Chuck Chuck Bo Buck

I want to know what kinds of mean names you can come up with for Parker (girl) and Orson (boy). Those are my kids names. I can't wait to see what you guys think of.... it will be creative, I'm sure!

Also - what movie was there a "Lazlo" as a main character? Something from the 80s....

What I meant was "creative for your kids name". Although I'm sure the playground taunts that you'll create for my kids will be noteworthy as well.

I draw the line at making fun of names when they've already been chosen. And I actually don't "make fun" of potential names so much as enlighten parents as to what they're getting themselves into. It's always going to be the parents' choice in the end, but hopefully it will at least be an informed choice.

(I actually love Parker for a girl (although I have a linguistic hangup with the whole Parker, Walker, Hunter category in general), and whaddya know, one of my great-grandpas was an Orson (good, strong Mormon name)!)

Also, just so no one's disappointed when/if we reveal the baby's real name here (maybe his fake internet name should be Laszlo?), we're not really going for "creative" or unique at all. Something a little less common than Jack or William or Kayden, sure, but nothing really off-the-wall. We believe in names that are actually names.

I was just going to ask if he'll have a fake internet name like you guys, or if you'll actually reveal his actual name on the blog after he's born. Laszlo it is!

It shocked (SHOCKED!) me how many people not suggested but TOLD me what we should name our kid. I got actual e-mails that said, "Don't name her that. PLEASE DON'T."

We all have opinions. There are names we don't like. But when it comes to what two people are going to name their child, have some tact. Especially, as you said, when the name has already been chosen.

In fact, I think naming the kid is where most of the rude comments have come from during this pregnancy.

You're reminding me of the SNL sketch with Nicolas Cage and I think Julia Sweeney as expectant parents, and Cage comes up with a way to make fun of every name she suggests, some obvious, some ludicrous. At the end, you discover that his name is Asswipe Johnson ("It's pronounced, Ahz-wee-pay." "Whatever, Asswipe.")

Yeah, Simon compared me to that sketch. I took it as a compliment, but he really just wanted to tell me I was being absurd.

oooohhh now I am very curious to know what your word-never-been-used-as-a-first-name name is!

Speaking of unfortunate google searches. There is only one other person that shows up in a google return of my name..and she was a transient who was eaten by a crocodile--but not before getting written up in the papers for getting her 3 year old drunk. That's not me everybody!

Knowing my real last name is knowing why neither of my boys are named Jack or Ben. The schoolyard teasing (and our own jokes) would've made them not work. We love both names, but it takes a dirty mind to come up with a non-dirty name.

We agreed on both boys' names while driving back from Lowe's (on two occasions, a few years apart). So home improvement=inspiration for us.

We were both 29 when No. 1 hit the fan, and by then almost every name has an association with someone you knew before and don't really like. It came down to picking two "normal" names that we loved that did not come with extra baggage. For the record: Justin Elliott and Zackary Isaac.

I had three different names in my first week of life before my mom settled on my current name. People said horrible things to her for each name and shortened one of them to a horrible nick name.

The 1985 movie "Real Genius" (starring Val Kilmer) featured a character named Laslo, played by Jonathan Gries (later in NapDyno). Laslo was the nerdy hermit/genius who figured out how, based on mathematical calculations, to win several sweespstakes.

Too bad it's off the list. "You may have already won!"

That word-association is pretty much how my boyfriend and I decided we will name our firstborn (regardless of gender, probably) Beowulf Boccaccio. I mean, if you met a kid named Beowulf on the playground, you'd pretty much have to respect him. Right? ...right.

For myself, I am grateful that my parents chose to stick with traditional-but-not-too-common names for my brother and myself--also names that couldn't easily be nicknamed (although why they overlooked the obvious "Claire Bear" nickname, I'll never understand).

And I also get twitchy when people start replacing perfectly good vowels with y. It makes me think of bad fantasy novels.

Hey, my brother's a nerdy hermit/genius, so there's a strong possibility that the gene will be passed on to Wombat. And if he turns out to be not much of a genius, we can just call him "Zslo" for short.

That is exactly why I won't discuss names with anyone. I was FORCED to give one of my favorites away to my MIL because she was going to name their new dog the same name :( And then of course his aunt went into a big rant about what a dumb name it is. Sucks!

Other thoughts: Laertes is kinda cool!!

So, if you don't use the flux capacitor of names, do we get to hear it?

Sadly, I don't think I'll be comfortable sharing any potential names until we're completely done having kids (two is the limit), since Flux Capacitor might very well be in the running for #2. I know it's dumb to think I have to "protect" my names from being "stolen," but hey, just because it's irrational doesn't mean I can't feel that way.

