Gah – how did you name your baby?

When we discovered my first baby was going to be a boy, my husband wanted to name him after himself.  Michael.  Did you know that name was on the top 5 list for nearly an eternity?  I had some concerns.  Of course I love my husband and love his name, but it seemed a bit…….everywhere.

During my pregnancy as the name debate raged on, we attended an engagement party for a friend of mine.  I had three other girlfriends there with their husbands/significant others.  And all of them were named Michael.  And all nicknamed Mike.  I asked them to each stand in the shape of a letter of their name for a picture.  I was turned down.

The debate continued.  My father, the fourth of his name, encouraged us not to.  He said you could never know how your kid would turn out – what if they turned out bad?  I wondered if he considered me a disappointment to my name, a county in Ireland.  Then decided to ignore his pessimism.  A long-standing tradition in our relationship.

Baby Nicknames

I couldn’t get behind adding another “Mike” to the world.  And Mikey, Junior and MJ just weren’t working for me.

Finally I found the end of the internet where it suggested “Mitch” as a nickname for “Michael”.  Mitch.  That was a nickname I could get behind.

It seemed unconventional to a lot of our friends a family.  Mitch isn’t a natural, typical nickname for Michael.  In fact, we’re the first ones we know of that has done it.  But Mitch was the name of one of my favorite hero’s, Mitch Rapp, by a favorite author of mine, Vince Flynn, so it already seemed awesome to me.

Turns out my family has a tradition of unconventional nicknames.  My uncle Rick’s name is actually Craig.  His nickname is Rick.  At least Michael and Mitch start with the same sound!

Keeping Baby Names Secret

I understand why couples decide to keep their future baby’s name a secret until the baby is born.  For two reasons –

1. We have friends that had a name in mind, for both of their babies.  After seeing the baby, in both cases, they realized it was the wrong name and changed it at birth certificate time.  I’m not sure what they say, as I still question my baby’s names.  Perhaps they have baby name radar.  One more deficiency in my motherhood.
2. Once you tell other people your baby’s name, it seems to become open season on other people giving their opinions.  Positive or not.  To our face, there was only one or two not so positive reactions to the nickname, Mitch.  That’s cool – we don’t get to see their faces when we call him M-dawg.

Baby Name Inspiration

How do you name your baby?  If you have a family name, that’s great!  You may be one of those people that buy a book of baby names (I’ll raise my hand, we were in that category), and like many baby items, you’ll find its single use is quickly over and now you have more junk filling your house.

Perhaps you’ll go to your favorite mom groups or trying to conceive message boards.  Ask for suggestions, ideas, recommendations on first, middle, nicknames.  You’ll get an overwhelming response, mostly of illegible information or snarky comments.

Many websites have information on inspiration.  Healthy Moms Magazine has a great article and concise directory. I may have written it, but still it is really good!

Whether my son likes it or not, he’s named after his father.  And, for the time being, we didn’t bring another Mike in to the world, until he decides to change his nickname from Mitch to Mike.  But he’ll always be our little M-dawg!