Baby #3: The Joy of Choosing Names

Two weeks ago, I started discussing names for Baby with my boys. It quickly turned into a passionate brainstorming session. 

The kids suggested some crazy, hilarious names, but the ones that took the cake came from my 4-year-old. Every few seconds, he went ... 

How about Lava Boy? 

Oh what about Lightning Boy? 

Umm.. we can call baby Tsunami Boy?  

E and I laughed so hard at all his suggestions. 

At the end of the few minutes, we had an incredibly long list of names that can at best be passed off as nicknames. One of M's suggestions was 'Sexy' regardless of Baby's gender. Hmm....

E is now rooting for 'Lightning Boy'. Imagine introducing my newborn baby to my girlfriends..... 

Hey ladies, I'm so pleased to introduce to you my gorgeous baby #3. Here's Lightning Boy! 

YEAH right!!!!    *mega sarcastic tone here in case you can't spot it*

~~~

Years before I was even married, I already had two long lists of names. One containing all my favourite names for my unborn son(s) and another for my future daughter(s).

So when I was expecting my first child, I thought picking names would be one of the easiest tasks to get done since I already had a 'short' list. I was wrong.

As it turned out, E has such different opinions of what made a wonderful name that he shot down every name I had on my lists faster than I could scream any protests. 

Having lived in Europe for most part of his life, many names that are deemed interesting and lovely to me carried negative connotations to him. Or he would associate them with unpleasant adjectives/traits. 

The ones that he loves are just so impossible for me to even contemplate unless I plan to make a laughing stock out of my children. The disagreements continued for months. 

When we were expecting #1, we came to a mutually agreed shortlist of only two names (Marcus and Oliver) by the time I was 5 months pregnant. That was after I shot down all his wacky suggestions such as Fox, Neptune, Eagle and Hawk. *roll eyes* After that, no other names found its way to the consideration list. The day #1 was born, I looked at him and decided to name him Marcus. I don't know why, but it just felt right. 

With the second pregnancy, I woke up one day convinced that if #2 is a boy, I liked him to be Ethan. E disagreed and reminded me of the numerous Ethans we will meet in the near future because of the Mission Impossible movie (Tom Cruise played the Ethan character). Yah, he was so right! 

After that, we were so busy being parents that we didn't think of another name till I had about 3 months left to my EDD. Already clear of the gender, we went straight to make a list of boys' names. Oliver wasn't even considered this time. A week after my EDD (Chip was born 10 days past the EDD), we were still toggling between Jason, Lucas and Nicholas. The name was finalized a night before I went into labour. 

For this pregnancy, I already have a favourite name for boy and another for girl long before we even planned to add to the brood. E doesn't have any strong opinions for them, so for now, they are the only names we have. Everyone in the family has been referring to the baby as Baby O since the day I found out of his/her existence in January.

But recently, I decided that the boy's name is probably a poor choice because it could be pronounced differently by cheeky kids and hence making the child a target for potential nasty teases. Doh.....  

Now I am just waiting for inspiration to knock. Maybe I don't even need a boy's name after all. Shall find out real soon!