Names

For those of you who know me, you know that I have been absolutely agonizing over what to name the new baby. When it came time to name Amelia, I opened a name book, said to Brian "What about Amelia?" and that was pretty much it. We loved her name from the start. I knew that I wanted to name her after women who have been pioneers, and who didn't listen when they were told that they couldn't follow their dreams because of their gender. Amelia was a perfect name because not only did it bring to mind Amelia Earhartt, but my dad is a huge aviation buff, and naming her after aviation's most famous woman is a nice homage to him. Her middle name is Jane, and she was named for Jane Goodall, a hero of mine who also forged ahead, blazed a path, and changed the world despite others doubting her abilities to do so because she is a woman. It turns out that my Amelia has all of the fearlessness, determination, and strong-will that I am sure her namesakes had. I have no doubt that she will be able to achieve whatever she wants to in life, on sheer determination alone. She was very very well-named.

So what about her sister? Brian and I have barely agreed on any names, and honestly I have had such a hard time coming up with any name that really appeals to me. I think I was hoping that one would just jump out at me and seem right in the same way that Amelia's did, but no luck. Part of the problem is our last name. There aren't a whole lot of names that sound good with it. Any name starting with an "L" sounds like a Dr. Seuss character. Some otherwise beautiful names blend very badly with it. We had to get rid of any names ending with an "elle" sound just because we couldn't tell where one name stopped and another started. So I came up with name criteria (and this has probably been part of the problem!): 1) the name can't be too common. Poor Amelia is one of two Amelia's in her daycare class, they share the same last initial, so they are both called by their full names. I don't want that for mei-mei. 2) the name needs to be a classic name. Although some of the newer names are pretty, I just feel like a name should have some history behind it. 3) if she decides to become a doctor or other type of professional that people need to put their trust in, will her name fit? I also wanted to name her after someone who has been important in Brian's or my life. I would love to name our daughter after my great-grandmother Mary Elizabeth, who I was very close to and who was possibly the kindest person I have ever known.

Brian really liked the name Sydney when we first started talking, but there are already so many Sydney's in Amelia's daycare. I liked the name Eliza for a while because it was my grandmother's actual middle name, but then realized that if she disliked it enough to call herself Mary Elizabeth her whole life, would I really be honoring her by using the name Eliza? Probably not. Amelia came up with the name Elaina, which we all liked for a while until we realized that one of Brian's distant cousins has a daughter with the same name. Ugh! So back to the drawing board...

We considered so many names, none of which seemed right, and after I finally got so frustrated that I threatened to name the baby Noname, we finally sat down and came up with a short list of good names. We may even wait to see her little face before we decide on one for sure. Here is our list: Clara, Marina (Brian's favorite and as far as he is concerned, the name we are going with), and Elaina (Amelia is insisting). I have to admit that I like Marina as well since it is a way that I can name the baby after my great-grandmother (Marina is a Scottish form of Mary). And I really like Marina Elizabeth, although I worry that may be too much once we add a Chinese name to it.... So for now the jury is still out. Maybe we will add names to our list as time goes on, or maybe one will just start to seem like the right name. For now she will just be our Mei-Mei.