So, in an attempt to get my mind off the aches and pains, I've been busy doing research in all sorts of new areas - looking up local hospitals that offer birthing classes, keeping in touch with other expecting mothers via message boards, and, most importantly, considering name possibilities for the baby.
Now, as a quick background, DH and I are probably what you would call "artsy" people. Frederik is very much a "natural philosopher", applying ancient theories and beliefs to just about every modern subject you can think of. He's fascinated by old-world teachings and would probably spend hours translating Latin texts if he could (interestingly enough, he also has an amazing understanding of technology and plantlife). I like to describe myself loosely as a postmodernist - my view of the world is strongly tied to my fascination with philosophy, art, history, and, above all, literature. There is nothing more beautiful and engaging to me than an involved reading of Shakespeare's work, and among my favorite literary pieces are the Greek epic The Aenid and Dante Alighieri's brillant Divine Comedy.
This is precisely where our name search has led us - Fred and I have agreed that we'd prefer a traditional but unique name for our child, and what better place to find inspiration than in the ancient classics? This brings up another interesting challenge in finding the "right" name - once you've found a good possibility, who's to say that your child won't be one of three other kids with the same name growing up? To see exactly what the odds of this were, Fred and I did a bit of testing on a widely-used name popularity website, Behind the Name.
We started off with a name that we both thought was charming, traditional, and somewhat unique. After entering the name into the search, we were surprised to find that its popularity was almost astounding:
| Year(s) | United States Top 1000 (male) | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2005 |  | 28 |
| 2004 | | 32 |
| 2003 | | 29 |
| 2002 | | 32 |
| 2001 | | 38 |
| 2000 | | 44 |
| 1999 | | 53 |
| 1998 | | 54 |
| 1997 | | 57 |
| 1996 | | 61 |
| 1995 | | 65 |
| 1994 | | 68 |
| 1993 | | 86 |
| 1992 | | 86 |
| 1991 | | 82 |
| 1990 | | 100 |
| 1980-1989 | | 90 |
| 1970-1979 | | 114 |
| 1960-1969 | | 313 |
| 1950-1959 | | 414 |
| 1940-1949 | | 443 |
| 1930-1939 | | 414 |
| 1920-1929 | | 405 |
| 1910-1919 | | 421 |
| 1900-1909 | | 460 |
For our next test round, instead of just choosing a name that we considered traditional, we went back into the literature on our shelves and searched for another name that had a similar feel (and even a similar spelling). While I won't reveal the name we tested with just yet, these are the results of its populariy:
| Year(s) | United States Top 1000 (male) | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2005 | - | |
| 2004 | - | |
| 2003 | - | |
| 2002 | - | |
| 2001 | - | |
| 2000 | - | |
| 1999 | - | |
| 1998 | - | |
| 1997 | - | |
| 1996 | - | |
| 1995 | - | |
| 1994 | - | |
| 1993 | - | |
| 1992 | - | |
| 1991 | - | |
| 1990 | - | |
| 1980-1989 | - | |
| 1970-1979 | - | |
| 1960-1969 | - | |
| 1950-1959 | - | |
| 1940-1949 | - | |
| 1930-1939 | - | |
| 1920-1929 | | 1000 |
| 1910-1919 | | 856 |
| 1900-1909 | - |
The difference is significant, and made me realize something about naming children: the classics are making a comeback, so it's important to weigh your choices thoroughly if you want to choose a name that isn't overflowing with popularity. I know that I want to give my child as much individuality as possible, so my mind is made up - whatever name we choose will be thoroughly researched first and, of course, repeated many, many times until we can get used to it. =)
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