A name, one of most important decisions you make in your child's life.
I have been thinking of baby names long before we knew were pregnant with Harrison and even longer before we found out we were expecting Bee. The list would grow, shrink, grow, shrink and hopeful names would crushed down by your significant other. If your a mother or expecting, you know this scenario all to well.
I am personally not a fan of "popular" names. "Popular" meaning the top 100 baby names. In 1984 when I was born my own name, "Amanda" was ranked number 4 out of 100 for popular baby names. No wonder growing up I would hear "Amanda" and turn around only to see that someone wasn't talking to me. In middle school and high school my best friend Amanda and I started going by our last names as our new first names. She became "Potter" and I became "Nelson." This continued through high school and in to college. Once Doug and I wedded I became Mrs. Kelley who I am known just as widely as I am known as Amanda. So I need to say no more, popular was definitely out naming Bee.
I am also not very traditional---keeping with family names, using relatives first names as middle names etc. Doug isn't either, so traditional kind of went to the side.
Unpopular. You got me now. In 2009 when we named Harrison his name ranked #242 for popularity. In 2011 ranked #197... Apparently I have a lot more followers of this blog than I thought with that popularity growing! Now quit stealing his name! On the bright side, the growth in popularity is spread out over almost 3 years...so we shouldn't have to worry about multiple Harrison's in his kindergarten class, so he can avoid his mom's dilemma. His middle name Emmett is even more unpopular ranking #332 in 2009 and ranked #222 in 2011.
Until now, Doug and I have kept quiet about names we have picked out for Bee. We decided on our boy name first about 2.5 months ago and our girl name about 2 months ago. Our boy middle name gave us a little more trouble, but FINALLY mutual agreement was met.
It's officially one week until we will know if we will be welcoming a baby boy or a baby girl into our family in November. We are so excited! At the ultra sound we are having the technician write the gender on a card and we are doing a family photo reveal session thanks to my good friend/photographer Jenna. I feel like a child waiting for Santa to arrive on Christmas Eve. Let the count down begin!
So with this said, we thought today would be a good day to share our Bee baby names. You can agree or disagree, doesn't matter to us...this is what we will be naming our baby boy or baby girl.
Boy: Miles Nelson
Girl: Violet Isabella
As much as we are not a traditionalist, Nelson was my maiden name...we really like how it went with Miles and there isn't a single thing I don't love about the name Violet Isabella.
Miles ranks #115 for US popularity in 2011
Violet ranks #101 for US popularity in 2011
Some other names we considered for first/middle:
Girl: Halle, Hadley, Nora, Brooklyn. Doug was insistent with the first name Ivy and a middle name Rose.
Boy: Grayson, Easton, Jude, Cade. Boys names came a little harder for us this time around again, but again was decided on first.
For the fun it, scroll down to the very bottom of the blog (it's a lot of scrolling) and vote on poll I set up---girl or boy. What do you think we are having?
Words can not express our happiness for either gender, we are so blessed to be on this road, bumpy as it maybe. There are so many people in this world that can't have children of their own and for God to have given us another opportunity to be parents again, we could never ask for more.
I have been thinking of baby names long before we knew were pregnant with Harrison and even longer before we found out we were expecting Bee. The list would grow, shrink, grow, shrink and hopeful names would crushed down by your significant other. If your a mother or expecting, you know this scenario all to well.
I am personally not a fan of "popular" names. "Popular" meaning the top 100 baby names. In 1984 when I was born my own name, "Amanda" was ranked number 4 out of 100 for popular baby names. No wonder growing up I would hear "Amanda" and turn around only to see that someone wasn't talking to me. In middle school and high school my best friend Amanda and I started going by our last names as our new first names. She became "Potter" and I became "Nelson." This continued through high school and in to college. Once Doug and I wedded I became Mrs. Kelley who I am known just as widely as I am known as Amanda. So I need to say no more, popular was definitely out naming Bee.
I am also not very traditional---keeping with family names, using relatives first names as middle names etc. Doug isn't either, so traditional kind of went to the side.
Unpopular. You got me now. In 2009 when we named Harrison his name ranked #242 for popularity. In 2011 ranked #197... Apparently I have a lot more followers of this blog than I thought with that popularity growing! Now quit stealing his name! On the bright side, the growth in popularity is spread out over almost 3 years...so we shouldn't have to worry about multiple Harrison's in his kindergarten class, so he can avoid his mom's dilemma. His middle name Emmett is even more unpopular ranking #332 in 2009 and ranked #222 in 2011.
Until now, Doug and I have kept quiet about names we have picked out for Bee. We decided on our boy name first about 2.5 months ago and our girl name about 2 months ago. Our boy middle name gave us a little more trouble, but FINALLY mutual agreement was met.
It's officially one week until we will know if we will be welcoming a baby boy or a baby girl into our family in November. We are so excited! At the ultra sound we are having the technician write the gender on a card and we are doing a family photo reveal session thanks to my good friend/photographer Jenna. I feel like a child waiting for Santa to arrive on Christmas Eve. Let the count down begin!
So with this said, we thought today would be a good day to share our Bee baby names. You can agree or disagree, doesn't matter to us...this is what we will be naming our baby boy or baby girl.
Boy: Miles Nelson
Girl: Violet Isabella
As much as we are not a traditionalist, Nelson was my maiden name...we really like how it went with Miles and there isn't a single thing I don't love about the name Violet Isabella.
Miles ranks #115 for US popularity in 2011
Violet ranks #101 for US popularity in 2011
Some other names we considered for first/middle:
Girl: Halle, Hadley, Nora, Brooklyn. Doug was insistent with the first name Ivy and a middle name Rose.
Boy: Grayson, Easton, Jude, Cade. Boys names came a little harder for us this time around again, but again was decided on first.
For the fun it, scroll down to the very bottom of the blog (it's a lot of scrolling) and vote on poll I set up---girl or boy. What do you think we are having?
Words can not express our happiness for either gender, we are so blessed to be on this road, bumpy as it maybe. There are so many people in this world that can't have children of their own and for God to have given us another opportunity to be parents again, we could never ask for more.
I love, love old fashion names like Bernadette! Louie. etc. etc. Love Love. So happens to be Brady's Maternal Grandmother's name (bernadette). I find it a surprise when I meet a Brady or Jean our age (27)! And you're correct, I wouldn't want my child to be one of three in his grade w/ the same name. It's so hard b/c I have TWO kids in my class w/ the same name, different spelling (by one letter)... It's so confusing already!!! Funny thing is, it's not even a common name, or you wouldn't think so.
ReplyDeleteSo excited for you guys to find out!!