Since You Asked: The Naming Of Babies

People asked us shortly after they were born how we chose the names we did for Nate and Seth – so here it is at last (and a little more coherently than I managed to stammer out in those first few whirlwind days) – the story of how we named our babies.

If you know me at all then you can bet I had a long list of criteria back when I was making my list of names. Choosing the perfect name for just one baby is a big enough undertaking, so choosing two perfect names for two perfect babies was an onerous task indeed.

In order to be considered, the following (in no particular order) applied:

• It had to be a name that is easy to understand when spoken.
• It had to be easy to identify in print and without "creative" spelling variations.
• It couldn't be anything trendy or made-up.
• It couldn't be overly popular.
• It had to sound good with M's last name.
• It could not be a family name.
• It had to sound good as a baby's name, a boy's name and a man's name.
• It had to be something not easily made fun of on the playground.*

In addition:

• The names we chose had to sound good together.

When I was around 20 weeks pregnant I finally gave the list I'd been painstakingly poring over to M. I say finally, because of course I'd been working on it for awhile – partly because I'm a planner, but mostly because I was about to be a mommy (and a first time one at that) and that's just what we do. I'd honed the list down to around a dozen or so names by that time, but the two I loved best of all were at the top:

Nate and Seth.

I included other names too so it wouldn't look too suspicious. Names like Henry, Charles and Gabriel were on the list and while I think they are lovely, I had my heart set on Nate and Seth – more than I wanted to admit actually which is why it took me so long to share my list with M. I was so worried he wouldn't like the names I felt so strongly about and I was trying so hard not to be too obvious over how much I was already attached. However, to my surprise and delight, M. agreed pretty much immediately – and so it was that we knew fairly early on what we hoped would be our boys' names. We still called our babies Baby A and Baby B since we considered the possibility that the names we had picked wouldn't suit the babies we were about to have – and of course we didn't know who would be Nate and who would be Seth even if the names did fit.

Or did we?

Not long after we decided on names, I slowly started to think of Baby A as Nate and Baby B as Seth. I couldn't help it. It just felt right, but I didn't tell M. that until a few hours before we were being wheeled into the OR to deliver because it sounded a little flaky on my part – especially since we had already agreed we would wait to see the babies and decide who would be known as Nate and who would be known as Seth. I think it only took us about a minute to make up our minds once we saw our boys though and we both agreed very strongly – Baby A was indeed Nate and Baby B was definitely Seth. No question about it. Score a point for mother's intuition.

The thing is, I think their names suit each of our babies so perfectly and did right from the start – they weren't interchangeable at all. Trying to picture it? I can't either, and here are the two reasons why:

Seth William is so completely a Seth William, he could be no other.



It's rather obvious really.

And Nate Oliver, of course, could never go by a name other than Nate Oliver. It was his destiny.



Clearly so.

And there you have it – the story of the naming of Nate and Seth. I hope they will grow up loving their names as much as we do.

- L.

*I realize the playground can be a tough place and children are far quicker at this sort of thing than adults often are, but just in case you've thought of the flaw in this particular criteria, I'm already painfully aware. Granted, a little too late since it was well after Nate was born that I innocently called him by a cute nickname one day and realized it rhymed with something a little naughty (in the minds of children anyway) and therefore taunt-worthy**. It wouldn't have changed my mind about his name had I realized it sooner – kids will always find something after all – but it was an eye-opener that things are never foolproof no matter how careful you think you've been. And Seth? Heaven only knows what the wee ones will come up with, but I'm no longer as sure he'll dodge that bullet either even though I've strained my brain thinking about it and come up with nothing so far. The minds of adults are just not cut out for this sort of thing as it turns out.

**No, I'm not telling you what it is. Go ask a kid. ; )