One of the first questions people usually ask now that we know we are having a boy is whether we have picked a name. We have not. Picking a name is a huge step for me. I like to examine all the options - or at least as many as I can stand too. Names are important.
This is also one of the first questions people often ask Liam about the baby. He usually comes up with something like "Poopy-head." Having been informed that the baby might feel sad about a name like that (after he got old enough to understand what it meant) Liam decided to try for more endearing names like "Lovin' Boy" or "Snuggle Kid." Or Liam. That's a good name. So we discussed the Dr. Seuss story about the woman who had 23 sons and named them all Dave and how much confusion that caused. Not entirely helpful, though since the list of name options Seuss provided includes at most three that a reasonable person might inflict on another human they actually care about.
So I got a couple of baby name books from the library. Liam thought that we should read some of them together. The one we started with included LOTS of names that even he didn't think qualified as actual names. He was surprised, though, when he heard names like Moses from the Bible. He said that if we named the baby Moses he would be "true with God" because Moses fits that description.
When I tried combining one of the names we read with "Rogel" Liam had an epiphany. The baby should have the last name of Rogel - "like the rest of us." So that's decided. I guess I had kind of assumed that Liam understood the way last names work. After all, since his class at preschool has another "Liam" they call him "Liam R" and the other little boy by the first initial of his last name. There was lots of discussion at the beginning of the year about how to keep the two straight and what the initials meant. But that's what we get for assuming, right?
So just to recap, we have not picked a name for the baby. But we have narrowed it down a little. It will not include the words "head, boy," or "kid."
I love the name Liam. For the last two years I've worked with a Liam at school. The first Liam was short for William which I had never thought of. The second one is half of a pair! Twins called Liam and Niall. Good Irish names!
ReplyDeleteIt was not very popular here in the US when we picked it. During one of our first doctor's visits with him someone asked his name and when we told them they said "Oh, mail, backwards!" Since then, though, it has really spiked in popularity.
ReplyDeleteI hesitated about combining an Irish first name with a German last name, but our last name has a weird pronunciation (hard "g", stress on the last syllable) so people don't usually make that connection. Plus, melting pot, right. That's sort of the point!
My oldest, Caleb, thought we should name our second son Caleb, too. When I expressed my thought that that might get a little confusing, he explained patiently that "you just have to say which Caleb." Later, he decided "book baby" was a good name, since everyone loves books. We chose not to go with either of those suggestions.
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