A Name Worth Remembering

Naming kids is tough.  I'm half way through my third pregnancy, and the first question I get from friends, family, and even strangers in the supermarket is, "Boy or girl?"  When I tell them I don't know, the next question--without fail--is "What names have you picked?"

Talk about being put on the spot.  The truth, dear friends/family/perfect stranger, is that I haven't decided on a name.  I haven't started THINKING about names in any serious way.  I tried to throw a few around near the end of my first trimester, but nothing felt right and I gave up.

What annoys me most about naming my flesh and blood children is not that I wait until the last month or so to settle on a name, but that I am the exact opposite when I write stories.  I get a brilliant idea (or mediocre idea...or downright crappy idea--doesn't matter) and before I can sit down to outline the plot, I start looking for names.  I've read about writers who use place markers for their characters as they outline, with things like, "He drove to town while She made breakfast."  That doesn't work for me.  I HAVE to know His name.  I HAVE to know who She is, and where She came from to get to this story.

In books, you generate the characteristics that make your characters who they are.  You give them qualities, good and bad, that anchor them to their name in a unique way.  When an author has done her job right, she's created not just a simple story, but a realistic person, and world, and adventure, that will forever stick in the reader's head.  Think about your favorite books, and the characters that inhabit them.  Do their names jump out?  When you hear Harry or Ron, what comes to mind?

One trend I'm seeing as I slowly begin the search for my future offspring's moniker is an increase in book-related names.  Isabella and Jacob topped the Social Security Office's list of most popular baby names in 2010, and hardly budged in 2011.  Over at Baby Center you can find a list of inspirational sources for naming your child, and at the top of their list is "Baby names inspired by writers."

In an article from the Daily Mail, Nameberry.com listed the following book/movie-inspired names as up-and-coming popular choices for parents: Atticus, Darcy, Eloise, Esme, Gatsby, Holden, Kairi, Katniss, Rhett, Zuzu.  And as the teen readers from the last decade grow into adulthood and begin families of their own, I think we'll continue to see a rise of characters-turned-baby names.

As for me, I think I'll keep looking.  I've got a few more months to figure it out.  And if all else fails, I can do what I did with my first two babies: steal my favorite name from one of my own stories.