What's in a Name?

I have always been one of those people who loves names! I bought my first baby name book when I was in middle school, and ever since then, I have been (nearly) obsessed with the meaning, history, and heritage of names. My middle school journals contain lists of names that I loved at that point....don't laugh too hard, but here's a sample of one of my entries:

July 29, 1994
I want to have 12 girls. Perhaps if I have a few boys it will be okay. I will never make any of my children endure the pain of having a popular name. (I guess I was "slightly" dramatic even back then!) Here are names I like:
Mary Rose
Victoria Lynn
Tricia Joy (this was the name of a senior at my high school whom I completely idolized)
Theresa Hope

Thank goodness that my tastes have changed since then! ;) I think that some of my interest in names came from my own middle name, Victoria. My parents chose it simply because they liked how it flowed with Bethany. But, after I was born, they discovered that Victoria was also the middle name of two of my great-grandmothers, Emma Victoria & Clara Victoria. I love that my name is linked to my family's heritage, even though that was a sweet surprise that my parents didn't plan on!

Ever since I bought that first baby name book, my name book collection has only grown and now includes these titles, plus a few others (including a collection of Swedish names that is completely printed in Swedish). The Baby Name Wizard is definitely my favorite baby name book. Each name entry in this book contains a graph showing which decade the name was most popular. It also includes 5 complementary boy & girl names as possible sibling names. The author, Laura Wattenberg, created an interactive website called the NameVoyager that also shows the popularity of each name per decade. A new feature on this website is a U.S. map which shows how relatively popular a name is in each state. Don't go to this website unless you're ready to spend at least a half hour checking out all your favorite names!!

Thankfully, Dave willingly puts up with my interest in baby names. We even have a tradition of playing a "game" called "Name of the Night"--also known in our home as NOTN. NOTN involves me proposing a baby name late at night (usually when I can't sleep) and Dave (who's usually half-asleep) telling me the first thought that pops into his mind when he hears the name (which is usually either a grunt or a "Are you kidding me?"). This has been a very successful way for us to "weed out" a lot of names! ;) (Perhaps you could play NOTN, too, in order to discover your next baby's name.)

Needless to say...we are very excited about sharing Baby Rinn's name as soon as he's here! We love its meaning and link to our family heritage...but there's no way you'll get it out of us now! Any guesses, though?