We had difficulty naming the first baby and we seem to be having more with the second. And the husband not wanting to know the gender of the baby has put more than just a small twist in this game.
I may have told you this but you can’t stop me anyway from telling you again.We were at our first OB visit with the good Dr. O’Bryan who’s explaining the timeline of fun stuff to come. And when he says, ”That’s when you’ll be able to find out the gender of the baby,” Mark says “We don’t want to know” at the same time I say “I figured we’d find out this time since we chose not to know with the first one”.
On the way to pick up the little boy at day camp, we debated the pro’s and cons of knowing and, not for lack of my trying, he won. Although I did warn him he’d have to show up to every sonogram appointment to make sure I didn’t cheat. And then I wouldn’t be able to keep the secret.
As I said, picking our first child’s name was a bit of a struggle. Mark liked Aiden until he found out there were dozens of them in our county born in the last few years. Aiden was out. He then conceded to my choice of Eamon. We have a leftover girl’s name we’re recycling. But we’re faced with picking another boys name. The odds are 50/50 we’ll have one of those.
As I possess one, I’m partial to Gaelic names. And after a camping trip in July, I wrote Mark an e-mail. And the name game began. In the first e-mail to my baby’s Daddy on July 30th, I said,
“I had an epiphany in front of that fire at Tuckahoe Park. And it was this name darnit. From a 1923 book entitled Irish Names and Surnames,
COLM, genitive — id. (the same), Colm, Colum, Columba; also written Colum; an old Irish name, signifying ‘dove’; made famous by St. Columcille, Apostle of Scotland, whose name signifies ‘dove of the church.’ Latin — Columba. I am really really fond of it.
Mom said she couldn’t believe we were thinking of naming a girl after an ogre. It’s all about perspective. From mine, I feel sick and I’ve had to concede to not knowing the gender after all. Love, Shalagh”
He counters,
“Would gender identification in lieu of Colm interest you? Mark “
I counter with ,
” I don’t know. What are your terms?”
And he says,
” You get to know gender. I get to choose first name. You get middle name? “
And so the games began. And no, I didn’t accept his offer.
There was a stream of text messages after this. He liked Emmett. And I said that sounded kinda namby pamby. He stuck with names starting with E (so that I can be totally tied in knots when trying to call my children’s names) and offered Evan. Except, he’d forgotten, his cousin already named her kid that.
The one rule is that we can’t have any noun soundalikes as the child will already have the last name of Peach. I was still holding onto a fondness for Colm. But found out that, when pronounced correctly, it sounds like Column.
I had made it known my second favorite was Ewan. But when I read on my lovely Irish friend’s blog, she had visited her friend Niam’s house. And I suggested this name immediately. This name made us both happy. Until we find out it’s a Girl’s Name!
Moving on, I write an email to my husband in mid December which says,
“And so at 5:30 this morning, I’m looking at baby boy names. These are all Celtic. I was intrigued and amused by Ferris.” Then I listed the following names. Feilim, Fintan, Ferris, Emrys, Ambrose, Ewan, Ewen, Eoin, Neese, Culann, Niallan, and Callan.
Mark writes back,
” Well, I guess if I had to pick one of the names listed below it would be Ewan. On the one hand its not what I had hoped for. But on the other it does start with an E. On the one hand it doesn’t have a really cool meaning, which is what I was hoping for, like Eamon which is guardian. But on the other hand it does mean “born of yew” which is a bush type tree. So it would be a constant reminder of the plants out front that you love so much. So… Ewan can stay on the table. But I get to pick the middle name. “
I liked Niallan. Pronounced like Nealan. But again, sounds like the noun Kneelin’. Add Peach and not good. And then, as only an impetuous pregnant woman could, I suddenly liked Nolan. And when proposed, Nolan didn’t meet much resistance. Of course it has to be in the top 100 most popular names but I’m worn out from caring what it ranks or what it means.
Although he’s not a huge baseball fan, husband then tried adding more baseball hall of famers’ names (Brooks) for the middle name. I’d rather go with Eamon’s suggestion for the middle name. Zen. Or Avocado. Then his initials would be nap. Which is exactly what I feel like I want now.
Negotiations are still being held. And we have had a lot of fun teasing each other with this. Because in the end, we really just hope the baby is healthy and whole. Less than 7 weeks to go to know who the mystery baby is.
26 Comments
I vote for Lisa, since she’ll be a girl. xo
My Mom had a list of fifteen names for a girl. She got shut down since we already had that one.As I said, The girl’s name is set in stone. But I thought I’d keep it a surprise to the public at least on my blog. Although I did leave a big fat clue in there as to her name, were she a her. Right now he/she is Belly Baby and Twitchy. Do I only get mac and cheese if it is a girl?
There was a hysterical tweet about a child who wanted a sister for Christmas so they figured they’d give the brother a sex change operation.
Love Ya’ Kathy.
Nolan Calvin Peach
Sinead Hogan Peach
Calvin is an interesting option Heidi. The girl’s name is set in stone. But I thought I’d keep it a surprise to the public at least on my blog. Although I did leave a big fat clue in there as to her name, were she a her. Right now he/she is Belly Baby and Twitchy.
I’ll pass on Calvin. Mark will be calling Chris soon to ask him the origin of Campion.
Thanks for you 2 cents Heidi.
