Originally written on August 19, 2009
If I am actually pregnant, and yes, that is an IF because the thought has crossed my mind that I am not.
Afterall, no appointment has shown me otherwise.
And it could be dead.
Or worse. (wait…what’s worse than dead? nothing. wrong. having a baby that is exactly like me would be worse. way worse. I was a terror.)
Anyhoo. If the little dinobug is not dead. and it gets born with all its digits intact, then yes, the thought of names has crossed our minds. In fact, it crossed my mind a million light years ago. Some girls dream about having babies, I dream about naming them. That is why the boyfriend had to agree to a spreadsheet of baby names even before we got married. And it was in our vows. Right there after ‘love & cherish in sickness and in health’ was ‘forego any right to name our future babies’. So now that the opportunity might exist to name a little bugaboo, I thought it only fitting to share our options.
BOYS
William (must must must. Jeremy’s first name is actually William and he is the 5th William Bower in his family. Plus it doesn’t hurt that my dad’s name is William and I have like 6 relatives with William in their name).
Tyler (admittedly both Jeremy & I just love this name. Ty sounds like a baseball player waiting to happen.)
Torrin (I came up with this one as a version of Torrey – Jeremy’s brothers name. I think it sounds like a 17th century warrior. And who doesn’t want a little Gladiator?!?)
Jackson (Jeremy’s grandpa was Jack…and my best guy friend from college was named Jack. It pretty much rocks.)
Judah (Mom pushed this name for Cole before he was Cole. I think it sounds like one of the most normal but not used bible names.)
Valiant (it means brave…just like my Pappap’s name – Leonard.)
GIRLS
Samantha (ok. If the truth must be known, I like this name because I thought that the American Girl Doll looked like me when I was little.)
Kayla (my name+my sisters name = Kayla. ‘nough said)
Katherine (a form of my name…but also Jeremy’s grandmother’s name)
Isabella (actually this one means the same thing as my middle name – Elizabeth and in some regions of the world was a form of Elizabeth. Plus it is Italian.)
Ann (Jeremy’s grandmother’s name. My grandmother’s name)
Sarah (My mummum’s name…plus it is a great Bible name)
Renee (My mother’s middle name.)
I think we need to go Madonna and just adopt a bunch of kids so that we can name em all. If only we had more political clout. or any political clout.
So – there are our future baby names. You may think it is weird that we would consider naming our children after ourselves. But Kings & Queens used to do it all the time. And who said that we peasants couldn’t??! Maybe one day you will refer to my baby as William Jackson Bower of Nottinghamshireville. Totally awesome.
don’t feel weird! you’re not the only ones considering naming a child after yourselves, nor are you the only ones who talked about it before you were pregnant (though i don’t think my hubby and i talked about names before we were married, got us there!)
i look forward to seeing how this whole baby thing works out for you (and the petersiks!) since that’s one life experience my husband and i haven’t gone through yet, but will likely be in our not-too-distant future.
take care!
Oh baby names!! When my hubby and I were dating in high school we came up with a few baby names we liked (I think we were 15 at the time and slap happy drunk on love) and Tyler was one of them. So naturally I like that name for your dinobug if it turns out to be of the male persuasion.
But if dinobug is a little lady, I love Kayla Isabella Bower. I think it’s a beautiful name.
I do the same thing! I already have names picked out if we have a boy and a girl! I am like you with naming the child with a name that has meaning. I went to a flea market recently and found a cute little baby naming book for $1 and bought it! It’s fun to look at all the meanings!
I love all those names! A few are ones hubby and I have talked about. If you chose Renee, you should tooootally spell it with and ‘a’…not that I’m bias in that spelling or anything 🙂
Your choices are all wonderful – classic, no crazy spellings, easy for a kid to say. Good advice to me: practice yelling your kid’s entire name out your backdoor. If you feel silly saying it, it’s not the right one. 😛
I also think you’re brave to share. Personally, my husband and I don’t share our baby names, b/c it always seems people have something to say about it. But when the little one’s here, and it’s officially on paper…what can they say, right? 😉 For instance, a friend of mine had her baby girl name (Alexis) ruined b/c her MIL said kids would call her “Sexy Lexy.” Name out. Oh, and after we’d had our little girl, Aubrey, I confessed to my mom that we had considered the name Claire. Turns out there was a Claire she knew from High School with wicked B.O. Eek. Good thing we didn’t pick that one. See what I mean? 😉
My faves are William (due to significance) and Sarah.
