Last One Before I Go Back To Talking About Shoes Or Clothes Or Veronica Mars

First, before I get to the point, I'd like to thank you. Again. And repeatedly. And possibly forever. When Mike came home the other day and said, "You got a lot of comments on the baby post. Did you actually read them all?" my first reaction was to tell Mike never to start a blog and then I emphatically nodded and said, "Of course! More than once! Those comments are going in a baby book of some sort!"

Many of you are technically strangers. We've never met. We've never shared cocktails or gone to a movie together or bonded over a piece of creamy cheesecake (but next week that will change for so many of you!), but all of your warm wishes were genuine and sincere and so damn appreciated, I can't even stand it.

Thank you, also, for any personal e-mails that some of you sent and for the actual cards others sent. They were read and re-read and displayed and, possibly, cried over because I CANNOT STOP CRYING. (Last night I cried because my glasses fell on the floor. I CRIED BECAUSE I HAD TO LEAN OVER.)

Even though no-one wants to talk about babies and motherhood and the Target baby aisle more than me, I'm actually a bit worn down by the topic. It's just so ... broad. And exhaustive. And did you know there are like nine MILLION things a baby needs and we have money for about 16 of them? But, there is one topic I never tire of. One I think of more than any other, at all times of the day, EVERY DAY.

Baby names.

I'm fairly positive we're having a boy. I had a dream we were. Mike is pretty positive we're having a girl. He had a dream we were. But my dreams have a better track record, I'm just saying. We also have girls names (plural!) we like so that's not the gender I'm particularly concerned about naming. What I am concerned about is that WE CANNOT AGREE ON A SINGLE BOY'S NAME. AT ALL. THE END. PERIOD.

That's where you come in, Internet!

Give me the best boy's name you've got (or more than one if you're rolling around in them). I don't want to steal the name you've carefully selected for your own child, but the chances of our kids sharing a preschool class are slim, right? And I'll give you loads of credit! I'll even send you a thank-you card!

(I would like to add, sort of cryptically, that our last name is a beating [a really cool beating!]. It's just that it's impossible to pronounce EVEN THOUGH IT SOUNDS EXACTLY AS IT'S SPELLED. It's going to be difficult for our child right out of the gate, so I'd love to give him a first name that is original yet also easy to spell. I'm not entirely convinced a name like that even exists, but there's a helpful guideline.)

(Also, let me tell you, if I had known how overly opinionated my husband is when it comes to naming his children, I would have bargained and negotiated with him long ago. As in, "sure I'll sleep with you IF YOU LET ME NAME OUR FIRST SON IN FOUR YEARS." It wouldn't have been the most romantic moment, no, but smart, hell yes.)

Now, go!

Comments

[Rebecca]

My baby boy's name is Shea. Yes, I know it's unisex. Yes, at our first ped visit the nurse told me to bring 'her' on back. Yes, I cried...but I knew it would happen and NOW its very obvious he is male. He is just SUCH a Shea. So I vote Shea!

[Stephanie]

as i'm not planning to have kids... you are welcome to any and all of my favourite boy names!

evan
ethan
eli
(alright, alright. enough with the e's)
aiden
cameron - probably my fave. cam. but the alliteration... maybe not so good.
rob. rob canzeroni. now there's a good name.
paul - i know so many wonderful pauls
david/dave
mark
colin
connor
sean
(oh, and i'm afraid i'm on the no side for gabe. gabes are creepy. sorry. i love ya. but, no)

[She Likes Purple]

Sarah Marie: We had the name picked before Grey's Anatomy was even on! But, yes, it makes many people think of the show. Sigh.

Kitty: Do you like Weeds? The first time I ever heard Silas was on that show. I like it too.

And we also love Jake which is a lot of people's favorites, but we love it so much because it's our baby nephew's name. Mike's sister's little boy.

Thanks to everyone! This is fun!

[Just me]

I adore Carson (or Karson) or Coleson (cole for short)

[Elizabeth]

I have never thought of boy names until recently. I've always known if/when I have a girl it will be named Koren (Corrine with a different spelling). It is my middle name and I love it. I heard Seth the other day and just LOVE it for a boy. Seth Eugene (Eugene is a family name) for a boy for me!

[Crystal]

My absolute favorites are Atticus and Keaton.

Oh, and big fat congrats!

[andrea]

A huge congratulations to you!

Since we recently found out we are having a girl I feel okay passing on my favorite boys names since they'll hit the back burner until we decide if we'll go for #3 down the road.

August/Gus
William/Billy/Will/Liam
George
Henry/Hank
Charlie
James
Jack

Have fun picking a name!

[Sundry]

First, OMG CONGRATULATIONS, I meant to leave a comment before now but OH! YAY!

Second, babies do not need a million things, I swear. You will want to BUY a million things, but your baby will not NEED a million things. Mission-critical items are 1) subjective and 2) fairly limited. Really and truly. My assvice: Miracle Blanket, "Swaddlers" diapers, "Creepers" Carter's onesies (for easy access), a swing. Your personal baby may hate all these things, of course. But really: wipe warmers, hooded towels, Robeez? Fahgettaboutit.

Third: Calvin, Ethan, Tyler, Gavin, and, hm, how about Griffin.

