What's in a name?

I’ve received a lot of questions about the baby’s name, so here’s a (not so) quick update.

According to my baby name book, we have at least 60,000 name options for our little one. Realistically, we probably wouldn’t pick a name that wasn’t on the top 500 names list, but that still leaves us with 500 names to choose from. Surely Allen and I could find the perfect name for Baby Savat, right?

Naming the baby is certainly the most difficult decision of the entire process because we have such different tastes. Here’s our name criteria: must be a fairly traditional/normal name; cannot be gender neutral (Allen’s rule); cannot be wimpy sounding (again, Allen’s rule and totally subjective); cannot be too popular (top 10 names were ruled out for that) but shouldn’t be a totally never-heard-of name either; and must sound good with Allen (not only is it my husband’s name, but it’s also my dad and grandpa’s name)

So far we have three potential names. They are:

Tyler or Ty for short: This is probably Allen’s favorite. It’s a strong, solid name and it sounds great with Allen, but it’s pretty popular. I also have a hard time imagining calling a baby Ty. It’s currently #27 on the Social Security Administration’s baby name list (down 6 spots from last year) and means “tile maker”.

Evan: Several years ago, Allen and I were at one of those vacation souvenir stores going through name key chains and joking about baby names when Allen saw the name Evan. It’s been on our short list ever since. Evan means “God is good/gracious.” It’s currently #38 on the SSA list (up two spots). In my opinion, Evan goes with Allen the least of the three names, but we still like it so it stays on the list.

Leo: This is definitely the most unpopular choice on the list, but I really like it. First, it has that rare combination of being a traditional yet uncommon name. Second, it’s my favorite great grandpa’s name. Leo means “lion,” which I think is pretty cool. It’s currently #227 on the SSA list (up 11 spots).

So there you have it. That’s the three names on our list. We have been calling him a different name each day in hopes that one will stick. We may very well still be deciding the day he’s born.

You’re welcome to vote on the names, but since this is not a democracy I can’t promise we’ll do anything with the results :)