Baby Name Blues....

When I started this post a few days ago, I was quite overwhelmed by picking out a baby name. It's not that I think that a name has anything to do with building a kids character (I don't), it's more that I just want them to like it.


Growing up with the name Valena-Rose Elizabeth Wyght was a mouthful and I was not a fan of the name.

But then I grew up, learned how to annunciate my words, became a lil less anal about how people pronounced my name and I started to really appreciate my name. 


First of all, I love how it's my name is full of family ties:
   "Valena"- My dad's mother's middle name

   "Rose"- My mom's mother's middle name

   "Elizabeth"- My mom's middle name

Then I began seeing people have issues with having multiple people with their first name (one of my best friends will always be Brittany G. in my head because when I first started to know her she was working with my at B.P's along with FIVE other Brittany's). Another friend told me a story of having SIX other people in southern alberta with her name, first and last... One even had the same middle initial as her! I guess I always took it for granted that I never had that issue. My name is very unique. For good (or for bad) when you hear something about 'Valena', 99% chance is that that person is me.


Lastly... I just love my name with my new last name. Valena Bevans. It just sounds and looks good, doncha think? I think my parents did good. It just took me 20 years to appreciate my name (sorry mom and dad).


Perhaps a big chunk of why I didn't like my name can be simply attributed to the simple fact that it was the name I had. Isn't it almost human nature to think that the grass is greener on the other side, at least initially? I had curly hair and I wanted straight hair. I was naturally skinny but wished I was curvy. I had a feminine name and wished I had a 'cool' unisex name. If my parents had named me "Alexandra" and I went by "Alex" (my dream name when I was 12) you could probably bet that I would have found a reason to complain back then. 


So now we come back to naming our lil guy. I didn't want a name that is super popular right now (sorry 'Liam'), too unique ("Bronx"), too vanilla ("Joe"), too old-sounding ("Leonard"), too.... anything... Then you have to consider what names other people related to you 'dibbs'ed ("Chase, Emmett"). And lastly, most importantly, Shawn and I had to agree. I was stressed when we only had one potential names but then I was throwing out random names, getting shut down again and again and then Shawn said he liked one! So now we have two! I can live with two! 


First Names:


Dierks Bevans: Stolen straight from one of my favorite country singers. Dierks Bentley. Can't take the credit though. It's a name that Shawn suggested. My only concern is that it will be a name that he will grow up having to spell and pronounce forever, but then again so did I and I eventually came around...


Brock Bevans: I just was in the middle of throwing out dozens of names and randomly threw this out without really thinking about it. When Shawn said he didn't mind it, I was shocked and then realized I actually liked it. Now, Shawn has a funny habit of saying he likes/doesn't mind a name and then developing amnesia and saying he not only doesn't like the name, but hates it so I didn't really want to get my hopes up too much about having a second option for names. Then I tossed it out there two other days and so far, so good! He still likes it! Score!!!


Middle Names:


The middle names will be a lot easier since we have decided that we want family names to be the middle names so our options are:


Shawn: Shawn really wants to pass down his name since he was named after his uncle that passed away at a young age. I am not a huge fan as I don't think it flows with the other names but then again, isn't that what middle names are for? Passing on important family names? 


Dale: Shawn's dad's and grandpa's first name


Wyght: My dad is funny. My dad has been very vocal about how he dislikes his name (maybe it's genetic and that's why I didn't like my name) but unlike me, he never grew to like it and in fact, he dislikes it so much that he urged all our us NOT to name any of our children after either name "Warren" or "Scott". Sooooo we are left with his last name which is neat cause even though it's really old school, I kind of like the idea of passing on my maiden name somehow. Shawn isn't too keen since he thinks it sounds a lil funny having a last name as a middle name. Maybe I shouldn't tell him that Dierks Bentley got his name from his grandma's maiden name? Or should I?