Name-Hunting Tip #5

One of the more intimidating responsiblities of being pregnant was picking a name. When my husband and I were debating the possible names for our baby, we focused on four criteria:

1. The attractiveness of the name
2. The potential for playground beatings
3. The name's possible nicknames
4. The name's uniqueness

After hours of scouring the baby name books and websites (I even trolled the Social Security Administration's website to judge the popularity of the nominees), we settled on the compromise name of Eleanor Ivory. If I had to do it all over again, though, I'd add a fifth concern to the aforementioned list of criteria: The sound of the name as it rolls off a Mainer's tongue.

Because we kept the name a secret as a way to ward off the influences of family and friends (much to my hubby's chagrin), we never were really able to hear how Mainers actually pronounce 'Eleanor.' For the last week, though, we've grown accustomed to hearing 'Eleaner' and 'Eleanah.' Neither of which, in my opinion, is as beautiful as the name we thought we were picking.

That fifth criteria probably wouldn't have discouraged us from picking the name we did, but I just thought I'd give expectant parents in Maine yet another thing to consider while name-hunting.

- Elisha J. Morgan