Sunday, November 23, 2008

Unsolicited

Here's a list of the people I work with at a Christian organization. How many Biblical names do you spot?

Kyle
Leslee
Harold
Ashley (x 3)
Korrine
Phillip
Jasmine
Zimiri
Bryan
Nathan
Aaron
Erik
Nicholas
Carla
Meredith
Eric
Laura
Donald (x 2)
Benjamin
Timothy
Kenneth (x 2)
Stephanie
Iain
Candace
Rebecca
Samual
Lauren
Paul

Are Biblical names better than modern names? I know several people that have named their children Noah recently. Can you do something cool with a Biblical name? Jasmine mentioned the other day that she has a neice named Nea Maya (get it? Nehimah). I like it. One of the Noah's I know is a girl. I like it.

What's your favorite Biblical name? How many Marys do you know?

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Unpremediated

So my husband and I have been thinking of names. For future kids. Do normal couples do this? It's not like we're perusing baby name books or that anyone is pregnant or anything. Occasionally he'll look at me and ask if I like a certain name. Sometimes they are funny (i.e. Whorina Slutskya) and sometimes they have a certain normalcy (Eli Harper). Eli Harper --Eli as in Manning (right) and Harper as in Lee-- is probably the first name we settled on for one of these unconceived future children, but a friend named her daughter Harper Elise so that's out. We're not a sloppy seconds kind of couple here. Hence, while I love my husband's name (Nicholas Gray), there will be no Jr.s or IIs.

Recently, the hub is coming up with names that have an air of normalcy but somehow still seem a little ridiculous. Finnegan and Leopold. Don't I want a Leo, he asks. I don't know, do I? Whenever I think Leo, DeCaprio in Titanic comes to mind. You know that scene where the boat is starting to sink and he's running from one deck to the next through the water? I also think of my friend's cute little dog named Leonidas. I don't know if my son can have name similar to a friend's dog running through a sinking boat.

I can only come up with girl names. This week, I'm infatuated with Elle, Ellie, Elliot. Probably because I just bought some new Elle jeans that make my husband say, "Those pants look really good on you." Hey, I take the compliments I can get. Last week there was another name that I have already completely forgotten.

We are sure that we don't want our children to have names that everyone has. Examples: Amy, Sarah, Ashley, Rachel, etc. And I know more than one of each of those names and still love ya. I work with 3 Ashleys. On a team of 30 people, 3 Ashleys. That's one in ten for you math majors out there. That's a crazy popular name. I have never understood why people would name their kid what everyone else's kid is named. Except for the case of my sister. I just knew that if my kid sister was named Stephanie, she would be just as cool as my friend Sara's older sister Stephanie so I begged and begged. My parents seemed to like the name and I think it was a good theory, that has so far proven true.