Featured Guest: Choosing a Baby Name
Posted by Kalen on Thursday, March 10, 2011. Filed under: baby names, Featured Bloggers, opinionated
Monica has been a friend of mine since I was about 17 or 18. She is a stay at home mom and a graduate of University of the Cumberlands where she studied Music (Vocal Performance), Theatre Arts, and Business Administration. She has been married a little over a year and their daughter, Maecyn, is 6 1/2 months old (and hilariously cute and sassy, if I might add). Here she talks about choosing Maecyn's name, and the drama that followed.
You named your kid WHAT?!?
Any mom or mom-to-be out there can tell you how exciting it is to pick out your child's name. Choosing a name is, along with the swollen ankles, nausea, and stretch marks, one of the fun parts of pregnancy. My husband and I decided early on that we were going to keep our baby's name a secret until she arrived. We felt that 1. it was something we could keep for ourselves, 2. we had a few names picked out and wanted to wait to see our baby girl before settling on one, and 3. we wanted to keep others' opinions out of it, knowing we both have some very opinionated and outspoken relatives.
Keeping the name a secret was something I'll definitely never regret. However, it didn't keep opinions out of the equation. We still had aunts telling us they always wanted someone to be named after them. Others trying to get us to spill the beans, which I'm proud to say didn't happen. Then there were the few who told us that the gift they were getting a personalized gift and requested the initials....to which my response was “Thank you, that's very thoughtful, but we'll have to wait until the baby is born to get the personalization done.” It almost became a game that when someone would ask what we were naming the baby we'd respond with the name of the person who asked. You can imagine the look of excitement when they thought we were revealing our TOP SECRET information, then disappointment when they realized we were joking.
Maecyn Clara finally arrived on August 20, 1010 at 2:57 pm...after what seemed like a million months and 14 ½ hours of labor. The funny thing is the name we had picked out that we thought we were going to stick with, changed the instant we saw her. My husband and I both love the name Maecyn. Clara is in honor my grandfather, Clarence, who passed away when I was almost 6 months pregnant. We were so excited to finally share her, and her name, with the world. We were met with some mixed reviews. I've been told she has a beautiful name and I've been asked “Why did you give that baby a name like that? She's going to be made fun of in school!” A few relatives even refused to call her Maecyn, only calling her Mae or Maecy, you can imagine how this made my blood boil. It didn't bother me that her name was shortened, just the fact that they didn't like the name so they were calling her something else. This is where my husband and I differ. While I was sitting there trying to keep things pleasant, even though I wanted to go all Mama Bear on someone, my husband spoke up. “Her name is MAECYN, not Mae, not Maecy...MAECYN!” I love that man. I have a feeling our daughter is going to have that same mentality...or Mommy might have to teach her that, time will tell. She's already so much like her daddy I can't imagine her not saying exactly the same thing.
Now that Maecyn is nearing 6 ½ months old, we've learned to deal with opinions a lot better, we're more confident as parents. We've learned that we can't take others' opinions personally, we just let them roll off our backs and move on. The fact is that right now Maecyn doesn't care what people call her, I call her booger butt all the time and she still answers to it. When it comes down to it the comments only bother my husband and myself. It's a name that we chose and personal to us. We still get the occasional comment from the same relatives, but it's not nearly as often as it used to be. To me, that's a sign of acceptance, even if it is a baby step.
Regardless of the comments that have been made about her name, Maecyn is still loved and adored by everyone, and that's what's important. She is part of a loving family who will help her build confidence and self esteem as she grows. I feel that being a mother is my greatest accomplishment, and I feel that we've given our daughter a name that she can bear with pride.
What about you? Was there any drama with the baby name you chose? Discuss in the comments or on the message board.
March 10, 2011 at 8:29 AM
I love the name, love the spelling, love it love it!
March 10, 2011 at 8:45 AM
I love her name! Of course, I'm her aunt but that really doesn't figure here. Her name is beautiful and uniquely spelled. It fits her perfectly.
I'm so glad that certain others are finally calling her by her given name rather than what they prefer.
March 10, 2011 at 9:32 AM
That is such a beautiful name and I adore the spelling of it. I don't really understand why anyone would have an issue with it at all! I could see it maybe if the spelling made it hard to pronounce correctly or something, but I don't think that it does.
My Husband and I have thought a little about names for the future. I think he leans more towards traditional names and spellings, while I'm somewhere in the middle. I definitely would like something unique but who knows. :) It's exciting to think about for sure!
March 10, 2011 at 1:24 PM
I think the name Maecyn is adorable, and I LOVE the unconventional spelling. It's a sweet, cute little name! Furthermore, you and your husband are Maecyn's parents, and therefore, the two of you earned the right of choosing her name.
I've constantly had to defend my daughter's name (Chesney). I can't tell you HOW many times I've been asked if she was named after Kenny Chesney. (Ugh, no!) I chose the name because it was cute, well suited for a little girl, and mostly, because it was different without being "weird". My mother named me Ashley Nicole. Both my first name and my middle name were two of the most popular names for the 1980s, meaning I share my first name, middle name, or BOTH with so many others my age. But, she did this because she had a "weird" name. (My grandmother named her Keenna Marchelle.) So, I kind of found a happy medium. :)
March 10, 2011 at 1:39 PM
I love your daughters name! My daughters name is Nevaeh Caydance. My mom hated that mu daughters name and for roughly the first year of my daughters life called her Katie. if Katie had been in her name anywhere it would not have bothered me, but it was totally random.
I admire that you went and told no one the name.
March 11, 2011 at 2:51 AM
Thank you all!
@Amy...I'm glad they have too. I was hoping it would only be a matter of time.
@Stephanie...there were a few people that felt like Maecyn sounded like a boy's name, one reason we went with the spelling we did, instead of spelling it like Mason.
@Ashley and Tiffany I think both are beautiful and unique names. I actually know a girl named Chesney. Tiffany, one family member said he was going to call Maecyn Mary Lou since he didn't like her name, he never followed through on that though.
March 11, 2011 at 12:28 PM
We went through the exact same thing. We've had the name picked out for 8 years. Kept it a secret until he arrived. Seven Orion is my sons name and we love it. People always have something to say about it, but usually positive. The main problem was my mother in law. For while she would only refer to him as "Robbie" and she justified it by saying it was her nickname for him. Um, NO. It didn't even make sense! I stood my ground and corrected her every time. I love unique names. I think Maecyn is beautiful!
March 11, 2011 at 1:53 PM
Both of my children's names (Claire and Logan) were entirely different before they were born (Maya and Milo, respectively). It irks me that certain family members brag about helping to change my mind as they didn't "approve" of the previous names. I just ignore them, it's not worth the effort and Andrew and I know the only reason we decided on different names was simply because our children struck as needing different ones.
And of course there are those in our families who still disagree with the names *eyeroll* We don't care, we're happy and we know our children will be happy.
March 11, 2011 at 2:48 PM
my adoptive mother insisted on calling hannah "annie", even after we told her several times that was not her name and we didn't want her using it... she even had a Christmas ornament personalized with "annie" on it....when hannah opened it, she looked right at her grandmother and said..."who's annie and why do i have her gift?"...i love that girl!!! :)