. She'll be 8 weeks old tomorrow and it's about time I decided on something before she becomes "baby girl" by default. The Pirate wants me to call her The Princess (he really loves his sister, can you tell?) but it seems like such an easy answer. I considered calling her The Pea, from The Princess and the Pea. I'm still undecided, so I'm taking suggestions. What should we call our baby girl? It doesn't have to follow the pattern of "The ____" but it needs to be cute. If I get more than one suggestion, I'm make up a poll of my favorites.  I'll start. I suggest we call her The Princess.

*Yes, there are some people, usually girls, who choose names in 8th grade and never waver. This boggles my mind.

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