Pearl Diana: where it came from

A couple people have asked about Pearl's name, so I thought I would share her name story here.
For several years, I was 100% set on Georgia for any future daughters. It was a name we considered for #3, but after we settled on Juno instead, I felt sure we would use it if we had another daughter. Georgia is the name of my grandmother's half sister who died when she was five; it's also one of Jason's great-great-grandmother's names (I think it's a double great--maybe just one?) So not only is it a family name on both sides, but we also both really love the song "Going to Georgia" and the name itself. 
For the first half of this pregnancy, I was still completely set on Georgia and didn't even consider other names. If we had a 4th girl, Georgia was it. But then we found out we were actually expecting our 4th girl...
... and suddenly, Georgia just didn't feel quite right. I don't know why, but I knew pretty quickly that Georgia wasn't her name, and Pearl was.
Pearl was on our list with Juno as well but it definitely has never been a front runner. It just felt so right for this baby and now that she's here, I think we definitely made the right choice. She is such a Pearl (or Polly, as we sometimes call her at home). As for Diana, that is Jason's grandma's name, who passed away 10 years ago. Names that end in that -uh sound are really hard to put in the middle spot, but I think Pearl Diana is perfect!

apples

Remember how crazy everyone went 10 years ago when Chris Martin and Gwyneth Paltrow named their daughter Apple?
I never thought it was that bad of a name... in fact, I kind of liked it then (and kind of love it now). 
I've always been an autumn girl. I loved going back to school as a kid, I love the crisp air and bright blue skies and changing leaves, I love all the flavors and scents in the air, I love Halloween, and I LOVE APPLES!!!! If Apple weren't a celebrity name, it could totally have been Tempe's name, because she was born in the fall and I think it totally captures that golden autumn afternoon feeling :)
Anyway, yesterday we went to my MIL's to pick apples and they are the best apples I have ever had in my life! They are huge and so sweet and crisp. And they also don't brown when cut, weird huh? 
We are enjoying eating them plain and trying some new recipes. Today for the girls' afternoon snack, I diced apples and cooked them in butter with cinnamon sugar until it was all ooey-gooey and served them with homemade cinnamon tortilla chips. It was soooooo good! Right now I have some overnight apple cinnamon oatmeal in the crockpot for breakfast tomorrow. Oh, and a big jug of apple cider (the good stuff) was calling my name at the grocery store today, so I think I will tackle these delectable waffles tomorrow as well.
Also, can you tell that I had a lot of energy today?

what's in a name?

Random, but I've never posted my kids' name stories on my blog. I thought I should.

So here they are, the short version.

Tempe Joann

Tempe is named after Jason's mission in Tempe, Arizona. He served full time for two years starting when he was 19. His mission made a big impact on him and we wanted to honor that. It's also family tradition. Jason's dad served in Texas and named his youngest son Austin; Jason's brother served in Madagascar and named his daughter Maddy. We were so convinced that we were having a boy that we didn't even bother to discuss a girl's name. We had talked about Tempe as a name before I was pregnant, so when we were surprised with a girl, Tempe fit the bill! It is an unorthodox name but fits our spunky little girl perfectly!

Joann is after my maternal grandmother (Joanne) and Jason's paternal grandmother (Joan, but she pronounces it Joanne). We wanted to honor them both so we chose a "neutral" spelling.

Helena Louise

I wanted to find out what we were having the second time around, so I told Jason he could name the baby if we found out. Big mistake! He did a great job but it was torture for me to have no say in our baby's name! Jason wanted something somewhat old-fashioned and he kept coming back to Helena (which we pronounce huh-LAY-na, by the way). And yes, this is the first place we heard the name. Best video ever. Still mad it didn't win a VMA in 2005.

Louise is my paternal grandmother's middle name and my only sister's middle name. I actually liked it enough for a first name, but remember, I didn't get any say!

Juno Kate

Juno has been my favorite name since I was pregnant with Helena. And for the record, I saw it on a baby name board before I saw previews for the movie! I love that Juno is so close to a very common name (June) that it's not completely out there, but it still has a fresh little twist on the end. It's June with a party on the end of it. I love the "O" ending. I considered other names, but Juno was the frontrunner and it won out!

Kate is, obviously, after me :) Jason picked it. Isn't he sweet??

I wish I could name other people's kids. I think we're going to be done having kids before I get to use all of my favorites.

And when the heck are we going to have a boy??? I had over 40 names on my boy list before we found out Juno was a girl!! COME ON!

Why nicknames are important to think about

Jason and I tend to be more "Name them what you'll call them" kind of people.

The exception is when we're considering names that are 3 or more syllables. Those names are the ones that are shortened most often, so we spend a lot of time thinking of what we would prefer to use as a nickname.

Example: Persephone.

We're probably never going to use this name, but if we did, we would actually call her Persephone. But I know that I could not count on everyone else to call her by that long name all the time. The most natural nickname for this is probably either Percy or Sephie, neither of which we like--so when we were considering Persephone, we spent a lot of time thinking of nicknames that we liked: Sunny, Polly, Poppy, Penny (there really are a lot once you get started brainstorming). Even if we planned on calling her Persephone 99% of the time, we planned on being prepared with a nickname to use 1% of the time so that other people could take their cues from us.

