We finally know that the little wiggler making my belly dance is a little girl. Funny thing is, we had a boy’s name all picked out. (And no, it wasn’t the name that didn’t get used when we named Cora.) But the girl’s name has been somewhat more elusive. We think we have one, for at least the first name, but we’re still debating the middle name.

Names are funny things. They give away all sorts of information about the parents. For instance, we’re not big fans of trendy names. In fact, if we think of a name we might like, we go out to the Social Security’s baby names page and check to see if it’s been a popular name of late. Names that rank 100 or higher (as in, there were 100 names more popular that year) do better than names that are more popular.

In picking names, we’ve also ended up linking names with the impressions we’ve had of other people we’ve known who’ve had that name. Names of girls who had bad reps in high school, or who one or the other of us had a reason to dislike, generally get axed off the list pretty quick.

And, of course, you really can’t use a name that’s the name of another kid you know. I like the name Samantha, but we’re friends with another couple who already have a daughter by that name, so it seems wrong to “reuse” the name. Not that we’re in favor of creating original names or spelling names in original ways, but I don’t want to “share” a name with someone too close to us.

Got a few more months to figure it out. I don’t think we’re obsessing about it, but it does occur to me that you do spend a lot of time thinking about names. Wonder how many folks have spent more time thinking about the name for their child than they originally spent weighing the decision to have a child? (No political commentary intended there… )