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Ah, baby names. They are one of the BIGGEST deals during the pregnancy/having a baby process. Seriously, next to the gender – THIS is what everyone wants to know. And why not? It's something tangible to attach to an intangible object. It makes the baby REAL. But for me, more fun than knowing the name of a baby is learning the story behind the name. Here's the story behind Melanie's name.
Images Courtesy of: Melisa Urban// Headband: Gentry's Closet
The story behind our baby's name started long before we were even married. Randomly, one day at a doughnut shop (mmmm, doughnuts….) we were discussing baby names and our “rules” for a good one. Specifically, how we both agreed that if we were to have a baby, we would give them a normal name spelled normal. As victims ourselves of names spelled weirdly or just plain weird names, we were 100% sure we wanted our future children to not go through the crap we went through with our names. I also wanted our children to have names that could be made into any nickname they wanted.
Fast forward to our 20 week ultrasound and the discovery that we were having a girl. Up until that point, we hadn't discussed names at all. It seemed pointless since we didn't know the baby's gender. But now we knew and… needed to think up a name. On the ride home, I turned to The Boy and asked him if their were any names he liked. He shrugged but then a few minutes later he said, “I don't know why but I've always liked the named Melanie”. And that was it. That was the name he liked. Now, Melanie was never a name I'd even considered. I didn't dislike it – I just never even thought about it. But The Boy was hooked on it and I didn't hate it soooo – her first name was Melanie.
Her middle name was a bit more of a fight and one of the few times I played the Pregnancy Card. See, The Boy has this weird thing were he didn't want any of our baby's names to be the same as anyone we knew. Even if we weren't going to use that name as the primary name or the person was dead – he just had a Thing about it. I, on the other hand, thought it was wonderful to name a baby after someone special to you. What a lovely compliment, right? Anyway, I really wanted her middle name to be Jocelyn after a little girl I had nannied for in California but, for an option, I also came up with another middle name that no one we knew had. The Boy didn't like either option but we just couldn't agree on anything else. About three weeks before the baby was born, I finally just up and told The Boy that her name was going to be Melanie Jocelyn and that was it. I gave him his favorite name so he needed to give me mine.
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how Melanie Jocelyn got her name.
On a personal note, we elected to keep our baby's name a secret from everyone during my pregnancy. For one, since everyone already knew her gender, it was a nice little surprise for her Birth Day. But mostly, it was to make sure that the name we loved and thought was wonderful STAYED wonderful. See, while you're pregnant, people tend to make comments about a chosen name but don't really do it after the baby is born and legally named. And some of those comments can turn you off a name. Like, “Oh, Michelle? Hey, remember that girl Michelle in high school? She was the BIGGEST whore!”. See what I'm saying? And no, we didn't wait to name her until we saw her face – her name was set in stone LONG before she was born and seeing her face didn't change it at all.
How did you come up with your baby's name?
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