That's our strategy with any 3 syllable or more name.

Very interesting, right?

just so you know

I let Jason get a Wii and he's letting me name our baby.

I wish I could discuss the names on my list (there are about 7 or 8 right now), but I can't. I'm really excited about them all, though! I think it will be hard narrowing it down to just one fabulous choice.

a name experiment

Have you ever thought you really liked a name--liked how it looked written down and how it sounded when you thought it--but decided it wasn't that great after saying it a couple of times?

You say your child's name a lot.

You yell your child's name a lot.

The other day, me and my girls were the only people at our neighborhood park. I decided to take advantage of the deserted playground and test-drive some of the names on my list. So while the girls played, I would shout out something like "Olive! Stop throwing sand at your sister!!" every few minutes.

{Olive really is on my list, but Jason has already vetoed it, so I feel safe sharing it here}

It was a very helpful exercise. A couple of names weren't as great being yelled across a playground as they were in my head--but my #1 all time favorite name (plus a variation on it) passed the test!

give me something to name

my favorite name sites

{nameberry} I love the hot lists and that this site includes cultural references in regard to names.

{nymbler} For name nerds, having a complementary sib-set is important, and nymbler.com can help. Type in names that you like or have already used and this site brings up similar names.

{appellationmountain} Name of the Day? Check. Sunday Summary? Check.

{social security administration} Study the history of a name over the past 10 years to see how fast it's rising--or if it's even in the top 1000.

issues

Think about how many characters on LOST are named by someone that doesn't ultimately raise them.

Walt was named by Michael, but not raised by him until he was 10.

Aaron was named by Claire, but was only with her until he was a few months old.

Ben was named by his mother, who died shortly after.

Alex was named by Danielle, but snatched and raised by Ben after only a week.

Ji Yeon was named (kind of) by Jin, but still hasn't actually met her father.

ETA John Locke was named by his mother who left him to be raised in foster care.

Once again, my two passions (names and LOST) converge...

everything is hipster part two

Here's a sample conversation Jason and I have over and over again.

"What about Ruby?"

"Yeah, I like it, but I think it's too hipster."

"... Isn't not using a name that we like because it is hipster just as hipster as using a name just because we want to be cool?"

As for my #1 all time favorite name, I'm not going to reveal it... Jason especially doesn't like people to know the names we are considering, and if I ever have another girl, this one will still be at the top of my list.

But I will say this. It is a not necessarily common name, but a well-known name, with a little "twist" on it. It fits in well with our two ancient Greek names (did you all know that Tempe is Greek? so is Helena). It has just the right amount of spunk and classicism to tie together Tempe and Helena.

But that's all I'm going to say.

everything is hipster

all the baby names i like are hipster.

like: august, elvis, georgia, harper, hazel, hugo, iris, leo, magnus, milo, olive, oscar, pearl, piper, poppy, roman, ruby, scarlett, sebastian, silas, stella, sullivan, teddy, theo, violet.

At least my all time #1 baby name isn't on the hipster list.

(and no, I'm still not pregnant, hoping that will change soon...)

man of science, man of faith

{With "the beginning of the end" rapidly approaching, you can look forward to a lot of LOST posts from me. I have been talking and thinking about it nonstop since Christmas, when my brother gave me a Dharma Swan t-shirt.}

I have often wondered if J.J. Abrams purposefully chose a diminutive form of "John" for the name of Locke's nemesis. John Locke and Jack Shephard are polar opposites in everything--their priorities, their leadership styles, their belief systems. John believes in fatalism; Jack, free will. Jack is a self-proclaimed man of science; John is a man of faith.

I like to think that Abrams was aware of the implications of his choice.

After all, names have been an important aspect of LOST. Many of the characters' names are allusions to literature or philosophy: John Locke/Jeremy Bentham, Danielle Rousseau, Charlotte S. Lewis, Desmond David Hume, Anthony Cooper, Boone Carlyle, James "Sawyer" Ford . Ben's ill-fated mother's final request before she died was that her son be named Benjamin. Flashback Danielle and her french lover had already chosen the name Alex for their baby, whether it was a boy or a girl. And the mysterious Jacob alludes to the Old Testament Jacob: "God loves you as He loved Jacob".

I recently wondered about the effect a name has on a child, and the same theme can be explored in LOST. Sawyer's most recognizable trait is his habit of calling people by nicknames, including himself. James Ford adopted the name of the man that conned his parents, and along with the name, he adopted the man's persona. I can't be the only person who noticed that his personality changed as he started going by James again.

If Jack was really John, would he still be a man of science? Or would he become a man of faith?

on names

Choosing a name is arguably the most important thing you will do when preparing for a new baby.

I think so, at least.

But how important is a name, really? Does it affect how people react to your child? Does it set the stage for the kind of person your child will be? Does it have an effect on their blossoming personality?

When I was pregnant with Tempe, the only other name we considered was Isabella (and only in passing). If she was Isabella, would she be as spunky as she is now? Would she still play in the mud? Would she love racecars? Or would she be more refined, more delicate?

Did my notions of how a "Tempe" should act cause me to condition her to act that way?

Did we unknowingly choose a name that fits her personality to a T?

Did her personality cause me to form an idea of how a "Tempe" should be?

What do you think?