What's in a Name, Part IV (The Final Four)

Today I submitted for consideration four potential names for my daughter. I will not divulge them. The baby-naming process is drawing to a close, though I think that nothing will be final until August.

We pored over several books of baby names: some containing a mere 10,000, others up to 50,000. Following my self-imposed parameters (not to mention the near-constant "reminders" from my wife), I whittled our baby name list down to four. My Lovely Wife will select our daughter's first name from that list.

Finding one, let alone four, names that I liked was harder that I thought. Whether you are aware of it or not, I think we all have pre-conceived notions about certain names. I immediately discarded a name my wife really favored because I couldn't shake that it rhymed with "Bedelia" and wanted my daughter to live free of that connotation.

It's easy to pick a name that is cute for a baby, but tough to remember that my daughter will grow older with the same name. Can I really picture the name "Lexy" on a business card?

From 50,000 we are down to four. One of those four will be what I call my daughter for the rest of her life (unless she's in trouble, in which case she will be called by her full name).

The hardest part is going to be keeping quiet about the name after we pick it. One reason I tried to delay the naming process is to limit the chances I have to let the name slip out.

No matter which name we give our daughter, it will be perfect and, over time, we'll be hard pressed to recall the other three possibilities or even entertain calling our daughter by a different name. Though to be perfectly honest, I'm still partial to "Lefty."

What's in a Name, Part I
What's in a Name, Part II
What's in a Name, Part III