Name Game (Not Really)

Three years ago in March (three years?!) we found out we were having a Blaise. No name game here. If it was a boy, he was going to be Blaise. If it was a girl, she was going to be Bliss. Easy. Like so many other 16-year-old boys, Brian had his future children’s names picked out in high school. I didn’t. I never wanted kids (until I did) so I never gave much thought about names, let alone final picks. Names are fun, and I love hearing all the ones out there. And I am indifferent about names parents choose. Names don’t make people, people make names. Sure, I’ll never name my kids certain names but I don’t have any strong opinions on how parents name their children. Yet it feels so many people do and I don’t understand why all the hullabaloo over Jessica Simpson naming her daughter Maxwell (a “boys” name and the one that just popped in my head) or any other celebrity or non-celebrity picking “different” names. Any name can be associated with something or someone (or a dog, people always like to say they know a dog named X), and any name can be twisted into something to make fun of. It’s like people take an exciting time in other’s lives and find it necessary to pick apart their selected names if *they* don’t approve.

The origin of Blaise: Brian was learning about Blaise Pascal in class and decided then if he ever had a son, he would be named Blaise. I liked it and it fit my minimal requirements. My minimal requirements being it’s not a name that can be shortened or turned into another name. (I wanted our kids to be called what we named them, not like a Richard and call him Dick or a Margaret and call her Peggy.) His middle name, Robert, is Brian’s middle name and a family name. Sure, he has the initials BRO (and BO) and his name means to stutter and is a unisex name, but we like it so that was that. And bonus, we were able to get his full name as an email address years before we even decided on having kids (another Brian-ism).

The origin of Laine: If she came first she would be Bliss. Another name 16-year-old Brian decided on. He was snowboarding alone in Lake Tahoe one day and rode the chairlift with a woman named Bliss. He instantly fell in love with her name, and she talked about how she loved it which made him like it even more. She was pretty too, a bonus for associating a name with something. And I do like Bliss, I just like Laine more (thanks to Gilmore Girls). Since we went one-syllable with Blaise and with a B name, I figured we’d go one-syllable and with a L name (since Brian is a B and I am a L). I can be weird at times (most of the time). And it was an easy pick, if she was a he, he would have been Lane. I like simplicity. Her middle name, Rae, is my middle name, my grandmother’s, mom’s, sister’s, and niece’s middle name. Laine had no choice.

If we have more kids, we have a few names picked but nothing set in stone. Brian insists we need to have names before we even think about having any more kids, he’s like that. Bliss is still an option, and I like Lake and Liesel (breaking my one-syllable trend). Luke and Leif are my boy picks, though Brian doesn’t like Leif. We also tossed around Beck and Brock before we knew Laine was a girl. And there’s Bruce my dad’s name, though he didn’t like his name so I don’t know if we’d go with it. Then there’s Ellis for a boy but that’s way off from Blaise and Laine. I guess we’d enter the name game if we decide to add to the crew.