I thought naming Dahlia was SUPER hard. It's monumental, you know? It's with them until...she gets old enough to legally change it and break her mother's heart, herself! We didn't tell ANYONE our names. We, like you, wanted no one's opinion or criticism. People are mean...intentionally or not its not what a hormoned-out pg woman needs! We had 2 boy names & 2 girl names and when she was born we thought about it for about 5 or 6 hours before we named her. We kept going back & forth.

The other names are still in "reserve" and haven't been spoken to anyone. You never know, we might have another kid!

I really don't remember being name teased or participating in name teasing at all as a child. Huh. Kids will tease anything though. If not your name, your hair, clothes, walk, talk, and on and on. We might have to wait until we see our baby to name it too. Finding out what it is in a few weeks. Once it IS named though it's really hard to keep from referring to it by name when talking to other people (why we went ahead and shared Kem's name before her birth.)
Oh yeah, also, considering the wide number of cultures our kids will be growing up in contact with I think (hope?) names will become less of an issue. Maybe. But who knows?

Makes me nuts. The ONLY response that is appropriate to prospective names parents really like is, "How lovely!"

Unless it's Psymon, spelled exactly like that. I draw the line at Psymon.

And the only comment you should ever make about a pregnant woman's appearance is "You look great!" Not "You're HUGE" or "You're tiny" or "You look tired." Thank you and goodnight.

"Psymon"!

I think I told you all that I have my children's names picked out because I am anal retentive and a planner and I refuse to tell anyone because what if someone else decides to use the same name in 2018??

Anyway, I think I was drunk when we had this conversation which means that you could have told me and I have no clue what your kid's name is going to be.

That said, I'm sure you're going to choose the perfect name. So long as you don't choose Psymon or Martin or D'Brickashaw (Great football player, also born in December, but just don't).

The new attorney in the office has a young kid (admittedly, with a really beautiful name) and she gets really caught up in giving me the lowdown on parenting controversies, including the horror of names. The other day she was complaining to me about what her friend named her baby.

Her:...and she made up this weird girl name for her kid. I feel so bad for it.

Me: What did she name him?

Her: AMBROSE! Isn't it awful? I don't know what possessed her.

Me: Maybe she named him after Ambrose Bierce. It's better than Hat, or Bookcase.

Her: *blinks*

Ok, I'll take the tauntable-name challenge. Come up with something for "Steve" that isn't "Even Steven".

Also, second part: How are you guys going to resolve the last-name issue? Half and half, if/when #2 comes around? I'm curious.

I'm with you on the don't tell anyone front. After talking through a few names with people, we decided that we couldn't take the insanity that came with telling other people your name picks. Other people are mean jerky-jerks! Even when they are nice and don't mean to be.

Folks are always surprised that I was the one who chose Arun and Anjali's names. They were names that I had always loved even before meeting my husband. Marrying him was mere convenience because surely, I would not have been able to convince a white guy to go with those names.

I usually get the squinty eye and a cautious "oh, that's unusual". If I am in a giving mood, I will "confess" that my baby daddy is from India.

The irony is that Arun's name, in particular, is very, VERY common amongst the Catholic Indians from Kerala. A google search on his full name yields TONS of results.

Also, meant to mention, kids will find anything to make fun of if they need to. My name is Kelli - did the kids go with that with something like "smelly"? No, they went straight for my glasses and dubbed me Four Eyes. Nice, real nice.

You are *totally* naming the kid Tyrone. Heh.

People say the dumbest things. I make it a practice not to ask what someone plans on naming a baby for these very reasons.

I was speaking to my grandmother (Johnnie Belle. Her parents really wanted a boy) tonight about her new home health care nurse--Pschae. Sounds like Shea. Or Shae. Or Shay.

When we were pregnant with the Chicken if she was a boy we were going to name her Tristan Xavier. When telling hubby's g-ma she said "Hmmm, Triscuit, that is such an interesting name. Familiar yet interesting" Granny I said Tristan not Triscuit. "Oh thank goodness, why is Triscuit so familiar then?" Its a cracker Granny.

And Chicken's name is also the name of a character which everyone thinks we named her after. Ugh, the stupid comments people give us about it. So annoying. Giggle's name is so stinking popular now (not when we named her, but about 6 years later) She gets really annoyed.

name him Seven.

everyone will say, "Steven?"

no, Seven.

"Sven?"

Seven

"Six?"

S.e.v.e.n.

See, it's fun!

Actually, Seven came up already but was shot down because it was the name of a kid on "Married with Children." (So embarrassed that I knew that!)

