How did you name your child?

Oh how we struggled to find just the right names for our children.
It went something like this:
Me, trailing lists of baby names, books on the subject, top 100 baby girl names and baby boy names of about 20 countries or so. I obsessed. I had to find the PERFECT name. The one and only. Easy to pronounce, slightly unusual, not too unusual, international and all that.Mr Cartside just listened and vetoed.
When suggesting names I liked to Mr Cartside, invariably, he seemed to not like the ones I liked best. And when he liked one I suggested, I wasn't sure I liked it any more. At least that was my impression, some severe case of reverse psychology.

With Cubling, we knew we were having a girl. When I went into labour, we still had a list of about 15 baby girl names. Many of my favourites weren't even in because they had been vetoed by dad-to-be. I named Cubling in a drugged daze; I generously (for once) picked the name I thought Mr Cartside had favoured (Just that he may not in fact have favoured it, it was just my impression).

When we were expecting Snowflake, we didn't know if we were having a boy or a girl. Well, we still had that list of unused baby girl names and over the years, I couldn't get one name out of my head. Fortunately Mr Cartside liked it too so we were sorted for a girl.

But a baby boy name? Could we agree on one? It was all in vain. There were no arguments mind you, just an inability to find a name we were both really keen on. Take Alan or example. I think Mr Cartside suggested it, but I'm not sure any more. All I know is that initially I didn't like it so much, but did put it on the list, then really got into it, thinking it may be the perfect compromise, not my favourite but a lovely name, only for it to be vetoed in the end, with great disappointment on my part, I'd really grown rather fond of it. As for the obvious names we both liked, each seemed to be taken by about 3 or more children already (there are a lot of Finlays and Calums running about) or Rafael Nadal was getting a tad too popular for our liking. For obvious reasons I fancied Raul (pun intended), but with the whole Raoul story in the news I didn't even suggest it. Or did I? Well, it wasn't on the list that's for sure.

Just as well we had a girl then.
When we registered her name, we both eagerly read the 2010 list of top 100 Scottish baby names displayed in the office. We were surprised that Snowflake ranked rather high and that all the boys' names I liked were really rather popular.

And I had thought we were going for the slightly unusual. How wrong. We're just your average Scottish family, and our name preferences influence by what's popular right now.
Maybe Snowflake will share my plight of having more than one namesake in her classroom. Little chance of that for Cubling - though her name is well known, it's not currently popular.

With both names, I love their meaning. They are international and easy to pronounce in many countries. For middle names we used names of loved ones no longer with us.

PS we did involve Cubling in the naming game, just she wasn't playing and came up with ideas such as Snowflake. Silly isn't it?

How did you pick names? Did you consider their meaning or anything else that had to be just right?

A boy named Sue and a girl named Tiddler

Little M. is asking for post on how bilingual families choose their children's names. The big question is if and how does being a bilingual family influence your choice of names? I bet in most bilingual families the name choice question is somehow linked to the two (or more) cultures, and so it is in our home. We don't as such look for names that have to exist in both languages. But nonetheless, being a bilingual household has influenced our choice of name(s).

The situation is a bit compounded by my love for rather a lot of different cultures. So it's not just a British and German name book that I'd be looking at, no, I love the idea of picking a traditional Scottish name, Spanish name and Irish name. Ideally all in one. And it has to have some meaning that I like too. It has to sound nice and not be too average nor too unusual. Oh, and by the way, hubby has to like it too (which really complicates things as you can imagine ;-) ).

Mission impossible.

So, as for Cubling, I went into labour with a list of 9 names and picked one as I was rather drugged up but elated for having just about avoided the dreaded c-section and as I was holding Cubling in my arm for the first time. That's my excuse. But it's a good name (and we only realised how fitting it is for her later) and I've blogged about it before. It's a name that's easily pronounced in most languages I like, has meanings in many and almost exists in German (as an abbreviation of a longer name). Our choice for a baby girl name this time is already set (we had 9 names remember) and it's lovely because it actually exists in English, German and Spanish, has fab meanings, is easy to pronounce. The only drawback is spelling which differs between languages. And no, we haven't decided on spelling yet.

But oh to find a boy's name. We do have some contenders, but none of them ticks all the boxes. They are either odd in German or odd in English. My favourite names have been taken by friends. Not once, I wouldn't mind that, but 2-3 times each which is a bit much. There is a mutual exclusiveness between looking for an Irish name and having an easy pronunciation/spelling in German which doesn't stand the choice for any Irish name in good stead. Scottish names fare only mildly better. I have a few favourite German names that my beloved really doesn't like. So we're still looking - and I may just toss the principles into the air and go for the name we both like best.

Cubling has it sorted of course. She's telling everyone the baby's called Tiddler. Oh, and according to her, it's going to be a baby girl anyway. Sorted.