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Thursday, April 12, 2012

Name That Kid

I grew up in a sea of girls named Sarah and Jessica and Katie. The boys were Matt and Noah and Michael. I'd be hard-pressed to pick someone out with a really unique, interesting name from my childhood. Bimmer will end up surrounded by girls named Isabella and Sophia and boys named Jacob and Ethan.


Kimhead shared this link with me earlier this week and asked me to post about baby names. A lot of the names he is referencing seem to fall into the "urban legend" category for me... along with names like Lemonjello and Orangejello. (Pronounced la-mon-ja-lo and or-on-ja-lo, of course). The older I get, the more I even question my memory if I heard correctly when a family member told me they knew of a little boy named Nosmoking. (Nah-sma-king, of course). Kinda like that time I heard my uncle telling a story about a guy driving after a fight with his wife, where she refused to get in the car, and a rod fell off a truck in front of him and came through the front windshield and into the passenger seat.


Ever since I was little, I've been obsessed with baby names. I begged my grandma to buy me an old baby name book once at a yard sale, and was probably the only 6th grader in town with a book shelf full of different variations. I bought a cool new name book in college and was congratulated by the store clerk on my pending arrival! I've wavered greatly over the years in my favorites for my future children, but Puff and I came to a decision fairly quickly when we got together. Bimmer's first name is a tribute to my paternal grandmother (that I settled on when I was 12), while her middle name includes part of my maternal grandmother's name. Her initials are that of Bimmer's paternal grandfather and uncle, plus, by sheer coincidence, her actual middle name is that of her paternal great-great-great grandmother! I've never been a stickler for having to use family names, but this time, it worked out.


So I thought I would share some of my all-time (some ridiculous) favorites that I once thought I would consider using...


* Crew Donovan (I still sorta love Crew as a guilty pleasure)


* Breighlyn Destiny


* Lochlyn Desirae


* Roland


* Haelyn (Like Van Halen, only cooler)


* Declan Patrick (This is on our list, but unless we have twin boys next pregnancy, I sadly won't get to use it)


I also worked with kids for years and regret not keeping a list of some of the more awesome names I came across. The only two that were sorta "out there" that I can remember are Chaz and Aries.


Puff, however, keeps a list of names he sees in business. My all-time fave? Reinhard Assman. (I may have spelled that incorrectly.) But basically, it sounds to me like "rain-hard ass-man." And that is beyond cool.


So, while Bimmer probably won't be in a sea of other girls with her same name, it has gained in popularity in the 18 years since I picked it out. But I don't think it's cracked the top 50, so that's "unique" enough for me. I definitely have a feeling, however, I will be keeping track of some of the kids she goes to school with over the years. Check back in 2017 when she's enrolled in kindergarten and I get to scope out (re: criticize) the names of her classmates. Oh... this is going to be so much fun!!!

1 comment:

kimhead said...

hahaha. Thanks :)