Training for Baby: Baby name game

Growing up, I remember picking out baby names for my future children. I think a lot of girls do the same thing. (Remember that episode of “Sex and the City” when Charlotte’s secret baby name got stolen by a pregnant friend?)

It seemed so easy back then to select a name that I liked. Now that I am pregnant, it is a completely different ballgame.

Before we knew if it was a boy or girl, my husband and I had a discussion about baby names. We shared the ones we liked, only to discover that we had very different ideas about what to name this baby.

You don’t realize how difficult it is to come up with a name, until you start tossing a few out there. My husband kept suggesting names that I had a negative connection to – ex-boyfriends, school bullies, mean girls who I grew up with, etc.

A name is no longer just a name when you are trying to pick one for your baby. Every person you ever knew with that name comes racing back into your mind, at least it did for me.

We turned to the Internet searching for baby name websites. A few sites allowed you to sort through the highest rated names. We were excited until we saw “five-star” rated names like Huck and Yogi. Those just weren’t for us!

I really liked the name Peyton, but my husband vetoed it. As a sports writer, he spent at least a month tracking Peyton Manning’s every move when he was in Durham earlier this year. He didn’t want to have to write the name Peyton ever again, and I kind of don’t blame him!

When we found out it was a boy, my husband quickly got out his sports media guides – those were his versions of baby naming books. After talking him out of naming our child Hugs (after WVU basketball coach Bob Huggins) or Da’Sean (after WVU basketball star Da’Sean Butler), we were able to put together a reasonable list of names we both agreed on.

We have since cut that list down and, I think, settled on a name. I have started calling the little guy by it just to see if he likes it. He kicks sometimes, other times he doesn’t seem to care.

We are giving it some time to see if it sticks, before we officially broadcast it to the world.

Moms, how hard was it picking a name for your baby?