Names. Are you kidding me?

I can't believe that the few simple things that Trav and I did to get into the pre-parental state have earned us the right to bestow a name on another human being. I mean, think about your name, and what it says about you. Could you picture yourself with any other name?? When I was little I could, but they were always names like Kristy or Krista, so, yeah, not really that adventurous. I really like my name, and I can't imagine being anything besides Kristin. How on earth am I supposed to find the exact right name for my kid? In 10 years, will he/she be hating the name I will spend the next 7 months choosing?

And why can I not find a suitable website to help me with this enormous task? I know it's not looming yet or anything and I've got plenty of time, but the engineer in me is tempted to use that time to build a database out of an existing list and put some usable searches on it! I need something better than sorting by what letter they start with (stupid if you ask me), or even national origin. Let's try groups by categories like Names with Nicknames, Number of Syllables, Number of Different Common Spellings, Single or Double Gender names... wouldn't it be cool to be able to see where most people with certain names live, and sort by geography? Or like in Freakonomics, where you can see names descend the economic ladder to simmer forever in white trashiness. If I were able to sort with these groups, there'd be probably 20 names to choose from and I'd feel much happier. Really, who wants to name a kid Hallam??

Of course, Travis says the search would be that much easier if we'd be willing to find out if it's a boy or a girl... still not worth it. The more he wants to find out, the more I don't want to! :-D

Now, I will leave you with an anecdote that will make you laugh. or make your jaw drop. whatever.

My friend was on her way to the hospital last summer to have her baby - her water broke in the middle of the night. All summer long she had been suggesting names to her husband whose response to every name was "Yuck, no, I don't like that." In the car on the way to deliver the baby, he turned and said to her, "Um, so, what were some of those names you liked?" So, yes, I have time. The joy of being 8 weeks pregnant - 32 weeks of TIME!