Round 2 of the Name Game!

So we're back in the name game! Actually, it hasn't been much of a game. We kinda knew what names we wanted before we even got pregnant. As of right now, our boy name is the name I've loved since college but which was beaten out by "Jack" during our last pregnancy, and our girl name is our leftover girl name, which is a combination of Jon's top pick and my top pick. Hmmm piqued your interest yet? Well, unfortunately I'm not going to tell you what they are. Our names aren't secret, and if you ask I'd gladly spill the beans, but there's something about posting them on your blog that makes it so official. Plus I like to keep things interesting.

Just for fun here's a clue - both names start with "J." ............. Of course!!

We also don't have middle names yet. I have the hardest time settling on middle names. Do you use that space after the first name to honor a friend or family member? Or do you use it to indulge yourself in that creative name that you love but just don't have the guts to put up front? Does it need to be a different number of syllables from the first name? Can it end in an "-n" sound, especially since our girl will probably drop her "-n"-sounding-suffix-last name within the first third of her life? Can we give this baby two middle names even though we only gave Jack one, all our friends are doing it, and I have so many lovable names to use up...? And so on, and so forth. So you can see my dilemma. And my uncanny ability to make a mountain of a mole hole.

During our (what I really mean is "my") ever-important search, I've come across my new favorite name website - http://www.babynamewizard.com/. Not only does this website give you a fancy little paragraph about your name, but also allows readers to vote on different personal perceptions of a name and share real life siblings names for that name. And, as a data head myself, my favorite feature is the line graph that portrays the popularity of a particular name from 1880 to the present, the color-coded map that displays each name's popularity by state, and the ranking of that name per country! Suffice it to say I'm having tons of fun researching potential baby-titles!

Recently I found another great source for "J" names - TLC's Duggar Family's website. Now, I know they're a little different and some people (ahem, my husband) find these differences a tad annoying, but I just love this group of 20, ... eh 21. The Duggars announced that they were expecting baby #19 a few weeks after we announced our own pregnancy, my first thought was, "Ohhh, she'd better not steal my "J" name!!" Michelle is due about a month before me so they should be finding out what they're having soon, if they haven't already (I can't find any reports online). But it appears that they're taking name suggestions online at http://blogs.discovery.com/tlc-michelle-duggar-blog/2009/10/michelle-wants-your-name-suggestions-for-baby-19/comments/page/2/#comments. There are some interesting names offered here. I didn't read through them all, but I did see one of our top names mentioned in the comments at least once. So I would just like to make it clear, here and now, that no matter what name they choose, we have already had our choices picked out for the last two months or so, so we ARE NOT COPYING! Ok, I'm glad that's out there.

Well it shouldn't be long before we know which of our "J" names we'll be using. And once we know whether #2 is a boy or girl I should be able to settle on a middle name much faster!