- When someone looks at the name, they will know how to pronounce it and when someone hears the name, they will know how to spell it. Growing up with an unusual name, I was very sensitive to what I would name my children because I didn't want them to have the same issues that I did. I have finally embraced my name, but I know that people avoid me sometimes because they can't remember my name.
- No automatic nicknames. They will go by their full name. I actually don't have a problem with an earned nickname, but I don't like it when someone, especially a stranger automatically shortens a full name to a nickname (like when Daniel introduces himself as Daniel, and they call him Dan. His family calls him Dan- sometimes even Danny- but they know him and have a history with him). We really like the name Jonathan, but we didn't want him to go as John, and I didn't want to be THAT mom who would tell people who called and asked for "John" that no one by the name of "John" lives here- true story, I know the woman. I do find it strange that people will automatically lengthen a one syllable name to two by adding an "e" sound (Marky, Pauly, Sethy, Janey)! Daniel has fun nicknames for some of his siblings and our kids but there always seems to be a story behind them, so I like those nicknames. I am Sherronica, Jenny is DJ Jenny G, Sam is Samuel Noriega, Mark is Markolatum Deep Rub, Paul is Paulipokey, Seth is Sethraham.
- Low on the popularity list. In my 6th grade class we had 6 girls named Jennifer. So we differentiated them by Jen D., Jenny, Jenny R., etc. I decided that I didn't want that for my kids. I know that it isn't possible to completely avoid a duplicate name, but I checked the Social Security listing for the previous few years to make sure that we weren't picking a super popular name. Having the common last name of Taylor made me more conscientious about the popularity of the first names.
- The name has a special meaning- this one wasn't paramount, but if we found a name that meant something to us, we were happy to use it! All of the middle names we picked have special meanings to us. We wanted the middle names to have purpose and be meaningful, not a 'filler' middle name.
- No using names of previous boyfriends/girlfriends.
- What does it rhyme with? I thought like a school yard bully when coming up with name-calling possibilities. Sometimes I'd run the name past my brother, Kelly, to see what he could come up with!
- No alliterations. I'm not head over heals over first names that start with the same letter as the last name. Sometimes it is just too cutesy or sounds forced. A lot of people use it, I'm just not a fan. I always liked the name Tyler, but Tyler Taylor just doesn't work for me, so the name was out (besides the nickname Ty was an issue!)
- No 'theme' names. I didn't want to be stuck with finding a name that starts with a certain letter because all of the other siblings start with that same letter. I didn't want movie star themes or alphabetical themes or types of minerals themes. It wasn't until we were pregnant with our 3rd that we realized that the first two kids had a pattern of one syllable and 4 letters. We didn't purposely do the same for Seth, but it was a name that we liked and most of the other names we were considering were one syllable and four letters. Not surprisingly when you want a name that doesn't have automatic nicknames, one syllable names fit the bill quite nicely.
Last August my mother-in-law asked me to write a little bit about each of my kids (I really didn't forget!). I've been working on it here and there, so I hope to get the posts written and published within the next few weeks. (Don't hold your breath though!)
