When you see that positive pregnancy test tons of thoughts go through your mind! Once the shock wears off, the exciting part starts…doctor’s visits, sonograms and the good ole gender reveal. Picking out a name can be tough and we thought it would be fun to give you a little insight into our name picking process and some other contenders!! Enjoy.
Vanessa’s Name Picking Process:
Matt and I picked our names well before we know what we were having. Caroline for a girl. It was the first name we both agreed on. We knew that we wanted a name that would work for a growing tot but also work well on future campaign billboards should she choose that path. Jack was our pick for a boy and still will be if we ever have baby #2 and if baby #2 has manly parts. Once we found out we were 100% having a girl for some strange reason Caroline didn’t feel like “the one” anymore. We considered a few other names (Victoria, Elizabeth, Charlotte (still one of my favorite names!) and even did a baby name vote on this web site. We knew what our friends liked and we were still undecided, so we did the whole “what will this sound like as we’re getting upset at a toddler” test. A few rounds of shouting “Caroline Grace” and “Victoria Elizabeth” helped us out and the name Caroline Grace Barry was confirmed.
One thing we loved about Caroline was that there wasn’t a nickname for it. We didn’t envision people calling her O’Line or “Care” and so we considered those to be bonus points. Fast forward to now, Matt and I have more nicknames for that little toot than one can count! We call her everything in the book “care” “care bear (which is cute since our last name is Barry)” “Boo Boo” “Pooch” and the list goes on and on. So I wish we wouldn’t have been so uptight about picking a name that couldn’t be butchered since we ended up being the butcherers…
Picking a name is tough–there is so much input from outsiders that it can easily turn you off to your favorite names. We decided to keep our pick a secret as long as possible to avoid the “eewww I don’t like that name” comment or face. I know what you’re thinking…”people say that?!” and the answer is YES! One of the biggest things I learned while pregnant was how inconsiderate people are to your mothering-decisions and mental state during pregnancy. But I digress. We had a lot of input from unsolicited third parties that made us feel like we were making the wrong name pick but in the end, Caroline was our first choice for a reason. We love her name and know that it will grow with her no matter what she decides to do!
Allison’s Name Picking Process:
As soon as we found out we were pregnant, there was no question that we just had to know the gender for name sakes! Starting at our first visit (8 weeks along) we were asking the doc to tell us what “it” was, but the sex wasn’t confirmed until around 20 weeks.
Even though we didn’t know the gender, Wesley and I were already stirring as to what we were going to name our bundle. From the time I was a teenager I knew that if I ever had a boy his name would be, Tristan (yes, I was a HUGE Legends of the Fall/Brad Pitt fan) and then the middle name would be that of baby daddy’s middle name. It changed over the years depending on who I was dating, but this time if I was having a boy it would be Tristan Ryan Mack. At least that’s what I always dreamed of post Brad Pitt with long locks being attacked by a bear. My husband on the other hand knew since his brother’s birth he wanted to name his first born son after his little brother, Cody Louis Mack. Sorry Cody, but I wasn’t a fan! I didn’t want my first born to be named after my brother in law. I felt that in order to give my son my bro-in-law’s name the bro-in-law should be dead or dying… and he’s very much alive so I just didn’t “get it”.
If we were having a girl we really loved the name Kennedy Elizabeth Mack. We just loved the name Kennedy and Elizabeth is a family name and a must middle name for baby girl #1. So if we were having a girl the name thing was going to be easy peasy!
So what do you know? Gender confirmed, 99.9% BOY! All of a sudden Tristan Ryan didn’t seem that great because I had thought of it for so many years so it seemed cheesy. Cody Louis was definitely out, but I was willing to compromise on the middle name being Cody. So we had 2/3 of the name decided… blank Cody Mack. We knew the first name had to be more than one syllable because a name like Vanessa’s favorite, Jack just wouldn’t work… Jack Mack? Ummm, no. And we knew we wanted the name to be strong, but not too common/trendy. Everyone has a different idea on trendy, but trendy to me meant it wasn’t on the top 100 names of the year list. But we didn’t want it to be so weird that it’s not even on the top 1000 name list (yes, a list exists). We threw around names like Hudson, Jagger (my sister’s favorite, not ours), and Carter. Carter was at the top of our list until Wesley came home and said, “What about Lincoln?” I loved it! But we were still not completely sold. I hated Carter Cody, but Wesley loved it. I liked Carter just not with Cody so something was going to have to give…either Carter or Cody. We asked a gazillion people and received a gazillion conflicting responses.The odd part was that neither of us are super patriotic in the sense that we don’t obsess over presidents, but all three (boy and girl) of our name choices were former Presidents.
