A Boy by any other name

We've been playing around with just a couple of names so far for our little boy. There just haven't been any names that completely pop out at us. No names that scream "THIS IS IT". Yet. I have patience. I have a feeling that we will get the name. Like most people say, it will come to us. Even if we have a name picked out, once they lay that little man on my belly for the first time, his "real" name will come to me. I just hope it's not Rufus.

A name that I tend to lean toward lately is Casey. It originally was a boy name and the girls have started to take it over. That burns me. I do hear that a lot of girls spell their name with a K and that is how they make it different. I used to like boy names for girls. Now it annoys me. I'm worried that I will name my boy a "girl" name and he will have to deal with that trauma his whole life. I like the name Casey. It's Irish/Gaelic for "brave". It originates from a male name. Stinkin' girls took the name. I like it a lot. It's not a super popular name like Josh, Jake, John, Michael. I think it's cute, and it flows well with our last name. Famous actor Ben Affleck has a brother named Casey. There's the ever famous "Casey at the bat". Who can forget Casey Kasem on their Top 40 countdown Sunday mornings? I even have a nickname for him already, "Casey Bea". Say it with me, now... case of beer! haha! Yeah, I crack myself up.

Other than that, we have been leaning toward giving Hubs his very own Junior. I've been hearing it's the ultimate compliment to a guy. I've always thought a Junior might cause a boy to feel he has to live up to his father. I think it's very important for a boy to create his own identity. But if he has a "girl" name, how will that help him? Ugh. This is very complicated and very intimidating. I do feel the pressure of giving the boy a name he can be proud of.

I do like how my parents named me and my brother and sister. They picked names that can be formal if needed and playful with a nickname. I guess it doesn't really matter what we name our baby formally since nicknames really do come out of nowhere. We have a lab named Riley and we call him Boobies.. So it really makes no difference what our intentions are with a name... we'll call him whatever embarrassing name that rolls off our tongue!

So, as far as names go, we are still playing. I can't seem to shake the image of a "J" first name. I want a unique name, but not so unique like "Apple" or "Suri". I want a name that not everyone is thinking of lately. I want it to be a strong name, but not so adult he has to grow into it. I don't know why I have a feeling the baby will have a name with the first initial "J". I guess we will see. Until then, I've found websites that feed my addiction to play with names to see how they fit with our last name (www.babynamegenie.com is one example).

Our baby boy, HE, will just have to get used to being called "He". Until we find a name we both love. Or until parents stop naming their girls with boy names, just to make this difficult on us... Probably not going to happen, so we'll see where this naming business takes us!