baby names and a pet peeve

Let’s do the pet peeve first, so we can move on to the fun stuff. It really gets on my nerves when people who are not really my friends call or email me with questions about their pets. I really truly don’t mind when my actual friends ask me questions…but if you’ve never called me before for social purposes, and really have no intentions of doing so, it irks me. It feels like I’m being used…even though 9 times out of 10 my response is going to be to take them to a vet. But I also don’t feel like I can not respond, or say that I’m really uncomfortable offerring advice like that, because I think that God would probably want me to help anyone whenever I can. I just don’t get it – I don’t ask acquaintances who are doctors, nurses, pharmacists, whatever for medical advice. Anyhow, its been happening a lot lately, as if now that I’ve started back to work it means its open season all the time for pet advice.

On to the fun stuff…we do not have a referral, we aren’t even close to having a referral, but when/if we do get a referral, wouldn’t it be nice to have a name ready?

Hunky is not a lot of help in this department – he is a fan of one name, and one name only, and we will not be using that name for this child, just as we didn’t use it for our boys. The name is fine, I just don’t want to use it for my children, and it doesn’t match our kids’ names.

So here’s what I like: Lincoln, Emmett, Atticus, Sheppard, Campbell, Oliver.

Here’s what I’d like in a name: one that flows with O’s and Y’s name; one that doesn’t sound dumb with our last name (which starts with an H, has one syllable, and can be problematic with some names, like my husband’s); ideally one that doesn’t have the same first letter as any of our names; one that doesn’t end like our names; one that isn’t really popular

So lets break each choice down:

• Lincoln: pros: unusual but not weird (224 on social security baby name website), doesn’t end like any of our names, goes well with the boys’ names and our last name; cons: starts with L, like my name
• Emmett: pros: unusual but not weird (576 on list), doesn’t end like any of our names, goes well with the boys’ names and our last name’ cons: I’ve heard this one is gaining in popularity, but this is probably at the top of my list right now
• Atticus: pros: unusual (683), goes well with Y’s name, which is also after a literary figure, goes well with last name; cons: maybe too unusual?? maybe a little too unusual for O’s name, which is in the top 20 on the list
• Sheppard: pros: unless there’s an alternate spelling I can’t think of, is not in the top 1000 on the list, but its not a weird name, it goes well with our family names; cons: this one isnt’ in my top slot anymore because its hard for me to imagine calling a baby that will probably be of a smaller stature than my sons “Shep”, which connotates a big strapping fellow (or a dog, according to several friends) – it also starts with the same letter as Y’s name, although the sh makes it sound different
• Campbell: pros: unusual, but not weird (739), goes well all around with our family’s name; cons: none that I can think of – its up there in the top 2 with Emmett 
• Oliver: unusual but not weird (140), goes well with family names, the literary aspect is good but not quite as obvious as Atticus; cons: ends like Y’s name

So for now, Emmett, Campbell, Oliver, and Atticus top my list. Hunky will probably not like any of these, but he didn’t like Y’s name until we decided to use it. He basically needs to be worn down to accept any given name I love 🙂

Sooo…what’s your favorite? What do you hate? If you have any other great literary names, let me know. If you know my kid’s names, which will go best with them? Isn’t Emmett the cutest name ever – it makes me think of Emmet Otter’s Junk Band Christmas!

Jeez, this exercise sure would be easier if I’d just tell you everyone’s names, right?

Oh, and for middle names, we’ll probably use 2 – his Vietnamese name and a family name. I hate to saddle a kid with 4 names, but I don’t want to not use his Vietnamese name – what if he wanted to use it later? And I feel like it would be wrong to not use a family name as well, because both of our boys have family names for middle names. The middle name will either be Robert, John or Riggan.

 Edited to add: I am such an idiot. I know that the name of the movie is Emmet Otter’s JUG band Christmas, but growing up I always thought it was JUNK band, and that’s what flowed off the fingers today. Stupid ren.