What's in a Name?

On occasion, there are things that Devin does or suggests that make me think he is crazy, but that eventually grow on me. (This is because he has a visionary, spontaneous, adventurous spirit while I have to take time to process, plan and analyze every little angle of each little detail.) The naming of the twins was no exception.

I didn't care for his favorite boy name when he first shared it with me (this was before we were pregnant). I didn't think he was crazy, I just didn't like the name. Problem was, Devin really, really liked the name and had since before we met. Fortunately, I ended up falling in love with his name, he ended up really liking my "always been a favorite" middle name and -voila!- we unofficially had a boy name should we ever have a son (which, of course, we did - times two).

Then, we discovered we were pregnant with twins boys and the task of finding a second boy name (and a middle name) that we could both agree on and that sounded good with the previously elected name became... shall we say, challenging? Emotional? Tension-filled? Take your pick- they were all there at one time or another during the early stages of the process.

The Process: For about a week, we separately poured over thousands of baby names (until I was just about really to poke my eyeballs out) and each made a list of our favorites.

The Criteria: Strong, solid names that weren't too common, but not so unique that they couldn't be taken seriously in a boardroom. (This is how we felt about the first baby name we had picked.)

The Moment of Truth: We compared lists. My list was short, Devin's list was about three times as long. Between us, there was only one name that appeared on both lists and I was baffled by some of Devin's name choices. Apparently, our definitions of "strong and solid" were completely different (he didn't like my name choices either by the way). I honestly wondered how on earth we would ever pick the second twin's name. It seemed our preferences were so at odds that I would either have a very disappointed husband when I refused to choose one of his recommend names, or I would have a son whose name I would quickly mumble upon every new introduction out of sheer embarrassment.

There was one name in particular, Devin's top choice for a middle name, that was so poorly received by me that it was scratched out beyond recognition on the sheet of paper where it lay. But the more I stared at that scribble of ink, the more I thought about the name and why Devin liked it so much, the more I started to be attracted to it. Before I knew it, I had agreed to this "crazy" middle name and liked it more than any of the other three names we had (finally) decided on. Miracle upon miracle - our boys had names that we both really loved! (By this point the process had become really fun and we couldn't help but grin when we whispered our secret names to our little buns in the oven.)

Then Devin proclaimed that he might want to wait until the boys were born to announce their names - which I thought was completely ridiculous. However, the more we talked about how much that decision meant to Devin, the more I realized the idea didn't really bother me. (Isn't it strange how often we hang on to something, not because it's necessarily what we want, but because that's just not the way we are used to having things done?) I agreed that we would announce the names whenever Devin decided the time was right and I was genuinely content to wait until the birth. (Some friends and family were a little less eager to wait that long and tried very hard (::ahem:: Megan) to wriggle it out of us.)

Recently though, Devin came to the conclusion that he was just too excited about the names and wanted to share them pre-birth after all. So at my birthday dinner this past weekend, we did just that!

Hmm... this post has gotten much longer than intended, so I'll save the name announcement for tomorrow. (Don't hate me too much...)