Couldn't Relax Until I Had a Name (+ Annoying Mother-in-Law)

That is truly admirable, those of you who can just wait patiently for the right name to come. But as for me, I just couldn't quite relax until I had a name for my baby. It seemed too important.

With my daughter, we wanted something unique, but not bizarre. At about 3 month along, I was watching a movie (Somewhere in Time) in which there was a character named Elise McKenna, but everyone called her Miss McKenna. It was perfect. 12 years ago, when I had her, I had never heard even one person named McKenna. Now, of course it is more common.

The really annoying part was my mother-in-law. Up until the day of the birth, she kept saying, "It's not too late to change it. I think you should name her Mary." What??? How does that fit our requirement of being unique? Then my husband told me that's the name she wanted to name one of her own children. As far as I'm concerned, she had her chance to name children (she had seven!)

With my son, we had a harder time. We really hadn't found a name we loved, but I was already about 8 months along. I was teaching Sunday School: a story from the Old Testament. And then I saw the name Caleb. Again I thought, unique but not bizarre. And people don't read the OT like they used to, so there won't be any other Calebs. Wrong. That turned out to be a pretty popular name, as well. Or maybe I am just more aware of it.