Sunday, September 18, 2011

The Methodology of a Name

As some of you may know, Dave and I are expecting our second child this winter. We're very excited to meet this new little person, albeit somewhat terrified about the prospect of chasing around not one, but TWO small children. I suppose the evolving/devolving coherence of this blog will be a testament to how we're managing. ;-)

Anyhoo, we are once again having to contemplate a name for this impending HelgaHume. And unlike our first time going through this process, we have less time and energy to sit and daydream about perfect name choices.

We have to be focused. We have to be decisive. And somewhere in there, we also have to listen carefully for the gentle, easily-missed messages from the universe... quiet messages guiding us towards the baby's true name.

No pressure.

So here's the method we are using, in all of its OCD-esque glory. To keep things interesting, I included name-casualties at each turn... the list of active names remains very secret, but perhaps you might be entertained in knowing which names have hit the chopping block, and for what exact reasons. ;-)

1. Buy a name book, preferably one slanted to your own naming sensibilities


Unsure of where to start, we purchased a baby name book specifically tailored to the kinds of names we are drawn to. The tongue-in-cheek book of choice was "Cool Names for Babies" by Satran and Rozencrantz, chosen for its emphasis on less common names, ranging from "a little different" to downright strange.

Casualties: Ultra-popular choices Jacob, John, Emma, Madison.


2. Secretly write down every name you don't hate


Dave and I independently went through the book, writing down every name that we were at least lukewarm about. We also added names we'd come across, or thought up, in the interests of having this list be as complete as possible.

Casualties: Names in the book that didn't resonate... Gable, Otis, Lola, Olivia


3. Combine lists, make notes of overlap

I then combined both lists into a single MEGA-LIST (in Excel), boldfacing the names that appeared on both lists. Note, there were no casualties at this point, as they happen next...


4. Blackball!

This was fun. We'd independently look over the list, and cross out anything we hated. Again, anything that was at least lukewarm to both partners could stay. Still, it was fun to tease each other for "weird" selections. ;-)

Casualties: Elvis, Connor, Lydia, Isabella


5. Points system

We were left with a long list of names, and now needed a way to prioritize them by how much we liked them. I proposed a method involving allocating points, where:
  • 1 point = lukewarm
  • 2 points = kinda like it
  • 3 points = really like it!
Going through all the remaining names, we individually gave points to each according to how much we individually liked them. These scores were added to one another, for a total ranging from 2 to 6.

Then, we sorted the names by points, and removed anything scoring 2 or 3 points, as that meant that neither of us was especially keen on said name.

Casualties: Bigby, Kennedy, Tamsin, Sonata


6. Weird meanings?!

Given that name meanings are important, we looked up the meanings of the remaining names, and removed any with strange or uncomfortable meanings.

Casualties:
Tennyson = "Son of Dennis". Uhm, no, and Davidson/Karlason doesn't sound as cool, or relate back to awesome poets of yore.
Hudson = "Son of the hooded man". Sounds kinda rapey, dont'cha think? :-/
Caledonia = "From Scotland". Not really.
Ingrid = "Beauty of Froy, the mythical Norse horse". Pretty as a horse? No thanks.

...but the prize goes to Ripley, meaning "shouting man's meadow". Hee hee hee... "AUGH!! AUGH!!! I'm in a meadow!!! AUGH!!!" Yes, I'm finding that way too funny.


7. Stella Barbarella: Thinning the list by removing less desirable same-end-letter options

I noticed on our girls' names list that a stunning number all ended with the same letters. Granted, girls' names ending with "a" and "y"-sounds are both very common, but it pointed out to me that we could not indeed give a first and middle name that both ended in the same letter/sound without it sounding weird.

Hence, when grouping together eligible names by last letter (=LAST() function, for all you Excel junkies), I realized these groups were all in direct competition with one another. As such, it would be wise to thin each end-letter group to three or so entries, according to which we're showing a stronger preference for.

Casualties: Augustine, Sawyer, Isadora, Melody


... So what's step 8? Your guess is as good as mine! Our lists still need thinning, but at least they're prioritized. Will update you with further steps as they arise, but in the meantime, I hope this has minimally entertained you. ;-)

14 comments:

Jenn Gaunt said...

Step 8? - review combinations of names that correlate with any or all existing familial names, to avoid any real world comparisons (Will and Grace, Will and Kate, Dave and Wendy...you get the idea) and decide whether rhyming or same letter names are to be excluded from the list (ie Jill(ian), Wilma etc). Just sayin', but really none of my business. Have fun narrowing down the parameters.

Marc and Ive said...

Ok, here's our suggestion for the next step: Eliminate unfortunate acronyms. We found that some name combinations made for bad initials. Stewart Timothy Delahousse was just out of the question.

Karla said...

Jenn -- Funny you should mention that, as former strong contenders Grace and Hilary (as in, Bill &) were axed for those very reasons. ;-) Ted and Harry are also out, but neither were serious considerations... for those of you who've met Dave, you'd see how cruel it would be to name our offspring "Harry". ;-)

And given our love of flower names, and our wanting to remember our Ontario connections, we'd briefly considered "Trillium" as a pretty name... until we remembered William... THAT would have been hilarious! ;-)

Karla said...

Heya Marc and Ive! Good idea, it would suck to be named Donald Ulysses Hume. ;-) H is a safe-ish letter re: unfortunate acronym potential, but if you get any ideas for stuff to avoid, I'd love to hear em! :-D

Anonymous said...

Karla tell us about your name Karla with a K. Just wondering.

Anonymous said...

Is it a boy or girl? I so hope its a girl with big brown eyes and a smile that lights up the room,the world. So happy for you all!

Marc and Ive said...

Ben Alexandre Hume
Nathan Abrahim Hume
Melanie Edith Hume
Uriah Gustav Hume
Penelopy Uma Suzanne Hume

Anonymous said...

Hume means 'from the cave'.
The meaning of the name Karla is 'Free man'

Karla said...

I'm named after my dad, but with the alternate spelling for a different spin.

And we don't know whether this one's gonna be a boy or girl, but we're pretty excited either way. :-)

LOL Marc and Ive, love the initials "suggestions"! ;-)

Anonymous said...

Your dads 2nd name is Carla?

Anonymous said...

Wilma or Wilard where there's a will there's a way.

Anonymous said...

Darla Kala Hume

Comparador de seguros médicos said...

This is my first time I have visited here. I found a lot of interesting stuff in your blog. From the volume of comments on your articles, I guess I am not the only one! keep up the great work.

Consejos para reformar la cocina said...

I believe you have remarked some very intriguing details , thankyou for the post.