Week 39--Picking a Name

When Justin and I first found out we were having a baby, we started tossing around names.  It was still very early in the game to spend time on something that could easily change, especially since we knew we would be finding out the gender--but I really do think that discussing names served as a way to distract ourselves from the shell-shock of becoming parents and provided that much needed "bright spot" during a very, very sick first 18 weeks.

Keep in mind, we didn't have crazy intense "naming" conversations.  But rather, we'd hear a name here and there and ask what the other one thought of it...or, we might have a name pop up in our mind and we'd send the other one a text asking what they thought of it.  I remember one night, while soaking in the tub, a little boy's name popped into my head and I hollered at Justin--he came into the bathroom, I ran the name past him and he loved it.  And that was that--if the sonogram revealed that we were having a boy, we were done!

As luck would have it, the sonogram revealed we were having a daughter.  And the name we had picked for a boy definitely was NOT a unisex name or something we could make more feminine!  Off to the drawing board we went...

Many more bubble baths later and we still didn't have a name for our daughter...and all this time, I claimed all my best thoughts and ideas came about while soaking in a big, hot tub of aqua!  Guess not...!  We wanted something unique, without being too unique, but we also wanted to incorporate a family name.  Eventually, we narrowed down the list of first names and at this point, I think we may have a first name picked out.  But that still leaves the middle name.  This has always been the absolute hardest part for us as.  Some names just didn't sound right, some were way too long, other names had already been "taken" by other babies, etc...it was starting to look like this baby just wouldn't have a middle name!

And then last week, we finally figured out the middle name!

We stumbled across the name Roxi.  Definitely not the most common name, but not too out there, either.  And it had some spunk and personality to it.  I could be wrong, but my guess is that this baby girl will be anything but quiet and reserved, so it would most likely "fit" her.  We decided that Roxi would be her middle name and with that, we finally had a name!

But, wait--I still wanted the familial element.  Naturally, we added 'Ann' to it, creating Roxann.  'Ann' happens to be my mother's middle name and the first name of Justin's late aunt.  Bingo--we not only included a family name, but we covered both sides of the family :-)  And if we ever wanted to shorten her middle name, we would just call her Roxi.

Then, it hit me.  Every time we said the name Roxann, I kept hearing "You don't have to put on the red light....ROXXXXXX-anne...duh, duh, duh..."  You know, the song Roxanne by The Police?!  I started to become hesitant about the name, but Justin never once associated the name with the song about the prostitute.  After a few days, I was able to move past the association and Roxann it was.

Roxann it was, for just about 2 more days.  Thanks to our guilty pleasure of true crime TV shows, we're back to not having a middle name!

It goes a little something like this...Sunday night, we're laying in bed and we turn on Forensic Files.  I don't know what it is about that show, but the two of us absolutely love it...we could stay up all night watching it!  Anyhow, back to the story...so, we turn on Forensic Files and the narrator comes on, explaining that this episode would be profiling the case of a dead stripper who was just 21 years old at the time of her death.  Hmmmm, that could be an interesting story!  Justin and I settled in, turned the volume up only to hear that the dead stripper was named Roxanne and went by "Foxy Roxy." 

Are you flipping kidding me?!  I turned to Justin--and he was already turning to me.  Not sure why, but we both just started cracking up...all I could say was "No! No!" between bouts of laughter!  And all he could say was the same thing!  Once we were able to talk again, we immediately decided that we were NOT using Roxann as a middle name!  No way in h-e-double-hockey-sticks could we name our daughter after a dead stripper!  I had finally worked through associating her name with The Police's song, but adding a dead stripper to the list of associations was just too much.

So here we are, back at the drawing board...!  Fortunately, this little girl seems to be hanging tight and defying the doctor's prediction of an early arrival, so with each passing day, we have more time to *hopefully* figure out a middle name.  True to the style of our early "name conversations," we've continued to casually throw out this name and that name...neither of us are too concerned about the lack of a middle name at this point. We still have a good week or so! Something tells us that we'll eventually stumble across a name (and not one that has to do with sexual exploitation) OR if the baby beats us to the punch, just getting to meet her will give us the inspiration we've been looking for!