Names

I'm debating blogging about this, but I guess I'll go ahead and do it anyway. 


While my mom was here at Thanksgiving, she asked me repeatedly what our baby name choices are. We insisted on keeping it secret for the sake of fairness and we wanted to share our names on the blog. We figured that this way all family and friends would know equally. 


I sat down to blog about our baby being the size of a banana (yay!), and I asked Derek, "Do you think I should go ahead and share our names?" His reply was a short, "Nah." I asked him why he felt that way, and he said he had no basis for his feelings and he merely picked something. He then said, "Go ahead and tell everyone." As I sit here typing, I feel insanely guilty and like I'm doing something he doesn't want me to do be doing. 


I guess I think keeping the baby names a secret for the next 19 weeks or so is just weird. 


I figure I may as well share our name choices because I don't think they're changing. Let me preface them with this: we found these names and immediately agreed. We wanted to go ahead and go with something before we drove ourselves mad. 


Here goes nothing...


For a girl, we have chosen Stella Mae Ratcliff. (Remember the SMR?) I came up with Stella based on an Interpol song - "Stella was a diver and she was always down." The link will take you to one of those Youtube videos that plays music. Now, don't go talking to me about the meaning of the song because I don't really care about that. I have loved that song since I first heard Turn on the Bright Lights by Interpol, and I think it will forever remind me of Columbus, Ohio - one of my favorite cities. I know the lyrics are a little dicey, but I think the associations I have with the song - cold Columbus air, Ohio State's SEL library at 5am, and working at the main library - all make up my warm, fuzzy feeling for it. The middle name came because I wanted something simple that would go with the first name, and it wouldn't spell something ridiculous like SAR or SIR. 


For a boy, we have chosen Harry (Harold) James Ratcliff. Obviously, his birth certificate will say Harold, but who calls a toddler Harold? I was content with naming him just plain Harry, but Derek wanted him to have a formal name for job applications and the like. Harold also reminds both Derek and me of being in Physics class at Ohio State and hearing Prof. Klaus Honschied say "Hayold" to his TA, Harold. We still say that from time to time. This particular name came to us just randomly one day. Derek messaged me at work and said, "What about Harry?" and I was like, "Oh, man. I love it." I said, "What do you think?" He said, "I think it's awesome." From then on, we loved Harry. We knew people would immediately think of Harry Potter, and that's fine with us. We didn't come up with it from that, but we don't mind the association. I guess when I think of a little boy named Harry, I imagine him being mischievous and hyper - like his father. The middle name came from a variety of places. We like James for the sake of its timeless quality and, yes, I'll admit it, James Joyce. I couldn't help myself... 


Above all, we wanted names that 1) had no family connection and 2) went well with our last name. Obviously, I love all sorts of crazy names of Spanish and Indian origin, but our last name is Ratcliff. I mean, it's English, so we have to work with that. 


The family connection thing comes from us not wanting to hurt any one particular family member's feelings for not having chosen his or her name. We love our family equally, and we thought it best to leave the baby's name out of it. 


So there you have it :) 


In other news, Thanksgiving was great. I think my mom had a great time, and we enjoyed having her here. She brought us some OSU booties and an adorable OSU onesie and hat set from her friend, Jackie. Just before Thanksgiving, Derek's mother sent us a beautifully crocheted blanket for the baby and a Christmas ornament. It's an angel, and she said in her note that Baby Ratcliff "is an angel." We thought that was too sweet!


Things are going well. We have LOTS of movement now. My mom and Derek both felt some vigorous kicks over the weekend, and the baby was loving the pecan pie we made! 


We'll keep you posted as more updates come! :) 

Names! Ahh, they're making me crazy!

When I was growing up and even as recently as a year or two ago, I thought choosing a baby name would be easy. Weew, I was wrong.


Derek and I have gone through so many possibilities, and it's so hard to find something that's just right. Since we're not finding out the baby's gender, it makes things even more complicated. We've tried to manage the madness by keeping a shared Google document that we both can edit. 


Personally, I think it's a pretty hilarious document. We started it off with:

Derek Alexander Ratcliff
Mindy Jo Ratcliff
beget:?

Derek may disagree with this, but I think he's been much more opinionated about boy names. We've agreed very quickly on girl names, but the boy names all either end up being something I don't like or he doesn't like. Better yet, I'll LOVE a name, and he'll respond with something like, "Eh, makes a good middle name, I guess." For example, I absolutely adore the name Sebastian, and Derek says he has "no problem" with it. When I throw it around with a middle name, he swaps them and says, "I think it's better that way." Argh! So frustrating! I had always imagined we'd just be like, "This is it! So easy!" 


Well, we've narrowed our list of about twenty name possibilities down to 5 for a boy and 5 for a girl. We're not finalizing anything until we see the baby since we want to be sure the name suits him or her.


Drum roll please...


For a boy:


Paul; Gregory; Gabriel; Samuel; John. We're thinking Sebastian or Alexander for middle names, or some combination of the first names. Derek's madly in love with Gregory, but I'm not sure. I really like Gabriel, personally, and we do agree on it. 


For a girl:


Edith; Judith; Sarah; Mary-Catherine; Muriel. I really like Rosemary, too. I don't think it makes a good first name because our last name starts with an R. We may go with Louise for the middle name since that was my grandmother Kat's middle name, and I can't think of anyone better to name our baby after. I absolutely adored that woman. However, we'd want it to be right for the first name, too, since it's going to be something she'll have to live with for the rest of her life. 


It changes a lot, and I've tried to consult a lot baby name sites and baby books. The problem with those is that they try to get you to pick popular names, like Aiden. Popular names make me want to puke. Now, you'll see John on the top 20 list and our short list, and that's Derek's doing. He thinks a common name for a boy is a good thing since you want him to have something that's timeless.

On a slightly related note: we had a discussion about whether or not John and Jonathan are related, and it turns out that they aren't at all. Jonathan is really a form of Nathan. Derek jokingly said, "It wasn't St. Jonathan that wrote one of the Gospels." I think John is so common that it's best reserved for a middle name, but Derek doesn't think it makes a good middle name. Any suggestions? 


So, now you've seen what we've been dealing with now for the past couple months. I really thought this would be easy, but weew, buddy, it isn't. 


We're happy to receive input, but remember, Derek and I are both some of the most stubborn people in the world :)