Good luck!
I’ve always liked Tyler too (for either a boy or girl), and I totally liked the Samantha doll too bc I thought she looked like me 🙂 That and the Teresa barbie.
It’s great that all of the names you are considering mean something to you both
William Jackson Bower is such a strong name – I’m liking it! What happened to Torrey – did he go back and study and is he living with you guys? Or did the flood and dinobug bower put paid to that? Another question for one of your FAQs if I may
LOVE Judah 🙂 That is one of the names I have picked out if we ever have a boy!
my son’s name is Jackson and it’s a phenomenal name. distinguished, but still cute for a little boy. we LOVE it (and we LOVE him). great choice 🙂
I’m squirming because Bella and Renee are on your lists – both are names from the Twilight Books! LOVE THEM! =D
I love the names! I think it’s great you are naming your children after yourselves. In fact, everyone in my family and my husband’s family is named after someone else in our respective families. I think it’s a great way to carry on memories of loved ones and show them the honor and respect they deserve. Plus, it’s a great tradition that can be carried on through the years.
We too have named our yet to be born children. Our favorites are Emma Leigh and Michael David. Emma was my great, great grandmother’s name and Leigh is my name (I guess that’s stating the obvious)and my dad’s middle name (it’s just spelled differently for him). Michael is my grandmother’s maiden name & my uncle’s middle name. David is my husband’s middle name, as well as being my father-in-law’s name.
i think baby naming is sooo much fun. i love my husband’s middle name, but we recently found out that it was taken from a great great uncle who was a borderline looney alcoholic. nice.
kelly
Jackson is seriously one of my favorite names right now. We live next to a couple who are in their mid-70s, and he’s named Jack and she’s Diane (you know, like “Here’s a little ditty about Jack and Diane . . .”) ANYWAY. He’s the sweetest man ever. And I used to babysit a little boy named Jack. I always thought it was such a fun name for someone under the age of 5.
I have a spreadsheet of names too. And before we were even engaged I made my now fiance rate all of them just to see if we were on the same page.
I’m not even interested in having babies anytime soon, but I’ve been naming them for years.
I am due 2 days before Christmas and we are naming our son John. My hubby’s grandfather’s (mom’s side)first name is John and his fathers middle name is John and his other grandfathers (dad’s side) middle name is John (which I guess makes sense since my father in law is a Jr). Obviously we like the idea of naming our little guy after really important family members. He will also most likely have 2 middle names to honor my side of the family. We’ve also gotten so many comments on how “refreshing” it is to hear a “normal” name for a baby, I guess in comparison to Apple, Sparrow, and all the other unique baby names. I really like your names!
We named our children after us and our family… here’s the break down if you’re interested:
1st named afer my husband Antonio Lamar
2nd Nicholas Keishun (my name is laKEITHa SHUNta (get it keishun)
3rd Brendan Charles (my mom name is Brenda and his mom name is Charlene)
So I think your names are great! I love William and Jackson. LOVE LOVE Isabella! oh and Kayla!
tyler william would be nice or william tyler
i love the names katherine and isabella, my husband is Polish and isabella is very popular among them, there’s a gypsy song i love about a woman named isabella
So, I’m not married yet, but the boyfriend and I have already talked about kids names. Especially boys names. He is the 4th. I’m totally not a fan of the same name, it gets confusing. Especially when I’m at his family’s house and someone yells for Charlie and they either both respond or both ignore the person! I wanted to at least call the nonexistent baby by the middle name (Reed) but the boyfriend doesn’t like that. What’s a girl to do??
Not weird at all! My mom’s middle name is Elizabeth and so my middle name is Beth. I decided a couple of years ago on the perfect name for my future daughter and her middle name will be Elizabeth. It’s tradition, right?!
I love the names you picked out. I used to wish my name was Isabella and I just recently met a cute two-year old named Judah!
Great girl names, my name is Sarah Anne and our top baby name if we have a girl is Bella 🙂
I love the names you are thinking about. I’ve always had a running list…its changed drastically since it began when I was pretty young – the only difficult thing has been getting the husband to agree on/like names for children that haven’t been conceived yet, he doesn’t seem to think figuring the names out now is quite as pressing as I think it is! Right now I love the name Jackson for a boy, because it means “God has been gracious” and for a girl I love the name Addison. Thanks for sharing your top names, and just ignore all the people that tell you reasons not to name them certain names – my sister said it drove her crazy!!
