11 April 2011

The Name Game

It's begun. Lucky for us, attempting to name our passenger is a barrel of laughs.  During numerous baby-naming conversations, we have in fact laughed until we cried.

Unfortunately, to try to describe some of those conversations would only come across as awkward and not-funny. So I'll spare you the lost effort of trying to understand our strange, parents-to-be humor.

I will say this. We've got a big task ahead of us, for three very important reasons.

First, the spelling.  We want a name that will have the same spelling in both Spanish and English.  That's harder than you might think. An example is found in two of my favorite little boy names: Nicholas and Alexander. In Spanish, that would be Nicolas and Alejandro.  We're not quite in agreement as to whether or not the pronunciation of the name in either language should change, but if the pronunciation doesn't change, then we're even *more* limited.

Second conundrum is the syllabic content. The cadence of the kids name is important.  It's got to have a nice flow.  Last name, Bocangel,  has 3 syllables.  We don't want a 3-3-3 name.  People would start yawning halfway through the little dude's middle name.  I'm thinking a 2-4-3 or a 2-1-3 cadence would sound nice.

Example of a 2-4-3: Jacob Mariano Bocangel

Example of a 2-1-3:  William Luke Bocangel

*Disclaimer: neither of those 2 options are ones that we love- I'm just making a point here.

Third, can the name pass the test? Let's face it: kids are mean.  So let's suppose we get through steps 1 and 2, and we have a viable option.  Then I put on my "cruel middle school thinking cap" and I make fun of the possible name of my child.  I'm as brutal as possible, because quite frankly, kids will be.  And I don't want to set mine up for ridicule.  This part is always where we wind up in tears from laughing so hard because I'm pretty creative when it comes to making fun of names when I put my mind to it.

All of this to say we've got a significant task ahead of us.  So don't be surprised if we call our little man nick names like, "Son, Love, Baby Boy" etc. before actually naming him when he's 5 and we've finally found the perfect name.

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