Let's Talk Names

Oh, baby names. Troy and I had a really, really hard time picking a name for Avery. On saturday mornings, I would get up with a baby book and my computer, and write down 5-10 names and their meanings. I'd eat breakfast, mull over some names, watch a movie, and google some "baby name" lists. I'd spend about 3 hours relaxing and brainstorming. Ahhhhh, weekends before children...

Troy would get up about 3 hours later (I'm an early riser), take 15 seconds to look at my list for the day and veto everything on it. Yep. This went on for about 2 months.

And if you read this entry, then you know how we feel about naming babies. So coming up with a couple names? TOTAL nightmare for us.

But then something happened. Instead of putting so much pressure on ourselves and turning it into a "discussion," we just would mention things in passing that we liked. We'd be watching a movie, reading a book, or driving in the car and someone would say, "hey what do you this about ________ ?" And if it was a no, the moment passed, no feelings hurt, no big deal.

We didn't want to pick names that were overused or on "top baby names of 20__" but we wanted something that was kind of a family name. We had a boy name picked out, but if you read this post, then you know how that turned out. Luckily, we settled on names almost 2 months ago.

Kinley Paige Barnes Caris Faye Barnes.

Kinley is a name we just liked. I initially wanted Kenley, but Troy thought it was too masculine and requested the vowel change. Life is all about compromise, am I right? Paige is his sisters middle name.

If you haven't read Pillars of the Earth or the sequel World Without End, I cannot express in one blog post how amazing these books are. The main female heroine character in the sequel is named Caris (pronounced like Ferris wheel, with a hard "k"). While reading the book, I remember thinking "I've never heard that name before." And then as the book progressed and I admired her loyalty, courage, and thirst for knowledge regarding medicine, I was like, "dude, she's awesome."

We settled on Kinley first actually. As twins, we wanted names that kind of "went together." Either both biblical, started with the same letter, etc. Instead, we ended up settling for having the same hard "k" sound. I suggested Caris to Troy and he was on the fence about it. We were watching a movie on the couch he was like, "eh, let me think about it." About 5 minutes later, I was like, "Don't you think Caris Faye sounds so cute?" Faye is his grandmother's middle name. And he says, "No way. I was thinking THE SAME THING! Done." Kinley and Caris it is.

We also already picked which baby is which. The baby on the bottom (baby A) is Kinley and the baby on the top (baby B) is Caris. Kinley seems more spunky in there and is always kicking and rolling. Caris is more laid back. It might be because she's on top doesn't have the opportunity to dance on my bladder, but for now, that's what we're going with.

How do you guys pick names? If you don't have kids yet, have you had THAT NAME picked out since high school? Did you and your partner fight about names or have them picked out before you found out the sex?