Several friends of mine are currently expecting their first children, some closer than others. Two of the couples already know the baby's gender; with the third I believe it's still too early to tell (even if they want to know). Only one of the three, as far as I know, has settled on a name.
This got me thinking about the process of pinning a name to someone, so if you're interested in my mental ramblings, by all means, read on....
I'm not a parent in the classic, biological sense of the word. On the other hand, I *am* an avid gamer and occasional scribbler. In addition, I served as Herald for my SCA group in college. I've got a shelf full of baby name books, and I've been through the naming agonies many times myself. I've named characters, and helped people come up with in-period persona names... still, the idea of coming up with a name to stick on a real person, a baby, is daunting.
Think about it a moment... there's the initial question of picking a name (or names-- will he or she have a middle name?) from the hundreds of thousands available.
You've got a few things to help narrow it down... gender, if you know. Finding something euphonious with your last name. Something that doesn't create a really embarassing initials. You may want something that reflects your family heritage. If you're "lucky" you may have no choice at all-- family, ethnic, or religious traditions may narrow things down very quickly indeed (tho' of course, you can always choose to throw tradition out the window).
But then, you're on your own, and it's going to be *nothing* like naming a character, or a grownup who can offer opinions of his or her own. When I develop a character, the name is generally the *last* thing I choose. When I get to that point, I've already got a good idea of what my nameless person will look like and what his/her/its personality will be.
A baby, on the other hand... I couldn't imagine having to name someone before you even got to meet him or her. Looking in the mirror and at your spouse might give you *some* idea of what the child will look like, but you won't know for years what his or her personality might be like or any of the other things that can affect a name.
Then again... how much of that will be affected by the name? If you name a girl Mabel, will she grow up to be a quiet, mousy wallflower (who will hate you for most of her young life for naming her Mabel in the first place)? Will Rebecca chase boys? (Is referring to her as "Girl" for the rest of her life starting to look really appealing right about now?)
And... how long *can* you wait? When do they typically issue the birth certificate, and what do they do if you don't have a name all picked out already? Granted, the kid can always get its name legally changed later, but he or she is going to be stuck with it for its formative years.... so many responsibilities. Good luck, parents-to-be.
Posted by gris at June 16, 2003 05:58 PMI think you have to have a name picked before you leave the hospital, which is typically 2-3 days after the kid is born. So you've a couple of days after the birth to settle on a name. And I've heard of couples who couldn't settle on a name until they'd actually seen the kid.
But I suspect it's a good idea to narrow the selection down to just two or three names for each gender before you go into labor. You don't want to have to start culling a list of hundreds of names while you're still exhausted from the birth. ::grin::
Posted by: Liz at June 16, 2003 10:54 PM