And there's already a Stephen in the immediate family, so that's out too.

Oh the name game... yeeesh. Good luck and good call on not asking for advice. That just makes it harder.

This might actually be my FAVORITE post that I've ever read on this blog!! I love your list all of the tests....those are some VERY important tests, and they will be good to keep in mind when I start picking out baby names (though, um, I've got a few years to think about it....).

I'm looking forward to hearing (when you are ready to announce it, that is!) your final decision for Wombat's name!!

Oh, and regarding comments about the appearance of a pregnant woman (and what you should and should not say): I had a coworker who was a former beauty queen, and she was GORGEOUS the entire time she was pregnant. I once stood by in horror as another coworker uttered the words, "Y'know, you're really carrying that baby in your face!" I think I shrieked a little and the proceeded to black out. I SINCERELY hope that no one has been saying anything about your appearance, as you have also been GORGEOUS throughout your pregnancy!!

Oh, by the way, I guess it didn't even occur to me when I wrote my comment that you probably wouldn't post your child's ACTUAL name, but I think Laszlo is the Coolest Fake Internet Name Ever.

By the way......to everyone who has commented and shared the name of his or her child/children: These names are AWESOME!! Dahlia? Parker? Orson? Zackary Isaac? Arun? Just to name a few.....AWESOME!!

This seems like a good place to say that even though I'm in no danger of having kids anytime soon (much to my chagrin), for the longest time, I always knew I wanted to name my son Paris, because it was my grandfather's name. But I think we all know what happened to the name Paris. Heavy heavy sigh. And, my father once revealed to me that my middle name is actually something he chose, and is the name of a girl he had a big unrequited crush on for years, and I "must never tell [my] mother." Sheesh. For that reason, I think it's good that you're being especially choosy. I for one thing my mother should have asked more questions!

My name is Allison and it's quite hard to come up with a mean name (i think), but having 5 kids in my family...they found a way. There was a hand-me-down coat in our family that was a hideous child version of a varsity jacket that said "PHD" down one side. Every time I wore it at the bus stop they sang the menacing song " A-L-L-I-S-O-N...P-H-D". I thought it was horrible and cried every time they sang it. Years later...I'd LOVE to have a PHD! Ah, childhood...

When I was about six years old I had a swimming instructor named Laszlo. He had black hair and wore a Speedo and taught us to blow bubbles under water.

Here's a tough name for you - Baraxil - my husband's name. Pronounced Bear a shil.
It's Basque and unusual even in the Basque Country. What can you do with that???

Help us out. We are due in 6 weeks and have an unusual name picked out for our daughter. How do we handle the judgemental looks and comments we get about the name we have ALREADY CHOSEN for our lovely girl? I'm over it already, and SHE'S NOT EVEN HERE YET. Help, anyone? We don't want to give her a middle of the road name, just so that she'll fit in. We hope she'll be proud to be Tuesday Juniper :)

My brother named his son Asher - and my SIL thought that the name was taunt proof (in that Fat Asher doesn't have a good ring to it). Until Asher was introduced to my uncle. "Ashcan, Ash backwards" oh the hilarity.

My other brother was going to name his daughter Lilu-Jellybean. The big question was should it be hyphenated or all one word lilujellybean. They had a son instead.

I know this is now an old topic, but for whatever reason I thought of it when I was busy here at work copyediting a document -- I think your heightened ability to suss out any possible "unfortunate" interpretation of a name comes from being an editor, because I know I have that radar turned on HIGH when editing. It's critical to get at all the ways a sentence can possibly be misread, whether because of a vague preposition or one o' those misplaced modifiers. Or, even a vague proposition!

I love the great baby naming debate. I also love reading all the ridiculous and lovely names people come up with and saying out loud to myself "What were they thinking" or "Why didn't I think of that"?
Choosing a name for your child is an hugely taxing challenge. It has to be original, but not to out there. It can't rhyme with certain things and has to be banana-bana-fo-fana proof. It has to sound good out loud with the middle and last name and has to have good initials for the engraving (no E.G.G., please).
I wish you all the best in your pusuit of the perfect name. I encourage you not to tell anyone until you have actually seen your child and competed the birth certificate to avoid those awkward "oh, really" moments or rude grandma comments. Then it is pretty much a done deal and everyone who doesn't like the name can suck it.
We waited until after Marleah Josephine (uber cute nickname Marly Jo) was here to tell anyone her name and we will do the same with Peanut #2.
Again, good luck and I cannot wait for the big reveal.

Oh, and for a absolutely hysterical look at bad baby names, check out: http://notwithoutmyhandbag.com/babynames/