The Name Game

ETA: I've edited the names out of this post, since I don't want my kiddos names up for world wide veiwing anymore. :) If you reading this post and just can't stand the suspense, email me and I'll let you know the names....maybe HA!

Naming someone is a huge responsibility. It shouldn't be left to amateurs. I mean remember the whackjobs that named their kid Adolf Hitler? So I take that responsibility seriously. Very seriously.

And I've been thinking about what I would name my kids for as long as I can remember. As a small child I loved the name Linda. Surely if I didn't change my name to Linda when I grew up I would name my daughter that. Of course I love my name too, Meredith. But as a second grader everyone else had a nick name and I didn't. Until I watched the movie "Where the Boys Are." Then I chose Merit for my nickname. Stuck all the way through high school. I still have FB friends that use it...the first time I saw it I thought 'oh yeah, that was my nickname.' Now close friends and family call me Mere. Or meremere. But enough about my name.

When Little d was born it was easy. I read a book in HS titled "When Calls the Heart", a Christian 'romance' western that Memaw gave me. The male main character's name was Wynn D*. Loved it. Loved the book, loved the name, loved everything about it. I then and there decided that my daughter or son would be named D*.

I've always had a thing for unusual enough names. Unusual enough to not be one of two in a class, but not unusual enough to elicit stares of 'huh?' Does that make sense?

So while preggo with Little d I had to convince my husband. We didn't know what we were having that time around, so after I told him that 'yes, you can learn to spell D*' he gave in to that for a girl's name. When it came to a boy name we settled on Ellis. It was weird because we thought of it independently of one another on nearly the same day.

Moving on to Little m. I heard the name M* on Oprah. It was some French author...and probably the last time I've watched Oprah too... Anyway. Again, D was on board pretty quickly after he learned to spell it.

On a side note, I am a stickler for having a middle name to flow with the first. Little d's middle name is R* (after her maternal grandmothers Ray Beth and Anna.) See? D* R*. And Little m's middle name is L* after her Aunt Lindsay. M* L*. So as far as I'm concerned, two home runs.

Sigh, but now...

Now we are at an impasse. My husband and I.

I have chosen a name. He doesn't like it. He says it's too feminine, not masculine enough. I say it's absolutely perfect. And for the record it only appears in the BOY section of the baby name book. Also for the record, D* appears in both the boy and girl sections.

He's thrown out a list of names too. Here they are in no particular order...

Bryce (along with 400 other boys in this area)
George (really? Curious George, George of the Jungle, Georgie Porgie)
Robert (he has a grandfather, uncle AND brother named this....nope!)
Ronald (as in McDonald?)
James (he has an uncle named this)
Kristopher (do you really want the boy to go his entire life saying "no, Kris with a K"?)
Hrodebert (no explanation needed...and I can't spell it let alone pronounce it)

Do you want to know mine? Are you just waiting on pins and needles to find out the horrible, no good, very bad name I want to stick this kid with? Are you ready? Are you sure you can handle the name my husband refuses to consider? I mean especially after you just saw his selections.

H*.

Yep. That's it. And I love it. I love it so much that I can't envision anything else at this point. I love it so much that I am very afraid to put it out in blogosphere for someone else to grab.

I have thought of this name in different scenarios. Childlike care as he draws it in Kindergarten. High school girls scribbling in on their textbooks with little hearts. Paging Dr. Steves, Dr. H* Steves. And now, best selling author, H* D* Steves--the crowd roars. H* Steves Attorney at Law.

So give me your thoughts. Am I crazy or is this the very best name ever for my son? Although all the people around me in real life (including Little d) love it and that's hasn't changed D's mind. I hear the hospital takes mom's word over dad's in filling out the birth certificate...