Lindsay L. O'Connor

I’ll just go ahead and say it: I’m a bit jealous of all the expectant mothers and fathers out there, many of whom have much more time until the birth of their baby than we currently have, who, when asked what the child’s name will be, can immediately give a response. “Grace!” “Taylor!” or whatever the name might be. How are they all so decided, so confident? And how did they come to this most difficult of decisions, landing on something they know they can stick with?

When we were starting to think seriously about having kids, I started thinking about names just for fun and wondered how we’d ever choose one. Then when we got pregnant, we had these marathon baby name conversations that would always leave us worn out so that, still undecided, we’d have to finally give up for the time being and resolve to come back to it later. One of the longest of these marathon conversations was during a drive to Austin. Looking back, this may not have been very fair play on my part since Chris couldn’t get away even if he wanted to. I can always tell he’s throwing in the towel when he starts throwing out things like “Reginald Buckworth III.” At least he’s pleasant in his frustration.

We have gone through baby name books, made lists, and talked the thing to death. We had a name we were both fairly settled on, but I get these waves of uncertainty. I thought maybe seeing the baby after she’s born would help us choose from among a few of our favorites, but what if it doesn’t? I’m afraid to commit for fear of getting home from the hospital and suddenly realizing we picked the wrong name. The first piece of information people will know about her when they are introduced to her. A major part of her identity. The thing that you say to distinguish her from everyone else. Our darling. How in the world is such a decision ever to be made??