Note: I realize this post might be aggravating if you don't know my kids names, so if you are curious please send me an e-mail @tjbjohn@msn.com and I will tell you their names.
So, being pregnant you tend to think a lot about names. How do people pick names? Do you like common names or uncommon names? Do you what your kids name to mean something or be named after someone? T and I are pretty relaxed people and just decided to name our kids whatever we felt liked. We didn't make any rules or name them after anybody (even middle names). Plus, how do pick one grandpa and not the other?
We just liked the names. It's not that we don't love and honor the ones who came before us, we just didn't feel the need to name our kids after them.
But, I know a lot of people worry about their kids names sounding good together. T's philosophy is that you are raising individuals and not a collection, so that shouldn't matter. I admit that if you know the B family, and they named their next kid Bob or something that would be kind of crazy. They have a rule that the everyone has to have a different first and last sound from the other kids. That makes it challenging.
Sometimes when I hear someone say what they are going to name their kids, the other person comments on how well that goes with their other kids names. I don't usually even think about that.
People have commented how B is common and C & T are not. Capri (I guess I can name the un-born) will be uncommon too. Most people have seemed to like these names. But even if they don't, I don't really care. They are my kids and I get to have fun naming them. I guess I worry more their names sounding too similar than complementing the other names. I did like the name Stace for a girl, but thought that was too close to T.
Also, I do think about how well it goes with our last name. We have a short last name, so most of the names have two sylabbles. See, another rule broken! Also, poor C has 9 letters is his name. He has more of a challenge writing his name and fitting it on those tiny lines, but it will make him stronger. Notice, that the next child had 4 letters though.
My husband grew up with 4 out of the 5 kids starting with T, but I think they just more like T names than did that on purpose. When I look through books I usually an drawn to M or C names. One thing we have done (kind of accidentally) was that each of our kids middle names start with J. (I know, so does our last name) I don't know if we will keep that up for Capri. Her middle name is still up for negotation.
So, how do you decide on a name? Do you have rules for yourself? How important is it to you?