So, about not telling anyone the baby's name...

Yeah, that didn't last.  We've told everyone.

So...da-da-da-daaaa....

Russell Wilson Aloysius John McCain Beastmode Pankow will officially be...

Owen Francis Pankow.

Now, first of all.  How did we come up with this?

Owen is Kim's dad's middle name.  So, that one was easy.

And, since Kim got her pick which pretty much breaks all my rules for naming (uncommon but not made up and no namesakes), I pretty much bullied her into giving me the middle name.  So, I picked Aloysius.  And she said no.  So, I went with my next favorite Jesuit Saint...Francis! 

I'll be honest...Kim still doesn't love Francis.  She says it's growing on her.  But, it's taken some whining on my part.  Francis is the name of some very strong men and very important people in the history of the Catholic Church.  St. Francis of Assisi (patron Saint of animals and the environment), St. Francis Xavier (founding member of the Society of Jesus, the Jesuits, patron Saint of Catholic missions and considered to be one of the greatest Christian missionaries since St. Paul) and Pope Francis. 

A lot to live up to, I'm sure. 

To this day, I credit Gonzaga with helping me grow as a person; to leave my small town mindset behind and to embrace the broader world with more acceptance and love.  Gonzaga helped me become who I am and I hope to pass many of those values on to my sons.  To me, this is a way of honoring the Jesuit tradition. 

The close second in middle name choice: Frederick.  My Grandpa Pankow's first name.

Now, that is also a perfectly acceptable name.  And, as the patriarch of the Pankow family and a very good man, he is a worthy person for whom to grant a namesake.

But, Grandpa already has 2 grandkids with middle names of Frederick.  I'm one of them.  The other is my cousin David. 

So, I really prefer to stick with Francis.

Now...remember how, in the post where I said we weren't going to tell people, I mentioned that the reason is because people get so judgy.  Well, I was right.

"Francis?" 

"Why Francis?"

"What's wrong with Frederick?"

"Frederick sounds so much better than Francis." 

"Think of what it would mean to your grandpa."

"You should really go with Frederick instead of Francis."

And more. 

Super...Duper...annoying.

Not to mention RUDE, people! 

Francis is a perfectly acceptable name.  It's not like we're naming him Spaghetti or Ikea.  If you want to complain, do it behind my back like I do when kids have a weird name.  Although, I stand by my feeling that Francis is not a weird name.  In fact, it is a very strong name. 

And it's a middle name!  Who really cares about anyone's middle name? 

So, the next time you are considering telling me how you feel about my son's middle name, remember that I didn't ask for your opinion.  If you ask what his name is, I will tell you.  If you ask me where it comes from, I will tell you.  I don't need you to passive aggressively tell me how it's not that good.  You don't even have to tell me you love it.  But, if you give me your opinion, be prepared to hear my opinion on the state of your manners. 

Names and why we're not telling

While we have some options, we haven't landed on a name, yet.  However, Kim is pretty adamant that we NOT tell anyone until the baby is born.  I am indifferent.  I am more concerned about my inability to keep secrets than I am about not telling people the name.  But, the boss says we wait...so we wait.

While I am not as insistent on waiting to tell people, I get why she wants to.  Seems everyone has an opinion on names.  And I mean EVERYONE! 

I still distinctly remember a couple reactions from when Desmond was still cooking. 

One was from my boss, Denise.  Denise was my boss for about 10 straight years.  About 4 years at the point of the story.  So, we're friends.  The conversation went something like this:

Denise: "Have you guys picked a name, yet?"

Me:  "Yes!  We're naming him Desmond!"

Denise: "HAHAHAHA!  Yeah right.  What have you really picked?"

Me: "Really...we picked Desmond."

Denise: "Sure you did.  In a couple more months, you'll tell me the actual name."

Me: "In a couple more months, you're going to be embarrassed."

But, this conversation takes 2nd place to the one that I had with my own mother.  That one went like this:

Me:  "We picked a name!"

Mom: *very excited*  "What is it???"

Me: "We're naming him Desmond!"

Mom: *silence*

Me: *silence*

Mom: *silence*  "Huh.  What were some of your other choices?"

So...I get it. 

We get plenty of suggestions.  We've even gotten passive feedback on our ideas.