Love,
Shalagh
Calvin is cute (i.e. Calvin and Hobbs) but it means “bald-headed” I believe…
Good of you to join our fun David. What did you name your child?
Shalagh
Ours are #1) Mitchell Kenning, #2) Abigail Franzel, and #3) Eli Emery, all Berven-Stotz. Kenning is a family last name and my middle name, Franzel is the kids Great Grandmother’s (age 91 and recently married) first name on my wife’s side, and Emery is their great uncle’s first name, also on my wife’s side. All the first names are unique within both families as far as we know.
I love the name Eamon, by the way, and the more I think about it, ‘Calvin Peach’ just sounds so great…
Although I’m also a Ghostbusters fan and love Egan, out of the question with Eamon. And man have you been busy making swell named babies Dude. Calvin, although great in it’s own right, is also a baseball players name. You don’t know the saga of my baseball widowhood in my first marriage. So Nolan is sticking for now. Because I don’t know which team he played for and don’t tell me either.
Love,
Shalagh
I voted for Conor, teenage me wanted that.
Was that on my list? And am I missing a pop cultural reference darn it. Or was that on your list but you got a girl. Oh, I’ll bet there’s a rash of teen moms naming their babies after vampires too.
Oh, I remember this. It’s coming back to me now. We knew both genders each time. I think it makes it easier. But we needed two boy names, which after you’ve named one boy, it’s hard to come up with another. You don’t necessarily want to go with choice #2 that you had for child #1. If it’s any consolation, I didn’t have the names of my kids until 3 days after they were born. It will come. I’m thinking you will have a girl, too. xo
I asked my girlfriend to be on my Baby support and help team. She said she’d bring mac and cheese and salads on Tuesdays for a month after the baby was born and she’s take pictures of me and my daughter! Whatever Twitchy is, he/she will be loved. I told my husband , in the end, he’s got nothing. When I’m in the delivery room screaming,”You’ll never see the child again unless you name him such-in-such, I think he’ll agree, donthcha think?
Thanks for staying tuned.
Love,
Shalagh
Hi Hon, I’m still championing Colm but losing hope! I’m not getting why it doesn’t go with Peach! The girls name is Niamh pronounced ‘Neev’, you forgot the ‘h’ there! Maybe you will still get to use that! Sorry I haven’t gotten to answer your message of yesterday yet, it is so busy here and I need some dedicated time. It’s 4pm here right now, what time is it with you?
I told Mark there was an ‘H’ in it. (Looks like you’re 6 hours ahead of me there. Mark said use Skype to talk. and I’ve got my new laptop hooked up. It has a built in camera.) Column Peach or peach column. Not good from a confusing noun combo standpoint. Get your Skype set up sister.
Love,
Shalagh
I used to play softball with a neo-natal unit nurse and some of the more interesting names she came across were: Nosmo King, Siphyllis, Gonorhea, Lemongello and Orangello (if you have twins)
How about Hogan Peach? Hogan Obadiah Peach, Hoppy, I like it.
or…Hogan Aloysius Peach, Happy.
or… Atticus Aloysius Rawlston Peach. AARP, or just “old man”.
or… Atticus Pendleton Peach, favorite pick up line – yeah I’ve got an app for that.
You know To Kill A Mockingbird is my favorite movie. Atticus slipped my mind. Very funny. And you know Eamon’s clueless self got stuck with the initials ESP. Tell me the pick-up line for that one Dig.
Love,
Shalagh
How about Egan (or Eghan) meaning ‘ardent’ or Edan or Ea meaning ‘fire?’
Ok, pick up line for ESP (cause while I never had any game of my own, … nah that’s pretty much it). How bout “You know, my initials are ESP…” As she says the words you caress her face when she gets to “sensory”. I guess that’s a line/move, only recommended for the advanced levels.
You know Peach is not the easiest name to pear, er pair. There’s always the varietal route i.e. Cling; the blunt masculine names sound good, ala Mark; I meself also luv the Gaelic names Padraig (can’t go with PP, one of the many routes towards being picked on {although as a Peach…}), Conor, hmmmm Conor, yep that’s it Conor Hogan Peach, Gaelic, masculine, cool,family name, it’s even got 5-5-5 symetry. More common is Connor, but based on my extensive research the correct Irish spelling is Conor. Try yelling Eamon!!!! Conor!!!! a few times and see what ya think.
I think you have too much time on your hands and I’m sticking with Nolan.
OOh, sorry, just read the other suggestions, while not the first to mention it, I second it.
I like “Cletus the Fetus” personally haha!! I do like the name Nolan and I also like the name Noah! I’m sure you guys will settle on an awesome name!!! I’ve already picked out the name for baby number 2 haha
Cletus the Fetus is hysterical!!! Good to have a backup name. All will be solved if it’s a girl. And you’ll be getting a buttload of boys clothing Laura.
Love,
Shalagh
After all the insignificant things I spend a lot of time thinking about, your baby’s name is a worthwhile use of my time in my book. Peeshawed or not. Just for that I hope he’s a girl (my money’s on a girl anyway). “It’s 2030 and Conor Peach just shot a county record 63 to win individual golf honors.” see? see? Guess not.
Upon further review, the committee WILL allow Nolan, in no small part due to it’s baseball connections and Gaelic origins.
Oy with the sports references already. But I am so glad you finally approve. Really.