The Baby Name Game

The annual list of most popular baby names of the year is out.  Each year, some names rise in popularity, some names fall.  What are these trends based on?  Sometimes I'm not sure.  During the height of the popularity of the Twilight movies, names like Edward, Jacob and of course, Bella trended higher.  Here in Iowa, you'll find more Hayden's and Kinnick's than anywhere else.  So how did my wife and I play the baby name game? 

When we were pregnant with each of our 3 kids, we found out what sex of baby we were going to have.  We agreed that chosing one name would be hard enough, much less coming up with 2!  When we found out our first would be a boy, we poured over baby books.  We both decided that we really didn't have a family name we wanted to pass down.  Then, one eveing while sitting in the bathroom in our home, I found the name "Chase" in a baby book.  Yes, my son's name was discovered while on the toilet.  My wife loved it, and Chase it was!

Baby number 2 was a girl!  My wife and I debated over names, and she had her heart set on "Cora".  Me....not so much.  The debate lasted weeks!  We finally agreed on the name Carly, and we're so happy we did.

Now with baby number 3, also a girl, we had some help.  Steele helped name our third child.  Yes, I stated that if I had a third child that Steele could help name it.  Seemed like a good idea at the time!  But through his searching and the lists he came up with, we settled on the name "Cayleigh".  Thanks uncle Steele!

Many parents-to-be stress over naming their children.  My advice?  Don't look at the annual list.  Come up with something on your own.  Whether it be a family name, or something that you and your spouse just think sounds great, go with it!  It will make for a great story to tell them someday.