We knew we would be having a boy from an NIPT test back in August, so have had the name set in stone since then. There was some indecision around the middle name for a small while, but in the end we decided to stick with what our hearts wanted to begin with.
Our very first baby is here!
Christopher Rowan, nn Kit.
The Christopher, nicknamed Kit, was something we fell in love with right from the start. My husband and I met at university in Canterbury, in the UK. It’s where the Elizabethan playwright Christopher Marlowe is from. He was also known as a Kit. Though with Kit Harington, the name is definitely gaining a little in popularity. So I suppose that the first name is very much an homage to our favourite city and the place we met.
I like the versatility of Christopher. It’s not altogether “new” or unusual, but it’s also surprisingly not as popular as I thought it would be. I think so many kids in the 80s and 90s had the name, so it kind of fell out of favour. We also needed a first name that works well internationally, as my husband is British and I am German. Not every name sounds good pronounced by my German-speaking extended family, so we needed something that wouldn’t immediately get butchered.
The nickname Kit will be harder to convince some people of. Although, gathering by the birth announcement on Facebook, it seems that people are taking to it much better than I thought they would. I think it helps that Game of Thrones was obviously very popular in the last few years, so many would have heard of the name. Kit is also a lot more established as a boys’ name in the UK. I know that in the US it’s often more associated as a girls name. I like gender-neutral names anyway, so that wouldn’t bother me, but I also don’t enjoy dealing with judgy looks and questions. Anyway, on social media I got lots of “welcome to the world, Kit” and people really embraced the name without question.
I definitely think that there may be some pushback in the future. But ultimately, I wouldn’t be heartbroken if, come school-age, he himself prefers being called “Chris”. I think Kit is more interesting and definitely cuter for a baby, but I also understand that names evolve and change with the child.
In the end, the name will belong to him and not to me or to my husband and it’s his to do with what he will.
Finally, we uhm-ed and ahh-ed about the middle name Rowan. Even on here briefly. I was worried that Christopher Rowan would be too similar to Christopher Robin. Some people might make the connection, but it’s otherwise not hugely usual to be calling someone by their first and middle name exclusively anyway. Most of the time you see both names written down somewhere. And written down, you don’t immediately think Robin. I also had a brief panic that some people might mistakenly hear “Christopher Owen” if pronounced quickly, but it’s a small price to pay for a name we really love.
There’s no big story or sentimental meaning behind the name Rowan. Neither myself nor my husband’s family are keen on family names, so there was never any pressure to name him after anyone in particular. We just liked it a lot. It’s more unusual than Christopher. Definitely a bit harder to pronounce in German (but as it’s a middle name, that doesn’t bother me at all) but otherwise internationally friendly. And we don’t have to worry about any controversy because a Rowan is simply a kind of tree. That also seems to be enough of an explanation to my German family members who were demanding a reason for the name. “It’s a kind of tree” is apparently sufficient enough reason for a baby name for them.
So that’s been our name journey!
