So that annual list of the most popular baby names has just been released for 2008. My son Daniel’s name is always in the top 10. This year it was number 5. Annabel is number 801.
I find this mildly amusing because I just came home from Annabel’s weekly Gymboree Level 3 class at the mall. There are ten kids in her class, a mix of boys and girls, and there is ANOTHER Annabel! (Actually this little girl spells her name Annabelle, but still). It does not bother me as much as it surprises me. I went through 5 levels of Gymboree with Daniel and there was NEVER another Daniel. I’ve taken Daniel to music class, library craft day, the pool, play groups, etc. and there has never been another Daniel (at least not yet.)
I definitely feel that your child’s name is the first and best gift you can give them. It’s really stressful to decide on a name because that’s it – they will have it FOREVER. A child’s name can define their personality and the way others interact with them.
Both of my children received the SECOND name from that piece of paper where you start listing all the name choices.
When we found out we were having a boy, I wrote down Logan. “Logan” was the name of a character on The Gilmore Girls. He was the boyfriend of the main character “Rory.” I love The Gilmore Girls. It was, and still is, one of my favorite TV shows of all time. I have all the DVD episodes and I plan to watch them with Annabel one day. The character of “Logan” was cute, witty, smart, and I really liked the name. So that was it.
Until one day I was watching an episode of The Real World on MTV. (Hey, I AM called Pop Mommy for a reason!) There was a boy named Danny and something just clicked in my brain. The name Danny sounded so fun. It was cool and amiable. I just loved it. And I thought the name Daniel was even better. It was a really strong and simple biblical name. Daniel was perfect. So we wrote down Daniel on that piece of paper and it only took us one more week to cross off Logan for good.
When we found out we were having a girl, we both had been talking about the name Roxanne. I know what you are thinking. It’s definitely…different. The funny back story is my name was going to be Roxanne. It was one of the names circled in this old 1970’s pocket baby name book I found in my parent’s nightstand drawer one day. Apparently my mom did not love it, but my Dad really tried to fight her for it. Sorry Dad, Pamela it was. I always remembered that story. And I thought it would be cool to now name my own daughter Roxanne. It was strong and unique and I definitely liked a name with “Ann” in it. Ann is my mother’s name and my middle name. But then I remember doing the online search for the name Roxanne on this baby name rating website. (I know. Why do we do this stuff?)
A lot of people thought the name Roxanne sounded tacky and one person even said it sounded like a hooker’s name! (The Police’s hit song “Roxanne.” I get it.) That turned me off and then I came across the name Annabel. We LOVED it. And it was still a unique name, just…prettier. And we decided to spell it the classic way because then both of my kids’ names would end with “el.” Ah, synergy.
I wonder if my kids would act differently or be treated differently if they were named Logan and Roxanne. I’m so glad I’ll never know.
(Oh, and by the way, we never told anyone the names of our babies until they were born. Something I highly recommend to everyone.)
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