Say My Name

As I’m sure you can imagine, names are a frequent topic around our house these days.  Particularly… boy’s names.

That’s right.  That adorable profile with the tiny button nose you see there?  That’s my son.

I’m still getting used to the sound of that phrase as it rolls off my tongue and around inside my head.  My son.  There’s a lot invested in those two itty bitty words.

But back to names.  So far my main concern has been to find a name that’s unique without being weird; that won’t, by nature of its spelling, encourage strangers for all eternity to pronounce it wrong; and that hopefully won’t embarrass our dear child at any point in his early OR later years.

Yet, on my way to work this morning, I realized something else that needs to be considered.  I was listening to my music (too loud, as always) and singing to the baby (because he can apparently hear me now) and a lyric stopped me in my tracks.  In the middle of belting out ‘Set Fire to the Rain’ along with Adele (albeit, not as well as she does), it struck me like lightening.

“’Cause I heard it screaming out your name, your name.”

For some reason, it made me think in that second how important someone’s name can really become to the people around them.  And some of this is tough to think of because, well, he’s still my son, but someday (if he’s lucky), some sweet girl will get shivers at the sound of his name.  Or it could bring her great comfort, or pride.  If he has his daddy’s striking baby blues, the combination of those eyes and his name could make her catch her breath.  There is so much… emotion that can end up being tied up in a name.

So of course it’s a big decision, and we’re definitely mulling it over with lots of seriousness (and a decent dose of levity).  We’ve already considered and discarded all sorts of options.  Right now we’re calling the baby a name we considered back before we were ever even pregnant and it’s striking a chord with me… so far. 

 We’ll give it a few more days and see if it starts to annoy me.