Monday, February 22, 2010

It’s all in the name


Every Monday I will post something related to babies: inspiration, craft projects, baby news, and discoveries I have made in this new and exciting world for me. I hope you come along on that rollercoaster ride with me.

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Currently Andi and I try to master the difficult task of finding a name for our little girl. And it really turns out to be one of the more difficult jobs for us parents-to-be. Why?

Because we want her name to be special!
So that not 5 other girls in her future kindergarten have the same name. We had a look at top 10 girls’ names 2009 in a couple of countries and had to exclude the following names, although I love a couple of them:

Australia
1. Charlotte
2. Olivia
3. Chloe
4. Mia
5. Isabella
6. Emily
7. Ella
8. Sophie
9. Lily
10. Ava

Germany
1. Mia
2. Hanna
3. Leonie
4. Lena
5. Lea
6. Anna
7. Emma
8. Emily
9. Marie
10. Lilly

USA
1. Emma
2. Isabella
3. Emily
4. Madison
5. Ava
6. Olivia
7. Sophia
8. Abigail
9. Elizabeth
10. Chloe

UK
1. Olivia
2. Ruby
3. Emily
4. Chloe
5. Lily
6. Sophie
7. Mia
8. Jessica
9. Grace
10. Evie


Because we do not want her name to be too exotic!
We found wonderful rare names in the baby name book we got, but do we really want our daughter to have a name that she needs to spell every time she introduces herself – from school through to business meetings later on?

Because we want her name to be pronounceable and understandable in German and English! And a couple of other languages as well if possible.
In order to make it even more challenging, we decided we also want to give her a name that both her grandparents back in Germany and her friends from all over the world – which she hopefully will have in future – can understand and pronounce. A truly international name for an open little spirit ;-)

Because we do not want her name to remind us of someone we already know!
It is amazing how much ‘baggage’ in terms of names you can collect over 30 years. Oh no, Lisa reminds me of that horrible girl in school who made my life hell. Oh no, Bella was the name of my first dog...

Because we want her first name to go with our family name!
And that sadly excludes my previously favourite girls’ names Stella and Ella, because they rhyme with our family name. And that makes them sound like little super heroines and not like a real person.

Because we want her name to have a wonderful meaning!
I mean how can you name your little precious Dolores, if you know that it means ‘pain’? Impossible! Maybe I have read too much about names and their meaning, but now there is no turning back.

Oh well, I am glad that we have another 4 months to make up our minds ;-)

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