Grasping at Straws

I have a hard time choosing baby names. I don't know if it's the endless number of names there are to choose from? Or maybe it is the fact that my child will have to live with this name for the rest of her life whether she likes it or not (unless she should have the NERVE to change her first name the moment she turned 18, which would so NOT be cool)!? Or just that all of this responsibility lies on my (and Mikey's) heads forever and ever amen?

I guess I've always been one who likes to know all my possibilities to make sure I'm choosing the very best option... and frankly it's just impossible to read through ALL possible names on the entire planet! Okay, okay... maybe I don't really want to consider names from the whole planet... I don't think a Chinese name would be very appropriate for an American girl living in Africa. That would just confuse people.

Anyway, I FINALLY managed to read A to Z in a very large baby name book. And I jotted down 103 of my favorite names. You know... just a few that caught my eye. Now, I admit that most of these names I just like and don't LOOOOOVE for my daughter... but what about possible future daughters? I wrote down any name that sparked my interest merely for the reason that I wouldn't have to read A-Z baby girl names EVER AGAIN! If I should ever conceive and bear another daughter... the beginning of the name 'leg-work' is already done. 102 to choose from for possible daughter number 2 (assuming we choose a name for current daughter from this list!). That is a heckuva lot less than the 324,655,758 I just read. And I like being ahead of the game. It brings peace and joy to my heart.

AAAANNY-WAAY... By the time I got to the end of the alphabet... the names were starting to get ridiculous. And I like weird names. I mean, those editors must have really been grasping at straws to fit in 'just a few more names' to their already seemingly endless list. Wava? Really? That is a name? And Xiao? It was noted alongside this name that it is Spanish in origin, and also that the meaning is unknown. Might I also add that the pronunciation of this name is unknown? Forget that we don't know what it means... HOW DO YOU SAY IT?!!

Yaa, Yepa, Zez, and Zone and a few other examples worthy of note. I mean, I even feel funny capitalizing the supposed name 'Zone.' What if she grew up to be a basketball player and played man-to-man and zone defense and then she had a fired up Dad on the sideline who was trying to remind her which kind of defense to play? You get the picture.

So, the list-narrowing-down will soon commence. And I pretty much can guarantee that 98.9 percent of the names, when proposed to my husband, will be met with a scowl. Or a confused look. Or a look of disbelief. Or a blank face. (No offense honey, but you're not too open minded about names.)

But in the end, we'll choose a name for our precious daughter, and we'll love it, and we'll love her forever and ever amen.