Miss [name_f]Madeleine[/name_f]'s naming day is 2 weeks away and I am writing something I would like to say after the official part is over. I would like to talk about our naming journey and how long it took us to find the right name, the back and forth between names, the fact she was very nearly named [name_f]Gwendolyn[/name_f] and they way my husband was sure her name should be [name_f]Madeleine[/name_f] right from the start. More importantly I want to talk about the meaning of her name and the second meaning her middle name has. I’m unsure if out friends and family will find that boring though. So I have a few things I would like to run past you lovely berries
- [name_m]How[/name_m] long should I limit talking about her name to? I could talk about it for an hour if I let myself.
- Should I share about the names she was nearly named of just her actual name
- Should I talk about the origin of the name?
Any ideas of tips would be great!
Edit: Also want to talk about how all 3 of our girls have 9 letter names
[name_m]Hi[/name_m] 
[name_f]My[/name_f] sister has had naming days for both her boys. The speeches were short and touching.
I would suggest only talking about her actual name, what she was nearly called will probably feel irrelevant to the day, and possibly indulgent.
If it were me I would talk about;
Whats in a name? Why they are important
The meaning of her names and how you arrived at them
A little bit about her and your family ( its not really all about the name 
)
You are right that is very indulgent of me! Maybe instead of the whole story I will just mention that it was hard to come to a decision and we didn’t decide until the morning of her birth.
I plan on saying something like this about her middle name:
“As most of you are aware I didn’t have an easy pregnancy. I had one full of near daily hospital visits, many months of bed rest and a long hospital admission. It was hard and sometimes very irritating. When a pearl is formed it comes from irritation but the end result is a beautiful and precious gem. So we felt that [name_f]Pearl[/name_f] was a very fitting middle name for our beautiful [name_f]Madeleine[/name_f].”
Or something like that.
When we had [name_f]Isis[/name_f]'s naming day the celebrant explained the meaning behind her names (basically reading out what I’d written for her, about 700 words) and I kind of think, isn’t that the point?
So I’d suggest getting whoever is officiating to do that part and then for your speech you can add in anything you feel is missing. I’d go without talking about the nearly names personally. Focus on the discussion between you and what it meant to your relationship with your husband, sure, but leave the rest of the name nerdienss out. 
I think discussing the origin of the name is great.
We didn’t go much into culture for our little girl as neither of us is Egyptian, but we did explain who the [name_f]Goddess[/name_f] [name_f]Isis[/name_f] was/is and what she stands for.
Also I love the little [name_f]Pearl[/name_f] speech/meaning. Beautiful! I’m sorry you had such a terrible time of it though.
[name_u]Love[/name_u] the reason for [name_f]Pearl[/name_f]
I love the idea - I’m sure your guests will appreciate it very much, and [name_f]Madeleine[/name_f]'s name will be even more meaningful every time them use it!
Regarding talking about what you almost named her, I’d advise against it. While as a name nerd it is very tempting, the take-home message is what you DID name [name_f]Madeleine[/name_f]. You wouldn’t want any jerks walking around thinking (or even saying to each other) ‘wow, [name_f]Gwen[/name_f] would have been so much nicer, I like it more…’
Congrats to you and the fam!
Thanks for your feedback ladies (& gentleman?). I’m trying to write out the part about why we chose [name_f]Madeleine[/name_f] but it’s a long story so I’m trying to keep it concise and leave out the name nerdiness, which is hard. We have such a clear explanation about [name_f]Pearl[/name_f] the [name_f]Madeleine[/name_f] part seems confussing. sigh guess I had better keep working on that!