How I Named [name_f]My[/name_f] [name_f]Baby[/name_f]: [name_f]Birdie[/name_f] [name_f]Mildred[/name_f]
Tell me Birdie’s name story!
[name_f]My[/name_f] husband and I have always talked about our children’s names, both in part because it took us a while to conceive, but also because we just both adore the topic! We decided that our daughter’s name would be [name_f]Birdie[/name_f] before we even found out that I was pregnant and never looked back!
The name [name_f]Birdie[/name_f] means so much to us. It has connections to multiple women in our lives who loved bird watching, memories of watching the hummingbirds from my childhood. A tie to my maternal grandpa, who always went by [name_m]Bernie[/name_m], a tie to my paternal grandpa [name_m]Robert[/name_m]. The first item we ever bought for our children was a small little robin toy and blanket set, and my husband purchased that before we decided on the name [name_f]Birdie[/name_f] for our daughter - back when we first started trying to concieve - and that made her name all the more special.
How did you pick Birdie’s middle name?
To be completely honest, it took us a while to settle on [name_f]Mildred[/name_f]. We were debating between a few different options and in the end [name_f]Mildred[/name_f] won out and we firmly decided at the seventeen week mark. There was a small moment in the hospital room where we debated on changing our minds between contractions, but to be fair, I was in labor for 42 hours and I don’t think I was thinking very clearly!
Birdie’s middle doesn’t have any particular connection to any family member or friend, but we do love the stuffiness of [name_f]Mildred[/name_f] and how she makes [name_f]Birdie[/name_f] seem impossibly more charming! The meaning of “gentle strength” really solidified her as Birdie’s middle name to me especially. The idea of being gentle and carrying such strength and inner peace is something I really associate with a dear book series, a character who I love that has really become a part of me! It also starts with an M, like my sister’s name, my maternal grandma’s name, and my name, which makes it a little more special!
What other names did you consider?
As I said before, we settled on [name_f]Birdie[/name_f] before I was pregnant, but prior to deciding on that, we really loved [name_f]Sybil[/name_f]! As for her middle name, if she wasn’t [name_f]Birdie[/name_f] [name_f]Mildred[/name_f], she would have likely been [name_f]Birdie[/name_f] [name_f]Margot[/name_f], [name_f]Birdie[/name_f] [name_f]Frances[/name_f], or as a braver choice, [name_f]Birdie[/name_f] [name_f]Zipporah[/name_f]! If [name_f]Birdie[/name_f] had been a boy we would have likely gone with [name_m]Otto[/name_m], a name that we still really love!
What are the trendy names in your social circle?
[name_f]Birdie[/name_f] is only one of three babies in our friend group, all of them under a year old, with [name_f]Bird[/name_f] being the youngest! The other two are [name_f]Delilah[/name_f] [name_f]Maeve[/name_f] and [name_m]Amos[/name_m] [name_m]Charlie[/name_m]. [name_f]My[/name_f] sister has a son that’s two years older than [name_f]Birdie[/name_f], who’s named [name_m]Amir[/name_m] [name_m]James[/name_m]. [name_f]My[/name_f] brother-in-law and his wife have two sons, [name_m]August[/name_m] and [name_m]Elliot[/name_m]. Apart from people we’re close with, we’ve met a lot of Maeve’s, a lot of Lola’s, a surprising amount of Rosie’s, several Hazel’s, and a few Jack’s, Liam’s, and Oliver’s! On the front of unique names that we know a lot of, we know two Augustine’s under the age of four and three Wilhelmina’s!
How have people reacted to Birdie’s name?
We’ve got a lot of positive reactions! We didn’t talk about names with anyone, and Birdie’s name was kept a secret until her birth, although our close circle knew her name had something to do with bird’s, but they’ve all enjoyed her name.
We get so many comments and compliments about her name at the soft play group we go to and the women at the breastfeeding support group (which I was a little apprehensive about going to, but have really love) have been so sweet and seem to really like her name! We get a lot of smiles when we meet strangers and they ask what her name is. It seems quite popular among the elderly, many of them saying they new many Birdie’s or Mildred’s, which we love!
We also met a lovely elderly woman named [name_f]Birdie[/name_f] - she was so incredibly sweet and offered to make our girl a knitted blanket. We talked for nearly an hour, and after some assurance from her that the blanket wouldn’t be a burden to make, she did end up making a custom blanket for our [name_f]Birdie[/name_f] girl! Once a stranger, she’s grown a dear friend!
Did your baby receive any special gifts?
As said above, the custom knitted blanket for [name_f]Birdie[/name_f]! It’s pink and has her name embroidered on it cream…it is absolutely stunning and we could not be more grateful!
The tiny robin toy and blanket my husband bought before we were even pregnant with [name_f]Birdie[/name_f] are in her nursery, with the blanket being the one she was swaddled in first. The same pattern is the pattern on her crib sheets, although she’s in a bassinet for now!
We were given the dress I got baptized in from my parents, and although [name_f]Bird[/name_f] isn’t going to be baptized, we do have a small photoshoot planned for [name_f]Birdie[/name_f] and the dress, just as a little commemoration.
[name_f]My[/name_f] husband’s family has a tradition of gifting the newborn family members some sort of precious metal, whether it be in a piece of jewelry or to be melted down later, and they followed that with [name_f]Birdie[/name_f]! His parents gifted her this beautiful platinum bracelet and his grandparents gifted her a piece of gold that she will be able to melt down into a ring or another jewelry item once she turns eighteen!
What are you and your baby’s favorite things?
To be honest, we’ve kept things really simple! I really loved the [name_f]Lila[/name_f] Labor & Postpartum Gown while I was in labor, which let’s be real, was for a long time (42 hours…it was so terrible)! It was also a godsend after I gave birth, as I found it really difficult to maneuver putting on clothes given how exhausted my body was (although my husband helped), and it was really easy to feed [name_f]Birdie[/name_f] in! I have the gown and robe in the vintage floral, but I also ended up buying the caramel, deep teal, and black colors for the nighttime and my recovery/any future births. A little overkill, but still worth it!
As for [name_f]Birdie[/name_f] herself, we really love the boba wrap - she falls asleep in it in minutes when we’re out in public. The [name_f]Elvie[/name_f] pump has been a lifesaver, as have the nanobébé breastmilk baby bottles. I really wanted to exclusively breastfeed - trying to keep away from bottles for the first three months, just for my own preference - but I ended up having a few difficulties with anxiety that led to me being unable to sleep at night, and without the restful sleep, I had some complications with feeding her and not being overwhelmed, so the bottles and pump were so helpful! They allowed my husband to take it over for most of the night (usually the feedings from midnight to eight!) while not affecting her feeding!
And as a bit of a not-needed extra product that we love, there is no clothing item we got for [name_f]Birdie[/name_f] that we love as much as the hand-embroidered name sweater we bought for her when I was about twenty-two weeks along! I’ve put her in it more than any other clothing item, and have bought it in nearly every color they had…Birdie is stocked up on “Birdie” knit sweaters for the next six years, and I am not one single bit mad about it!
Our [name_f]Birdie[/name_f] baby. We love you, [name_f]Birdie[/name_f] [name_f]Mildred[/name_f]!
I often go by [name_f]Mimi[/name_f] and I love that fact I have a nickname to go by! So I needed her to have nicknames!
