Name Games

For the last few days, my husband and I have been playing name games.  Well, it's not so much of a "game", as it is a "what about _______?" type of ongoing conversation.  It's turning out to be more challenging than we had ever imagined!

I have a couple bits of criteria that we're trying to fulfill.  Ultimately, we want her name to:

1. Be more "traditional" than "trendy"
2. Be just unique enough that it is easily recognizable and prounceable, and yet not have five other girls in her class with the same name (ie, probably not a name in the top 20 of today's most popular names--turns out that Laura was #20 the year I was born, and I don't know too many other Laura's)
3. Not remind either of us of someone "mean" who we knew with that name
4. Have a significant meaning 
5. Work well with the middle name that we have chosen to honor my mom, as well as our last name
6. Sound good as she's walking across the stage at graduation

I have one name in mind that sort of just came to me before we even knew that we were having a girl, and I've just been letting it play around in my mind.  My husband was impartial to it at the time when I shared it with him, but crawled into bed late the other night and whispered that it was growing on him (he had stayed up late after doing his homework to spend time researching names--including looking up the most popular names in 1908 when the Cubs last won the World Series).  The next morning, I looked into the name a little bit more...only to find that it's the #8 most popular girl name these days.  Dang!  I guess I spend all my time with college-age students, and I'm apparently totally out of touch with today's younger kids!  I still love that the meaning of this name is "Joy of the Father", so if our Baby Girl is born on my husband's birthday (8 days before her due date), we still might think that it's "meant to be", even if it is "too popular" for my preferences...so it's not off the list entirely.

Along with that name, my husband started a list with four other names--three of which I liked.  One of the names was inspired by a song (another one of his many searches), but is also the name of my dearest childhood friend.  It meets all of the criteria, so it's also on our list.  Sidenote:  That night, I then had a dream that this friend--who I've known and adored since the 3rd grade--apparently has hated me all this time!  In the dream, I even broke down to her in tears confessing that we were thinking of naming our daughter after her.  Apparently I'm more anxious about this whole picking-the-perfect-name thing than I realized if it's all coming out in my dreams!  I called her yesterday to share the dream with her, and she assured me that she has and always will love me and value our friendship, so her name is definitely still on the list.

Would you like to participate in our "name games" and throw out some "what about _____?" type of ideas?  I'm not necessarily saying that we're going to pick anything from this open call, but I'd be curious to hear what names you think meet the criteria listed above.

Yesterday's blessing was the delivery of leftover baby items from one of my amazing colleagues, who I really look up to as a mentor.  She brought in some lightly used items, and is bringing in a totally brand new extra carseat base that she just never ended up using with her son.  Our collection of baby gear is slowing but surely starting to grow!