My (silly) Rules for Naming a Baby

 This one is just for fun. You know I love myself baby names and I've been asked just about a bazillion times for help (suggestions, advice, my opinion, etc.) from friends and family when they were naming their babies. I'm not always the best at suggestions (unless your style is similar to mine), but I do have some "rules" I've always stuck to that I think, and have been told, are pretty useful.

Let's review. We have Kamryn Alexis, Logan Michael, Kensington Bree, Tenley James, Smith Joseph and Archer "Archie" Edward. 

For us, not on purpose but ended up that way, all of our kids have first names that are technically last names. By the time we got to naming our 6th baby all I had on our list was last names that could work at first names. Kamryn & Logan are both Scottish last names (although yes, we changed the spelling for Kamryn) and Kensington, Tenley, Smith and Archer are all English last names. For their middle names we used names to honor people who are important to us. 

Naming these babies wasn't exactly easy (mostly because I'm so picky) and for most of the kids it took the whole 9 months I was pregnant for us to settle on a name. But I figure someone out there may be like me. Maybe? So, I thought it might be fun to share some of the rules we stuck to when naming our kids. 

1. Find your name style

Write down a list of names and have your husband do the same. Figure out what types of names you like. I for example like names that lean more to the unique side but aren't unheard of. Mike tends to like a more traditional name, so we tried to combine those in the first and middle names.  

2. Be flexible 

Unfortunately, you need to be ready for a name you absolutely love to be shot down by your spouse. I had so many that Mike told me "Absolutely not" and vice versa. Most recently, I really liked the names Easton and Crew when I was pregnant with Archie and Mike did not. There were even a few names over the years I may have shed a tear or two over, but I understood. These weren't just my babies; they were his too and he deserves just as much say in their names. Although! I did put my foot down about Smith's name. He wasn't so sure but when that kid came out at a record pace just 25 minutes after we pulled up to the hospital, he gave in.

3. Remember you are naming an adult, not just a baby. 

This is something I think people forget. These babies are going to be adults much longer than they are babies and kids. A fun little game I always used to play in my head was could I personally introduce myself as a name and feel comfortable as a grown woman and would I take a grown man seriously if they introduced themselves to me with a particular name? It sounds silly but it worked. There were a few names I knocked off my list for that alone. When it came to the boys, I asked Mike if he would take a grown man seriously on a construction site if they came up to him and introduced themselves as Logan, Smith or Archer, he answered yes so those were good enough for me. I also really wanted Archie's full name to be Archie. Mike insisted he needed a full name to fall back on when he's an adult, so we went with Archer. Is there a chance he will always go by Archie? Yes. But almost 10 months out I now agree with Mike we made the right choice...just in case.

4. Flow 

First, middle and last. Write it out, say it out loud. Make sure nothing runs together or sounds too sing songy or rhymes. For Example: We almost named Tenley "Tinsley". That was the name we went into the hospital with but when I kept saying "Tinsley James Sass" it just felt like there were too many s's and it was a mouthful. So that brought us to Tenley. It sounded a lot better to me. I also am a fan of mixing up the number of syllables. For example: Smith Joseph Sass. So, while his first and last names are both one syllable, we break it up with a 2-syllable middle name. Same with Kensington Bree Sass. Her middle and last name are just 1 syllable but her first name is 3. I hope this makes sense. 

5. Initials 

I think it's important to write out your kid's initials. While you may never monogram something for them, they might someday. My husband was adamant on this rule because poor Mike's initials are MRS and MS. He hates it. 

6. You don't have to stick to a trend

When it came to my girls we ended up with Kamryn, Kensington and Tenley. I really struggled because while I was pregnant with Tenley I wondered if she needed a "K" name too like me and the girls. I wasn't sure if I started a trend I couldn't get out of. I liked a few names that started with C, Collins being one of them, but I didn't like it spelt Kollins. It felt like we were trying too hard to give her a K name. The only K name we threw around in the hospital was Kingsley, and if I'm being honest, I'm so happy we didn't use it. As you know we ended up not giving her a K name and it turned out just fine. So don't feel stuck. 

7. Remember it's your baby, not anyone else's

This one is so very important. Not everyone is going to love the name you've chosen. I don't care if you named your kid super traditional John or mega unique Cruz. You will never ever ever have every single person look at you and admire your name choice. I had multiple people tell me not to name my son Smith. Even til this day we get some looks and people ask, "Is that his first name?" I've talked about this before, but the same thing happened with Archie. Even after he was born someone looked at me and said, "You really named him Archie, huh?" You need to remember this is your baby, not anyone else's. Don't get too crazy but just remember most people get their chance to name their kid what they want; this is your chance so go with what you love. 

8. Go with what you love

When all else fails, go with what you love. As I said people have opinions. For us, Archie is definitely more "traditional" than our other kids' names but we both really loved it, so we used it. This "rule" contradicts every other "rule" on this list. When all else fails, you throw every single rule out the window and name your baby a name you and your spouse love.

 

I know a lot of people who kept the names to themselves the entire pregnancy and I do like this, although so not me. I'm a sharer and love to talk baby names. But I do think this a good rule as well. I will say I was never a fan of naming a child one name with the intent to call him/her something else, and then I did that with Archie. We only call him Archie, aside from when I bring him to the doctors and call him Archer. So, sometimes rules are dumb! LOL!

Here are some names I liked but we didn't use (a lot of these Mike vetoed):

Boys 

Weston, Crew, Brady, Easton, Grant, Braeden, Landon, Brody, Cal, Harrison, Jones

Girls

Collins, Elliot, Mackenna, Mackinley, Britton, Addison, Locklyn, Quinn, Tess, Anderson "Andie"

That was fun right? Again, these rules are silly and not all that serious. But if you're like me these "rules" might be useful. As I got to my 6th child I was running out of names I liked, names I thought sounded good with my other kids' names and certainly/mostly running out of names Mike and I agreed on. I threw all the rules out the window. 

I'll see you all back here in a couple days!

xoxo, Kristen