Personally, I think we should just blurt the name out and give everyone time to get their judgments out of their systems.  But, Kim wants to wait.  Apparently, it's less likely that someone would second guess a kid's name to his face.

So there you go.  You don't get to know what Russell Wilson's real name is until he shows his face.  Unless I blow the secret...which is entirely possible. 

________________________________________

Update...I actually wrote this post about a week ago.  However, as time goes by I am realizing it is going to be harder and harder for me to actually stick to this.  I suck pretty hard when it comes to keeping secrets like this.

And, the name is...

Rumpelstiltskin!

I mean...how many kids have this name?

For real, though...we've settled. Starbucks real name...the one that will be on his birth certificate, is: Desmond Elijah Aloysius Fredrick Jason John McCain Bradbury Pankow.

But, Desmond Elijah Pankow, for short.

Desmond has been the boy name that's been on the top of our lists for some time. It's a favorite of both of ours, and it's the only one we could both agree on. Shaundar liked Keiran, which I hated. We both like Galen, but decided the kid would be called Gay in school. I liked Biff.

Just kidding on Biff. But, I do really like Aloysius as a middle name. I appear to be the only one in the world, however.

Desmond doesn't mean much. Officially, it means "Man from South Munster." I have also seen, "Man of the World." We picked it because we like the name and it's not popular. Plus, it can easily be shortened to Des or Desi. But, then...when he's a man, it sounds very strong.

Isaiah was the original middle name choice, but that would create DIP. So, it didn't wast long. Aloysius would be DAP...as in DAPPER, but it didn't sell.

Anyway, we reserve the right to alter this at any time until the Birth Certificate is created. If we meet young Starbuck and he looks more like a Joe, we'll adjust.

What is wrong with celebrities?

Nicole Kidman gives birth to a daughter named Sunday.

WTF?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080707/ap_en_ce/people_kidman_baby

The name game...for real

We've been talking names since practically the day after we found out we were having a kid. We're about settled on names, at this point.

For girls, we're set on the first name. We're still discussing a middle name.

For boys, we're about there. We've got a couple choices, but one seems to be the favorite. Middle name is still way up in the air for boys.

Picking a name is kinda fun. We had a few rules that go into our name picking:

It has to be unique, but not unheard of or made up. The "Unique" name has been very popular lately, which means that most names that used to be unique, aren't any longer. For instance...Gabriel used to be one of our favorites for boys, and a couple years ago, you didn't hear it very often. However...the Social Security Administration lists it as #28 most popular name for 2007 in the US.

Next: I am not a fan of the androgynous name. I don't want to name my kid Cody or Jamie or anything that can be for a boy or a girl. I just don't really like that.

Third: No namesakes. At least not in the first name. We have too many family members that are important to us. I think we'll consider it for middle names, but probably not even then.

No names that would give the kid weird initials. There aren't a heck of a lot of weird combos that end in P...but, I would hate having SAP or something.

Nothing Hippie. Not Star or Summer or Apple or Willow or River or Marijuana.

So...now that you know the rules, the names we've decided on are......

Secret. We'll tell you later. :-)

28 Really Geeky Baby Names

FYI...I am stealing this verbatim (via the high tech copy/paste option) from some dude named Darren Barefoot: http://www.darrenbarefoot.com/archives/2007/03/29-really-geeky-baby-names.html

Funniest part (or geekiest part)...our girl name is on this list!

Plagiarizing, now:

1) Strider - It could have been worse, he could’ve been named Pippin.

2) Arwen - Again, it could have been Eowyn. Plus, it’s quite a pretty name.

3) Lestat - “I can’t understand why junior keeps wearing all that white makeup…”

4) Neo - You might as well name the kid “Jesus”.

5) Keanu - See above.

6) Nikita - Apparently from the Elton John song, not from La Femme Nikita, but we can hope.

7) Nero - “Son, you’re named for a a Roman Emperor. No pressure.”

8) Maximus - See above.

9) Cosmo Ranger - I got nothing.

10) Eaton - Last name Seamen. Not so much geeky as just plain cruel.

11) Cleopatra Evita - Presumably she’s the daughter of drag queens.

12) Corran - Apparently a character in the Star Wars books.

13) Mara Jade - Another similarly non-movie Star Wars character.

