What is in a name?

"What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet."

Those were the words spoken by Juliet in Romeo and Juliet.

While it might be true that you are who you are regardless of what you are called, when you are a soon-to-be parent, finding the perfect name for your wee little one is SUPER important!

It is a wonder any of us have a name at all. Who would have thought that two people who are so in love, created a child so wonderful and yet could NOT agree on a name.

Not only does the name have to be sweet and cute for a little girl, but it must be suitable for a professional woman. It must stand alone as a first name and fit with the last name. Of course it has to sound right with her sister and hopefully future brother's names. It can't be something common, but shouldn't be too weird that people have to ask you to repeat it. The spelling should be somewhat phonetic, but unique as well. And OF COURSE, both parents have to agree on it.

This is where it gets tough for Phil and I. We decided Emrie's name in about 20 minutes total. Same with our boy name. Actually we decided on both in the same 20 minute car ride. I wanted Delayne as a middle name {it is a combination of our moms' names} and he said Emrie...boom that was it. When we heard it, we just knew it made sense and it worked. We had her name picked before we even knew if she was a girl.

Round two has been a little harder. We didn't have a name picked before we found out she was a girl {I think I was banking on having a boy so we already had his name}. It felt a little strange, but kind of fun to not have a name decided already, but that just meant the challenge was on.

My top choice was Lyndan {or some variation of that spelling...I hadn't really decided}. I loved it! It went with Emrie nicely plus it is a combination of Phil's sister Lindsey and Morgan...Bingo! Then I told Phil. He said no way on Earth...all he could think of was Linden B. Johnson.

Well, that meant we were back at the drawing board, until I mentioned my second choice and he said he loved it. So there it was...she was named...ALMOST!

Since Emrie's middle name is significant, I wanted to make sure this baby had a significant middle name too...but we didn't like any of the names left from our families, so we were stuck again. For several weeks I worried about this issue, we even tossed around new first names and using her first name as a middle name, but I had already started calling her that and it seemed weird to change her first name now because that is who I see her as.

After we had talked about names to exhaustion on vacation, I came home and made a list. As we were laying in bed one night I told Phil I was going to read him my list and he could say yes or no. We had gone through almost the entire list and surprisingly had a few left on there.

Out of the blue, Phil said, "you haven't said anything close to this name but what about _________?"

That was it. That was the middle name I had been waiting for. I loved it! The best part was that when I looked it up, the meaning was special too which made me love it even more.

If only we could decide on a spelling...

At least now our little girl has a name...but you will all have to wait until July to hear what it is!!!