Remember all those other names you tossed around when you were pregnant? The names your child might have had? The ones you loved but your husband didn't, or vice versa? Do you ever think about those names now, now that your child is here and has been for a while? Now that your child is firmly ensconced with his or her real name? Can you picture your child as anything but the person she is right now, including her name?
This morning, Bobby was complimenting Maggie on something, and he finished his sentence by saying, "That's really good, Maggie." That last word sat on my brain, fading away slowly like whisps of smoke from a blown-out candle.
Maggie.
I cannot imagine any other name fitting her so well. She's just such a ... Maggie. She's cute and vivacious and inquisitive, and I think the name Maggie is cute and vivacious -- and even a little bit inquisitive, since Maggie is short for something more formal. Even Margaret, her given name, fits her at times. I picture a Margaret as smart, serious, and focused. Maggie is those things too ... when she wants to be.
Maggie's full name is Margaret Anne, and to be honest, we didn't consider many other name combinations. I love using family names, so that was important to me. Which nixed one of our other options: Harper Olivia, Harper for the author of To Kill a Mockingbird (my favorite book) and Olivia just because Bobby likes it. Much to my dismay, I couldn't find a Harper in either of our family trees, so it was out. Plus, when I tried it out a couple of times on the then-in-utero baby girl I was carrying, it just didn't work. She was definitely not a Harper. (Now that you know her too, wouldn't you agree?)
The other name I liked was Emma Elizabeth. It does have family ties: Bobby and I both had a great-grandmother named Emma, and in addition to it being a pretty name, I loved that our individual family trees had the same name in common. Elizabeth is my aunt's middle name, so we had a family connection there too. Bobby was never wild about the name Elizabeth; he thinks it's overused as a middle name (yet he's fine with it as a first name). But from the moment we got married, I imagined we'd have a daughter named Emma Elizabeth. In 1998, no one was named Emma. I thought it was beautiful and unique. Then in 2002, the "Friends" character Rachel gave birth to a daughter, and they named her ... you guessed it ... Emma. I distinctly remember thinking to myself, "There goes my unique name. Now everyone of childbearing age is going to start naming their kid Emma." And I was right. Since 2003, it's been in the top 3 on a list of most popular baby names.
And she's not really an Emma either, don't you think? She's a Maggie, and she has been since October 19, 2004. When she was born and people -- myself included -- were trying to decide who she looked like, Bobby's answer was always, firmly, "She looks like Maggie. That's who she looks like." She's her own person, and she has been right from the beginning.
So what other names did you consider for your kids? I'd love to hear them, and it will be fun to try to imagine them as anything other than the little people they've already become.
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2 comments:
I have always loved the name Evan, so I knew from the start that would be our first born's name if it were a son. Evan James fits him just perfectly.
#2 was harder - We went back and forth between Alexander & Andrew. We decided on Alexander Henry (Alex) and although it suits him (He's NOT an Andrew!) I sometimes wish we'd called him Henry which means "Ruler of the House"!
In the case of both boys, had they been girls, they would have been named Ailish Elizabeth,(Irish form of Alice) however the short form would have been Allie and I didn't think we should have an Allie & an Alex, so the next pregnancy, we were back to square one.
I loved the name Sarah, but thought it was too common, so we decided on Natalie Elizabeth for a girl. The only problem is that my mental image of a Natalie has dark hair. When she was born, D'Arcy took one look at our daughter and said, "she's not a Natalie - she's a Sarah!" And I can't imagine any other name suiting her so well. (If she'd been a boy, she would have been Andrew Nicholas.)
We had the hardest time with the last because knowing this was the last baby, we wanted to make sure we were really sure of the name. We decided on Olivia Caroline and that suits her as well. If she'd been a boy, she would have been named Hugh. The middle name was never set in stone, but probably would have been Edward. (My grandfather.)
I always wanted out first born girl to be Alayna Grace (Grace was my great-gramma and is now a big family middle name) Had she been a boy, she would have been Dylan Andrew.
With Lilly, we decided on her name right away. We debated between Lilly and Sophie briefly, but both liked Lilly better. Irene is her middle name, which is the middle name of both mine and Andy's paternal g-mas.
Mikayla was the one we debated the most. I REALLY liked Marley, but Andy said it was more of a pet name (hence our new puppy! LOL) Then I liked Natalie but he didn't. He suggested Mikayla and it really stuck with me, so we went with it. Her m-n is Jo, which is my m-n, my dad's m-n and my great-grandfather's first name.
Had Lilly or Mikayla been boys, they would have been Nolan Andrew or Blake Andrew.
Speaking of the popularity of Emma, I am glad that Alayna wasn't Dylan b/c it became quite popular after she was born. And even since Lilly was born, Nolan has become more popular and we were leaning more towards Blake for Mikayla.
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