14) Anakin - Bound to be a mouth breather.

15) Luke - Climbed the charts from 228th in the seventies to 42nd today.

16) Ada - Destined to work in a cubicle among smelly coding boys.

17) Wesley - Fairly common, but geeky when inspired by Star Trek.

18) Jadzia - Apparently in 1998, there were 27 baby girls named after Deep Space Nine’s Dax.

19) Ryker - In that same year, 80 baby boys were making Number One in their diapers.

20) B’elanna - Well, at least the apostrophe will simplify things.

21) Kirk - Apparently Kirk Cameron was named after the Shatnerian one.

22) Moon Unit - Thank you, Papa Zappa.

23) Amadeus - Retro geeky.

24) Mars - I know, it’s also a Greek god. But it gets dodgy when his sister is named Venus. And what if you named a kid Pluto and he got downgraded to a mere dwarf planet?

25) Ripley - Likes her machine gun with a flamethrower chaser.

26) Dade - This one’s pretty obscure (but apparently legit). I mean, how many people saw Hackers?

27) Damien - You know, like the Prince of Darkness? Rose in popularity thanks to The Omen.

28) Version 2.0 - Obvious, and apparently true.

More baby names

Today, taken from some of our very wise, very creative, and very hippie celebrities.

Rafferty Law - Jude Law & Sadie Frost

Cannon Edward King - Larry King & Shawn Southwick

Cashel Blake Day-Lewis - Daniel Day-Lews & Rebecca Miller
Ronan Cal Day-Lewis - Daniel Day-Lews & Rebecca Miller

Fuchsia Catherine Sumner - Sting & Frances Tomelty

Diva Muffin Zappa - Frank & Gail Zappa

Seven Sirius Benjamin - Andre Benjamin & Eryka Badu

Sailor Lee Brinkley Cook - Christy Brinkley & Peter Cook

Seriously...some of these people are nuts.

I've picked a name, today...

(Notice I said "I've")

So...I think the perfect name is Starbuck. Not only can it be a boy or a girl, it also relects the change between where all my money has gone in the past and where all my money will go in the future.

More names...

I am plucking these from the Yahoo! Answers pages on baby names. These are actual names that people are actually thinking of calling their kids.

Hannibal - pretty much the same as naming your kid Dahlmer.

Memphis - it drives me nuts when kids are names after cities.

River, Storm, Sky, Autumn, Summer, Rain, or Willow - freakin' hippies.

October - What?

Beckham - yeah...and, my kid will be Ichiro.

Fira - pronounced Fee-Rah...like, She-Ra - Princess of Power.

Rhys - Just because Y is sometimes a vowel, doesn't mean you should take advantage.

That's all for today.

Baby names for today

So...here are my favorite baby names, today. Found at http://www.unique-baby-names.org/ under Arthurian Legend Baby Names.

Astolat - Lady of Shalott who kills herself for the love of Lancelot - Or, Southern American which translates to "I took that item that didn't belong to me."

Ettard - Lover of Pelleas - or an insult thrown by someone with a speech impediment.

Laudegrance - Father of Guinevere

Leodegan - Father of Guinevere?

Leodegraunce - Dang...Guinevere's mother must have been busy. It's like "Mama Mia" all over again.

Mabonaqain - A knight - Mabonaqain, Maboffaqain - I can't decide.

Borre - Son of Arthur - as in "You're such a..."

Good thing Jr's not here, yet. He/she would probably hate me for a really long time.

It's way too early for names, but...

It's so much fun to think about them. :-)

I've been dinking around online at baby name websites. My wife and I want something unique (meaning it won't appear on any Top 25 names lists), but not so unique that people can't say it. My wife's name is original, but really not that hard to say. Still...people manage to screw it up all the time.

Anyway...I was looking at "Catholic Baby Names" today. Here are some of my favorites:

Cadwallader - Some Saxon king, or something. Bet he got picked on as a kid.

Gelasius - makes me crave Jell-o.

Mercury - Is it really appropriate that a Catholic Saint is names after a Roman God?

Gottfried - As in Gilbert.

Fingar - I hear he's a good piano player.

Anastasius - It's a boy's name. Really.

and, my favorite...what I will probably have to name my kid, if he's a boy...or, at least nick-name him: Maximus.

Night.