Choosing a Baby Name
Following Sandra, I’ve decided to dig out this draft which has been effectively forgotten and post it! Here’s how I came up with my kids’ names!
It all started when we first decided to try for a baby. Since the baby was no where in sight, we had conversations about what we would call the baby… We had a same consensus that we will go for names that are already in existence. I’m not for inventing new names or adding variants to a name. No offence to those who have names like that, it’s just us and the boundaries we set for name-giving.
So, I always wanted NATHAN, if I had a boy. Here comes the bimbo reason. Remember Brother Beyond ? I wasn’t a big fan (can’t even remember three top hits from them) But look at Nathan (2nd from left)! So gorgeous ya?
Well, it was a girl. So Nathan’s out. But I knew, when I have a boy, he’ll be Nathan. So this girl, has to have a name that starts with N. Don’t ask me why, I’m quite obsessed with having a pattern and a proper system in such matters. And the name has to be two-syllable as well. The husband, by this time, had really no time for my idiosyncrasies. So I could happily flip through Baby Name books and track my memory for lovely people whose names start with N.
And I remembered Nicole! A dear friend in college and the name just sounds so nice. And it’s FRENCH. So la-di-la. The older folks wouldn’t have a problem with this (at that point I never thought there would be a “NEE-KO”) And the meaning, Victory of the People. Not bad ya? So there we have it, Nicole Tay.
Then #2 came, and it was a boy. No issue. It was the fastest name selection ever. Nathan Tay. And what a great meaning too, He gave. (you can see the bimbo went for the meaning only much later!) Then only after we named him, I get nurses at the clinic or some old folks calling him NAR-DEN. So it’s just a gentle reminder that I’ve to do to tell them, it’s NAY-TURN. Oh well, I still have to keep reminding.
Now #3. By now, I’ve reached the ultimate crescendo of my obsession. The name for #3 has to:
- Start with “N”
- Have 2 syllable
- Have 6 letters
- Second letter to start with “e”, “o” or “u”
Hahaha… See my obsession? And I was really in it alone. No one. absolutely no one was with me in this. The most they would agree with is a name that starts with N. But no, this name must fit the above criterion cos I don’t want my #3 to feel left out of the pattern. wahahahahah weird ya?
Anyway, there are not many N names left. So we went back to memory, and remember a friend we have NADINE. (Fits four criterion!) And the name means, Hope. And it’s French too! Perfect!! It’s pronounced NAY-DEEN. So lovely, ya? And #3 is called Nadine Tay. (and of course, this time, it was the English aunties who get it wrong. They call her NER-DEEN. The reminders are still on-going now)
There you have it. For simplicity, they are called Nicole, Nathan and MeiMei. For further simplicity, they are called N1, N2, N3. And that’s how we named our kids.
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Yay I can pronounce all their names correctly the first time ahaha 🙂
My friend’s kid is Nathan and they all jokingly call him Nah den as well. Doesn’t help when it’s pronounced that way for our previous president..
I heart 6 letter names too! But for Zoie, I decided to break the rule cos no nice 6 letter Z name. Haha!
Haha I totally understand! I insisted on 2 syllables for my kidzes' first names, and 3 or more syllables for their middle names – yes, they all ended up with very long full names! :p
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hahaha!!! i totally understand the need for some pattern! hahaha. i was like that too!
You are not the only anal one! When I tell people my kids' names start with high-scoring Scrabble letters, the look on their faces is one of "Are you kidding me?" Haha!
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Wow – my husband would not have gone for that! I had a hard enough time fighting for the names we chose. It was not an easy battle and we ended up going with androgynous names that originally appeared on our boy list – twice.
I am sure you will come up with the perfect name even if it has 5 letters and starts with Q!
hahaha loved the post. Thanx for sharing! 🙂
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Funny…I like that it had to have a system. Our only system was that we both had to agree…which is way harder than having a system!
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We're hoping to have a new baby to name soon too & I didn't think ahead like that when we chose our first kid's name. I like the idea of matching syllables at LEAST but my son has a 1-syllable name so it might be hard!
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Picking Nick's name was so hard (hehe I guess I like "N" names too). I always feel that naming your kids is such a big responsibility. I love how you went about picking all the names.
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Choosing names is very hard. We took our top 5 names and took turns each crossing off our least favorite one until we were left with one name.
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My husband and I can never agree on names. I like uncommon names and he likes traditional ones!
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I never planned out names. The only think I knew was that each child's name had to have double matching consonants. We have Emma, Connall, and Cullen. Our 4th was adopted so we didn't choose his name.
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I love how everyone has different ways of naming their children.
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Very interesting to learn how you chose your names!
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Cute, we just chose our kids names pretty randomly. My husband and I had very different tastes in names, so we had a hard time agreeing!
This is very interesting. Everyone has such personal reasons!
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I stuck with the J's for my boys name. I called them both Jay for the longest. It was rather funny hearing them both respond.
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Very interesting blog, sometime its very difficult for the parents to give a name for the baby. For giving a name of a baby is very easy but parents think about the name which is related to their name or the listen to be very nice. Many people give the name that will give a good meaning.