I think choosing your baby’s name is the hardest part of becoming a parent. When I was picking out paint colors for the nursery, I knew I could always repaint if I didn’t like it a few years down the road. When I was picking out a doctor, I knew I could always switch if he wasn’t the right fit. But when you are picking out a name for your child, the pressure is on because that name will stick with them for life. What if you choose a name you love but everyone at school makes fun of your child’s name? What if you get tired of saying the name over and over in four or five years?
We printed off the list of popular names from the social security website. We went through the list, crossing off the ones we didn’t like and circling the possibilities. After all that work, I ended up discovering the perfect name through a series of circumstances. I was hanging out with a friend and she introduced me to her coworker. When she said his name, a light bulb went off. “I really like that name!” I thought to myself. Later I realized that the name was very similar to my dad’s name. What really sealed the deal was it was also the name of a book in the bible from which my favorite verse comes.
I have had friends tell me they named their children after a character in a movie, TV show or book. Some parents get their names from their genealogy. Some go with the traditional “junior.” Some people use the list method I described above and it works for them! Someone once told me there are two tests to determine whether the name is the right one. The first test is to pretend it is your name, and introduce yourself using your potential name and your last name. So you might say out loud, “Hi, I’m Jeremy Wilman… I’m Jake Wilman… Hello, I’m Jessie Wilman,” and so on until you find a name that sounds right with your last name. The second test is to pretend your child is playing in the backyard and you are trying to call them back in. Stick your head out the door and yell the name. “Jessie Dean Wilman, get your little heiney inside!” If you can picture yourself yelling that every afternoon, it might be a winner!
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Let’s Talk About Naming Your Baby