Katie, I love the blog and your sense of humor. But there was something I felt compelled to say. I know you were just joking when you said that the baby being like you is worse than being dead. After having a close friend of mine recently lose her twin babies, I can assure you that there is nothing more traumatic than your baby dying. Like I said, I know you meant your comment in humor (and in the spirit of being candid with your feelings). I just felt I needed to say that some people might be offended by your words. I am sure that it is not intention to hurt. Normally, if there is something I disagree with on blogs I just don’t comment. But in this case, I really feel I had to say something. I hope you understand.
Oh man, now I want to have another one so I can play the name game…so exciting to name another human being!!! I’m SO hopping we have a boy since we both REALLY want to use our boy name.. Boone (think outdoorsy granola-ish, not redneck country).
We’ll have tough time topping the fabulous Willow Champion if we have another girl though 😉
How funny: My husband is Fredrick the 3rd, and we named my son Fredrick (the 4th), and I also have an uncle, grandpa, great grandpa and great-great grandpa named Fredrick on MY side. And, my husband is Fredrick “Ty” – one of the other names you picked out! And our daughter (about to come out of the oven) will have the first name after me and my mom’s middle name, Susanna, and middle name after my husb’s grandma, Grace. I think it is sweet to carry on family names!
Please stop saying if the dinobug isn’t dead.
Baby names are my THING. And my husband just doesn’t get it, and he shoots down my names all the time. Not to mention, it freaks him out when I come up with new ones, because we haven’t jumped onto the “let’s have a baby” bandwagon quite yet. I just want to be prepared. And I get FURIOUS when someone else names their baby one of MY names (as if I own them).
Hi –
I read your blog every day and love your sense of humor and the way you write – however (and I know you were just joking around) I’m not sure it was completely appropriate to joke about the baby being dead. I don’t know many people who find that situation funny.
Not trying to come down to hard on you, just something to think about.
It’s ok with me if you don’t post this comment, or do post it, it doesn’t bother me either way. I just wanted you to get some feedback from a reader.
Thanks.
Bella is one of my favorite names of all time! Except my last name is Bell…so I’m screwed!
I love the rest of your names too!
Hi Amy & Liz –
I completely respect how you feel. And I can assure you that I don’t take miscarraiges lightly or joke about them. But I can honestly say that when I wrote these posts (back in August before having a confirmed pregnancy) that I was struggling with strange insecurities about myself. I was shocked and my method of dealing with with the possibility of a life changing event was through denial and self-depreciation. My stream of thought wasn’t meant to be offensive or insensitive toward another woman’s loss…just an honest picture of one little speedbump in my path to parenthood. What I thought was not correct or moral or kind toward other’s…it was a personal struggle.
I know that sometimes what I write can come across insensitive or offensive…and you are right, my intention isn’t to hurt anyone. Sharing these entries were just a peek into my private journal. And that’s pretty risky for me to expose…because I am pretty ugly at times. Hope you understand that my journey has been imperfect….just like me.
Thanks again for your candid comment. I really appreciate blogland friends being upfront 🙂
XO – Katie
I love hearing how parents come up with names for their children. The two pieces of advice my mother has always given me was consider what the initials might spell and to give children options for nicknames. My middle name is Elizabeth as well, mainly chosen because you can come up with sooo many different names from it.
Congrats again on the little one!
I am just about as pregnant as you and every morning I wake up and wonder if I’m actually pregnant. Then I go check in the mirror. We are considering Jackson, too. Love it!
we totally talked about baby names before we were engaged! in fact our first daughter (who is still yet to exist) is already named and pretty much everyone in our family already calls her by name! ha. my luck we’ll probably have like 5 boys.
lots of good choices here — I like Katherine with K myself. (couldn’t help the little Anne of Green Gables reference there)
You definitely should have some names in mind before you go into the birthing room, so it’s o.k. to think this through. It’s forever. Check out the initials too, you don’t want a “m.o.b” or a “f.a.b”.
PS I kind of like Ann for a name. 🙂
I like how you put so much thought into these names. It’s not just like “I like it” or “it sounds pretty” They really mean something. That’s really cool. I’ll have to put some more thought into the names I have chosen for my future kids now.
I think your blog is really great! But I don’t think joking about losing a baby is any laughing matter. I totally remember being convinced I would miscarry so maybe that’s what you are talking about. But losing a baby is not something to be taken lightly. I lost a son at 36 weeks due to a cord accident.