[biddy]

oh i could go on and on with baby names! i like a lot of the ones already suggested (ethan, harrison, jake, jack)

a few other names i like:
Cordell
Mac
Radley (not bradley, but Radley)
Tate
Gage
Grey
Creighton
Myles
Jaden

like i said, i could go on and on!

of course, you could just name him what some idiot in our school system named their poor son:

Mr.

yep. his name is Mr. actually, we have 2 of them in the district. how sad is that?

[Sasha]

This website really helped when I was pregnant:
www.babynamerant.blogspot.com

~ Lurker :)

[Anji]

I have two boys and I LOVE their names, they are

Kastan Alexander

and

Kye Anthony

Good luck choosing a name it is such a huge responsiblity because let's face it they will have it forever! Congrats on your little bean!!

[Kate]

Ah, baby names. My own little realm of obsession!

Boys names currently on our list:

Frederic
Hugo
Milo
Xavier (DH wants to name a child X - it's a compromise)
Dorian
Theodore
Elias
Ezra
Charles
Atticus

Have you checked out Nymbler.com? You can enter in a bunch of the names you like and it will generate name suggestions with a similar "feel". I'm addicted!

[K]

Luke
Gavin
Those are my two favorite boys names!!

[Jenn]

Congratulations on the new baby! I love thinking about baby names. I love the name Jensen, so we used it for our daughter. My favorite boy name is Jarin (or some other spelling of that).

[Ally]

I love old fashioned names - that's how I ended up with my little Audrey (I was pushing hard for Dale or Dagmar - mu husband threatened to kick me in the stomach....(And I am happy to hand over my boy names, since Audrey's dad decided when she was 5 weeks that being a dad sucks it and hit the road. So no more kiddies for a long time, methinks...) I like strong, simple names for boys - Jack, etc. Recently I decided I love the name HENRY - and you could call him Hank. Makes me think of Henry Rollins, which gives some cool cred to an otherwise sissy-fied name. I also like Tyler - maybe you should think about it. My advice is to not decide 100% until the end -cus if you start changing your mind at 7 months, that's a hard conversation to have...but to make a long story long - if Audrey had been a boy she was going to be James Jazz - James after James Taylor (family tradition of naming after songs), Jazz for my husband's grandpa Jazz (our last name rhymes with it...) We were going to call him Jimmy Jazz. I think JAZZ is a very cool name for a boy - and apparently an up-and-coming baby name for the hipster set.

[Paige]

I'm a fan of Noah, Ethan, Gabe, and Patrick (my brother's name)...My boyfriend is Nathan, so I suppose that's good too :)

Congratulations!

[anne]

I wish I could help and I am totally lurking to pilfer names becuase a) if and when we do have a child I just know it will be a boy - I just know it and b) we will also have this huge monster Italian last name.

Congrats again!

[Jennifer]

Keaton
Jace
Jaxson
Brady
Gentry
Camden
Hayden
Ramsay
Murphy

I finally stopped 'lurking' and left a comment! Congrats!

[ChrisinNY]

Ben
Craig
Nathaniel
Matthew
Gregory
Chris
Carl
Anthony (Tony for short which is kind of like Tyler)
Scott
Eric
Wyatt

[Leah]

Boy names are the hardest for sure (you're naming a tiny little baby but also a MAN--the pressure!), and although there's little I love talking about more than baby names, I can't possibly share my favorites right now because, yes, I am just that possessive. We've worked hard for our measly list of boy names and damned if I'm going to just throw them out into the world (even though we think we're having a girl and already sort of stumbled on THE perfect boy name that puts the rest of our list to shame). :)

Besides, I think we have different tastes, so you're likely to wrinkle your nose at our choices anyway.

[Sabrina]

Well, my pick for a boy's name is Jake Tyler. But, I may be partial since that is my son's name!! I LOVE the name Jake, it sounds so masculine to me! Good luck deciding on a name, and CONGRATS again!!!

[Sarah in LA]

OMG the funniest girl's name I ever heard was:

FAIRFAX DUPONT

and also, there's a lady at the post office named Cinderella, I shit you not.

[Angella]

I liked Kyle when I was pregnant with Emily! I saw a variation of it that was Kyler. Kyle and Tyler put together!

As for girls' names, I had Naomi picked out when pregnant with both boys. It's classic, and not too common :)

[jean]

My vote is "James Patrick". It's strong but versatile with Jim, Jimmy, Jimbo and JP all good nicknames. I had wanted Liam but Mr. Cranypants was very much against it. For a girl I had picked out Emily Rose. Since you've had "the dream" already, I'd say forget the girl names and stick with just boy names.

[Trigger]

I've always been partial to the idea of naming a boy "Cole." Also, you can't go wrong with old fashioned timeless names like "Lucas"/"Luke." Or "Noah." I really like Noah.

[Karmyn]

My fave at the moment is Jonah. :)

[Shelly]

I love thinking of baby names. One day hopefully I will use some of them!

Some people aren't a fan, but I thought I would share them:

Braxton
Carson
Denver (girl or boy)
Elliot
Cole
Nolan

[Talia]

I just thought I would let you know how helpful this post and all its comments are to me-- I just found out I'm pregnant too and since we already have two girls we are really hoping for a boy. The problem?? I cannot think of boy names to save my life. So I just loved reading everyone's suggestions! There are some great ones.
Congratulations to you!! your story is a wonderful one, and I'm so glad you're getting your baby after all.