What's in a Name?

Several people have asked about a name for Her Loveliness. She has a given name that we will definitely keep as part of her name, but maybe not as her first name. We have decided to hold off on naming her until she is legally ours. But we've been playing the name game for months. If you want, you can play along.

I already enlisted the help of this fun blog I found: babynamesnob.blogspot.com. I love their ideas and thought we could use her genius. Go here, to read my letter and the response. After reading my letter you will know the (many) limitations we have in the search for the perfect name for "Koko".

We had a family naming session going through each letter of the alphabet brainstorming name ideas. Emmie is my least finicky in the name department and the one most willing to spend hours brainstorming ideas with me. She likes Zoie, Neve, and Tess. But her favorite is Eden. I think she is envisioning the decorating possibilities in their room with names that both begin with "E". That's my girl.

Tate likes very few names, but one he does approve of is Romy, which was our boy name after the keyboardist in the band Switchfoot (I know, we are strange people). I just don't know if it flies as a girl name. Romy and Michelle's High School Reunion, anyone?

And then there's Jack. As you might assume, Jack has come up with some doozies. For "Z" he came up with ZeZa (pronounced ZehZAH). It's not like there are a lot of four letter Z names, so I give him credit for that one. It's kind of a "Hollywood Baby" type name, don't ya think? But the real winner was for the letter "C"...Crusher Hogan. For a baby girl. Naturally, it has since become a family favorite.

Our kids are laboring under a misapprehension that our family operates as a democracy when it comes to naming Her Loveliness. Though we love that they feel such a part of this process, do not be mistaken, this is very much a monarchy. King Daddy and Queen Mommy call the naming shots. But the King and Queen are slightly a divided monarchy in the name department.

In addition to the ones I mentioned in my Name Snob letter, I love Evelyn or Evaline or Evalyn (how do you spell that name?) with the nickname of Evie, but Bill can't go there. He says he won't be able to get the vision of this singer from 80's Christian music out of his head...

As I mention in the letter, the King (a.k.a "High Maintenance in Only One Area: Naming This Child") likes one name: Luci. But he does also like Lola a bit. Lola Kollah (Kollar). Can we do that to our child? Sing with me now...

"Her name was Lola, she was a Kollah... "

"Lola, La, la, la, la Lola. Kollah, ka, ka, ka, ka Kollah..."

Granted, Lola is arguably one of the cutest names ever, but can we do that to our child? Maybe we could legally change the "o" in our last name to an "e" and she would be Lola Kellar. That sounds better. But then we'd have to do all our adoption paperwork over. So I guess that's out.

If only the dog's name wasn't Ruby, we'd be set. Dang.

Now it's your turn to weigh in. It will probably only make my life harder since I'm a people- pleaser, but please let me know your opinions on the above names, Name Snob's fun offerings and any of your own suggestions. Tread lightly, though. I like honest, just not brutally honest. That's what my kids are for.