I don’t understand why you would begin a conversation about your baby saying — “it could be dead” or joke about what’s worse than dead. You wouldn’t want that to be a reality. That was a tactless way to introduce your topic about Baby Names.. We know you have a gross sense of humor, but this comment really turned me off to your blog.
Ummm not sure I read correctly but are you making jokes about your baby being dead??? Hope I’m mistaken.
Hi, I’m quite offended by your statements about your baby being dead…sorry but it was inappropriate in my opinion (and I do realize it was meant as a joke). God forbid you go through a miscarriage. I totally realize you can write whatever you want on your blog and it’s my choice whether or not I want to read it…I don’t think I will be reading it anymore.
Hi Jo, Stephanie, Anna, & Mary,
Like I said in the comment response above, I completely respect how you feel. How I responded to my struggle initially wasn’t right or sane or kind….but it’s what happened. Unfortunately I am not perfect (although I wish I were). And when I thought about things like names & nursery decor, I did have a lingering fear that I was just getting my hopes up only to experience the worst possible imaginable pain. I dealt with this fear through self-depreciation & denial (as you can read in this post). Obviously, most of you thought I was joking…I wasn’t. This was definitely a low point for me. My journey isn’t a pretty package with a satin bow – it is dragged through the mud and I took the risk to present it in a public forum. And just to uber-clear, I don’t think miscarraiges are funny. I hope you understand that this post wasn’t meant to hurt or offend, just tell my story…which is riddled with flaws because the author is riddled with flaws.
XO – Katie
Katie – I really respect you putting this experience in words and publishing it in such a public forum. Sure your thoughts in the beginning of this post aren’t all smiles or sprinkled with pink ribbons and stuffed animals. They are real fears that all of us go through and are just too scared to tell people that we feel them. Thank you for sharing this very personal time with your readers. I may be the only one, but you have honestly helped me feel better about some of the things I fear most. Being pregnant is a blessing and a life changing experience but that doesn’t mean it comes in a nice little package. It is scary. Thank you for being you. Its posts like this that tell me you are going to be a great Mom. You will share with your childrens the same scary life moments and let them know that is is ok to be afraid some times.
Ok – that had nothing to do with the names but I wanted to share since some people seem to be coming down so hard on your honesty.
The best blog writers tell it like it is. I don’t read blogs to hear fluff or covered up truths. You are a great writer and I appreciate your candid words. It helps especially women feel more connected in an era where connections are fewer and farther between.
We have a Tyler and he does go by Ty. And he’s a baseball player…I’m just sayin’. We also have a nephew named Jackson who has the middle name of Tyler, after mine. Pretty awesome. He goes by Jack. Way back when I was pregnant, my husband practiced announcing the names as if we were siting in the stands at a high school game and if it sounded good, we kept it on the list :)Corny, but true. Just remember not to get too many syllables going. I love William shortened to Will. Will Bower sounds pretty heroic if you ask me.
You do look like Samantha!
I love to fiddle with names! I love to play name game and naming other human being.
I think it’s great you are naming your children after yourselves.Even i do the same thing.Names chosen by you are good.
I like the name Judah…..
Katie, my husband and I JUST found out that I am pregnant on St Patrick’s Day. This would be 4 days after I did a PUB CRAWL for St Patty’s Day. My family is super Irish–what can I say. We already had a little weekend trip planned for this weekend and the whole time we were away I was freaking out. Thinking the worst things possible. Last night I peed and wiped myself (hopefully not TMI) and there was a pink spot on the toilet paper. I saw it, ignored it and went into the bedroom to continue getting ready. Then I thought, there was pink on the tp…and went back in, wiped myself again and there was still some pink. I started freaking out and crying about having a miscarriage and how it was my fault because of the pub crawl, etc. My husband didn’t know what to do. Telling me to keep my emotions in check wasn’t the best thing to do…anyways, I wanted to thank you for posting things like this. We haven’t told anyone so I have no one to talk about and I am so afraid that something is going to happen! It really helps reading posts like this. Even if other people don’t like it, I wanted to let you know that you are helping some people feel a bit more normal.
OMG! I know this is an old post, but (since I am having serious baby brain and I am reading ANYTHING baby) Samantha is on our list BECAUSE of the American Girl doll too! She was my favorite. I still have and use the cookbook. Too funny!
I like best the name Sarah. a great sense