What's In a Name?

Oh, there's so very much that goes into choosing a name for a person. He has to take it with him his entire life. Your name is your identity. People form first impressions from it, and if it's difficult to say or spell, then you spend your entire life correcting it for people.

I think that Dylan is a great name, for example. When I first heard it, I thought "That guy is probably cool." I was right! It's a name we've all heard, but it's not a moniker shared by a huge percentage of other men our age. It is extremely popular for the younger generation, but for those of us 30 and over, it's just a good, solid name. Unfortunately Dylan is often misspelled as Dillon (which is obviously a LAST name), or pronounced Dolan or Daylan or something else weird, but who could have known people would be so clueless?

For me, picking out a name has been the most time-consuming decision since I found out I was having a baby. Yes, among ALL the other decisions, this is the one I have mulled over for the longest. I do have a few guidelines that I've followed throughout this process. First, good, classic names are very strong. However, when paired with the last name Miller, they are also very vanilla. For example, James is a great name, but the world has already met at least half a billion James Millers. On the other hand, weird compilations of consonants and vowels that nobody has ever heard of but which new parents call a "name" are off limits to me. So are words (nouns, adjectives, and verbs) that we are all familiar with but which are not actually names, like many of the celebrity babies (North, Apple, etc.). I would love a good, strong name that is not overwhelmingly popular so it adds just a little flavor when paired with one of the most common last names in the world. Something that everybody has heard of and knows how to say and spell. Basically, something that does not prompt a lot of questions, like Where did that name come from? I'd rather err on the side of over-popular than question or confusion-provoking.

So as of this point in time, we've come up with Gavin. Actually, that's what we've been calling the baby for months but we didn't want to commit in case we heard of something we liked better. It won't be set in stone until we're forced to report it to Social Security. But Gavin is a good and normal name that we all know. Gavin Miller won't knock the socks of anybody, and it's probably shared with a few million people across the world, but it's got a touch more flavor than, say, John Smith. I don't need my child to have the most unique name in the world. I'm not out to prove anything, and he won't be either. We already know this kid's gonna be awesome. If there's another Gavin or two in his class at school, it won't be the end of the world. But if I came across a guy named Gavin Miller, I would think that he was probably pretty cool.

So now it's time to pick a middle name. I have fewer requirements for this. I just don't want it to make initials that spell something weird or offensive, and it should flow well with the entire name. But it can be weird or crazy. Most people never know your middle name anyhow. In all seriousness, Dylan's first pick for a middle name is 'Danger.' I'm not actually completely opposed to it, though I doubt I'll have the guts to give our child the middle name Danger when it comes down to it. Especially after learning that Anthony Weiner's alias on Twitter was Carlos Danger. Family names are fine, but I'd prefer to choose a name just because we like it. I'm thinking we'll end up with one of the classics...James, Marcus, etc. We have a little time to mull this over, and we're open to suggestions for first and middle names, but that is where we stand.

Whew, what a process! But it's such an important decision in my opinion. What are your thoughts? Except if you hate the name Gavin, I don't wanna hear it.