Like millions of other Royal Family fans, I stalked the internet, news stations, and gossip websites for the name of the new princess. I oohed and awwed at the first precious pictures of that sweet, little face, and was blown away by Duchess Kate’s grace, fantastic hair, and ability to pretend she wasn’t wearing mesh granny-panties under that dress. But I wanted to know her name! Just tell us already! And when we couldn’t wait a minute longer, they released her name and it was PERFECTION!
I have to wonder how much time and energy, maybe even a pow-wow in a war room in the palace, went into naming the new princess. Sure there are all sorts of rules that the future king and his lovely Duchess must take into consideration when naming their daughter, but was it anything like the ordeal I went through naming my boy?
Naming a baby is a lot of pressure. I mean what if you pick a name and the minute they hit elementary school, some creep makes up an awful nickname for the kid and THAT is the name that sticks–Like A-Man-Da-Hug-And-Kiss–like I haven’t heard that annoying name a million times before, jerks.
Maybe your kid will make it through school nickname-free but you just so happen to pick the most popular name that year and your kid’s name morphs into their first name and last initial–Nice to meet you, I’m Amanda M. because there are 10 of us.
Or what if you have nine whole months and hours of discussions about the perfect baby name but you find yourself waddling into the hospital to deliver a baby that has no name. NO NAME!
There were no personalized toys in our nursery or little signs with our first born’s name waiting for his arrival because no matter how many baby naming books or websites we checked, my husband and I could not agree on a name.
I’d love a name and my husband would hate it.
He’d suggest a name and I’d suggest divorce.
I’d mentioned a name to colleague and some moron would say something really stupid about the name and immediately they and that baby name were dead to me.
I’d always hoped for a Junior but my husband shut that idea down quickly. He felt like having a junior might be a lot of pressure or an annoyance for our boy because he shared his dad’s name. So that name got tossed onto the pile of other no-names like Greyson, Charlie, Ben, and Noah.
So here we were, in the hospital, holding our nameless bundle of joy and my husband says,”Well what about Preston? We both didn’t hate that name. Wait, why are you crying? What’s wrong??”
Through tears and wracking sobs I forced out “He’s NOT A PRESTON”
And on cue, enters the chipper nurse, “Do we have a name for this boy? You know, you can’t leave until he is named but you have up to a year to change his name!”
My husband’s eyebrow’s perked up at her last comment and I snarled at him over the head of our sleeping newborn.
We were going to be released in a few minutes, but our inability to name our baby made my blood-pressure-info rise so high I had to stay in the hospital until it lowered to a safe level.
Husband: “Well that just gives us more time to name this kid, right?”
Me: “……..”
Husband: “Should we grab another baby book?”
Me: “………”
Husband: “So, no?”
Me: “No. Just. Name. This. Kid.”
I threw the paper work at him, rolled over, and silently plotted his demise. A half hour later, he furiously scribbled on the social security form, folded it up and slid it over to me.
Aaron. Just like his daddy, my boy became my Aaron. And it was perfect.
So that sweet dark-haired and tan skinned baby that I brought home from the hospital, here’s who he became. So handsome, right? And soooo not a Preston. Just a perfect Aaron. My Aaron.
I LOVE this article. It took us half of my pregnancy to decide on names for all of our kids. It’s a big deal! I mean, they’ll be stuck with it FOREVER.
I like the name Charlotte, but it’s so trendy right now. I wish they went with something a little more unique.
I had to debate with my sons father. For the other two I won. With my third his father only said one name and wouldn’t budge. I was so annoyed. I gave in and named him what his dad wanted to. UGH looking back the name suits him well
I’m so happy with what they chose! Nothing too old fashioned and it’s beautiful with her full name. Love it. I may have cried when it was announced!
I always waited until I was in labor before picking the name. Who was going to argue with me then?
Picking a baby name for our son was stressful. I had already picked out my daughter’s name way in advance. When I was a teenager, actually.
We decided on our son’s name a couple of months before he was born, and then didn’t tell anyone his name before he was born. I had my doubts the first month he was here, but he totally fits the name now.
I remember how much naming my 3rd drove me crazy. In fact, I just found a status update through Timehop that said “Naming babies is overrated”. haha!
I think Aaron is a great name. My husband and I had an agreement. If it was a boy I picked the name as long as I didn’t make him a junior. If it was a girl he picked the name. We had a boy and he his dad’s first name of David and goes by his middle name Austin. I changed his middle name so he isn’t a junior.
When picking out a name for my son, we had no trouble at all and settled quick. We named him after both his grandfathers. For my daughter though, it was more difficult – we thought we had a name but when we saw her for the first time, we went a totally different way.
I think they picked a great name. I am glad I am not in her shoes, having everyone scrutinize and offer an unwanted opinion on the name. It really is stressful enough for us common folk. And, I do love the name you picked for your son 🙂
Took us 39 weeks to name our first. We were glad we got it in under the wire!
It got harder to name our baby with each child. I’m glad I stopped, otherwise I’d still be naming him or her.
I love the name of the new princess. Having family obligations can be tricky to navigate when naming a baby, so I can’t imagine their stress.
Naming my son was just as hard too! I had 5 names that ended up being thrown out once he was born
Aww Aaron is a great name. I have only picked one name of four kids, lol. I didn’t even like our youngest child’s name and neither did anyone else, but now that he’s here, it suits him and I like it a lot. 🙂
I’m guessing Charlotte is the girl name for Charles. Of course we all get Elizabeth and Dianna. So, all the major key players are in this name. I think it works out just fine.
I had a list of names i liked for both of my kids when they were born. I found most of them did not fit once my child was born. I think you need to meet your baby before making the final choice.
finding the perfect name is so hard. I went to the SS site and started at the bottom of each year i put in.
I don’t have children (and am not planning on it either) but I can understand why naming a child would be stressful, they say our names determine our destiny. (No pressure there right? LOL) 🙂
I knew the name would have Elizabeth in it. It was a nice surprise for the name Diana.
I don’t even have any ideas of what we’re going to name our kids when the time comes. You’re right though, it seems much harder than it should be.
My kids totally fit their names. My son was easy as he’s named after his dad. We tried to give them names that had meaning too. I couldn’t see them being any other names.