In the end, I got my way and we decided on a name and chose not to tell anyone until the letters were hung in the nursery and the embroidered blanket with the name was ordered. At that point we revealed our baby’s name… Lincoln Cody Mack! And I gotta say, that whenever we do have baby #2 I refuse to tell anyone any type of name that is on my list because quite frankly, I don’t really care what their opinion of the name is.
Moral of the story, don’t ask everyone their opinion of names or to even give you ideas. They get offended when you don’t like a name they recommended and they get annoyed when they give their opinion and you don’t go with it. Just announce it at birth or when things are ordered with a name and there’s no return option.
Why did you pick your kiddos name? Any special meaning behind it?
Vanessa knows how I came to name my baby girl, Faith Elicia. Like you ladies, I had already picked out names since my first son was born if it was a girl. I would name her Olivia Belen. We found out earlier than we were supposed to about the gender of our last child because my quad test came back abnormal for the increased risk of a down syndrome baby. The only way to know for certain if our bundle was going have Down’s syndrome was to do an amnio. My husband and I opted against it and we said that we would have faith in our God that she will be perfect. When we discussed our “faith”..it was magical. We both knew that would be her name. While there was still some disagreement about a middle name, we stuck close to home. We knew that we wanted our Faith to grow up and be a strong, confident and independent woman, just like her two grandmothers–Alicia and Estela. So we blended the two and her name was complete…Faith Elicia Garza
Liza, I don’t know you, but what a great story. I am an older first time mom and had to go to a specialist since I was consistered ‘high risk’. They, too, wanted to do an amnio, but we choose not to and to have the faith that God would give us just what He wanted us to have. Your daughter will definitely be not only a strong woman, but a godly one!!
What a great story! And a beautiful name! Thank you for sharing Liza 🙂
Beautiful story, my friend.
I totally agree with y’all’s comments. My husband Chad and I went through the same process. I don’t like nicknames…when I name my child something, I want them to be called that. If I wanted to name him Bill, I would have named him Bill….not William. So I get what you mean. And the ‘asking friends and family their opinions’ is NOT a good idea. Allison you are so correct. They either are ticked off you didn’t use their suggestion or give the ‘are you really going to name them that’ face. You know what, you had your chance to name your kid, pet or car, let me name mine!! Sorry, I digressed. Here is how we came about the name Jack Ryan for my 6 month old. Jack was my grandfather’s name and I wanted him to have a strong, dignified name that he could not only spell and pronounce, but that the kids and teachers could when he gets to school..:) Ryan comes from my husband’s childhood hero’s name Nolan Ryan. From there we pretty much agreed on Jack Ryan…now if he would have been a girl…the process would have been a lot more painful and long! Could.Not.Agree at all..:) Good thing we got our boy!
Oh, how random! My husband’s parents gave him the middle name “Ryan” after Nolan Ryan too. I love Jack Ryan, although it reminds me a lot of Jake Ryan too and who isn’t obsessed with 16 Candles’ Jake Ryan???
Matt is going to love this. When I found out that you were naming Jack, Jack Ryan, I FREAKED OUT because that’s the name we had pegged for a boy. Ryan is Matt’s middle name and so we thought we’d keep that going. Matt didn’t understand why I was so freaked out but I didn’t want a friend’s kid to have the same name but now I realize (more than ever!) that all that matters is how in love mom and dad are with the name.
It will always be the honor of my life that Lincoln and I share a name. Thank you for the compromise, because as you said, I’m still very much alive!
Haha! You’re welcome for the “compromise”… we are honored that he has your name as well! We can’t think of a better Uncle to name him after 🙂
Ours name choice was very simple. I loved the name “Aidan” and so did my husband! So that was our first and only choice. His middle name is the same as my husbands, ” Scott.”. What we didn’t know when we chose his name is the significance it would have. Aidan Scott spent nearly 4 months in the hospital fighting for his life. Well it turns out that “Aidan” means “little fire” and “Scott” means “painted warrior.”. He definitely lived up to the meaning of his names! Our little warrior has a fiery spirit and we thank God for that everyday!!