I’m about to pull my hair out! My DH and I are expecting our first child, a boy, at the end of February! I’m about 18-19 weeks now, and we’ve known it was a boy for about 6 weeks. Now, names are something I’ve nerded out about for years, and I mean years. [name_u]Ever[/name_u] since I was little, I would daydream constantly about what to name my future child. I grew up in a semi-hippy family and loved hearing all the unique names that meant so much to each person I met. Fast forward from my “[name_f]Luna[/name_f]” “[name_u]Sage[/name_u]” “[name_m]Forest[/name_m]” name stage as a hippy teenager 10 years ago, and here I am having to seriously pick out a name. And I want to cry I haven’t settled on something. Names mean SO much to me! Everyone says, “Oh, you have some time, don’t worry!” But I want to stop calling him “it”, and I’ve been picking out names for years. Now I only have about 4 months left…
I’ve obsessed with NameBerry for several months now. And I think my DH and I are at odds… 
We picked out a girl name fairly quickly, and I fell SO much in love with it: [name_f]Adeline[/name_f] [name_f]Elizabeth[/name_f] [name_m]Hodges[/name_m] ([name_f]Elizabeth[/name_f] is my middle name, and my grandmothers middle, and my godmother’s name). I loved [name_f]Adeline[/name_f] because it was beautiful, elegant, fairly unique, and not too weird. I could pull a nickname from it, it sounded beautiful, somewhat familiar yet faint. People, as grown ups, wouldn’t think, “wow, that’s weird!” and it would still be professional.
And then we found out it was a boy. I’ve thrown around a lot of names, but none of them ever really stuck. They’re all either too normal or too unique. I don’t mind normal, but over the centuries, popularity of boys names has seemed to stay fairly consistent whereas the girls’ tend to fluctuate more. [name_u]Noah[/name_u], [name_m]Benjamin[/name_m], [name_m]Samuel[/name_m], [name_u]James[/name_u] these are just too… common over the years. They are constant names with millions of babies taking them every year for years. Now, granted, there are some exceptions to those I have liked.
My little brother and I were very close growing up after my father died. It was just us two tackling the world while my mom was thrusts into the busy life of a single working mom. I’ve loved my brothers name growing up ([name_m]Jasper[/name_m] [name_u]August[/name_u]), and wanted my child to have the same feeling and sound in their name. Something old, unique, yet somewhat comforting in sound. I pitched the name [name_u]August[/name_u] to my husband, and he said no. I really loved that one. I then broke my own rule and picked the somewhat common name [name_m]Oliver[/name_m] (I [name_f]LOVE[/name_f] that name!) but he definitely nicked it because one of his cousins has a 2-year old [name_m]Oliver[/name_m], and they live in the same small town as my DH’s parents. I was really disappointing we couldn’t do it, and I’m still having a hard time letting that name go. He says we just CAN’T name him that, and I’m so bummed. I’ve offered up [name_u]Max[/name_u] (or DH prefers [name_m]Maxwell[/name_m]), and he nixed it, but said he’d think about it. I also loved [name_m]Miles[/name_m], but he said no to that too… I’ve offered up [name_u]Micah[/name_u], [name_m]Milo[/name_m], [name_m]Zachary[/name_m], [name_u]Jude[/name_u], [name_m]Oscar[/name_m], and [name_m]Simon[/name_m], and he’s very, “Meh, not really…” but not specifically about what he doesn’t like. I’ve loved these names, and I’ve scoured so so SO many boy names that I’m feeling hopeless.
On his end, he’s offered up only two names. He offered up [name_m]Davis[/name_m] (his mom’s maiden surname), and I had an immediate “no” reaction to is. I don’t really like the surname as first name thing. Then he offered up [name_m]Malcolm[/name_m] (because he’s a huge Firefly fan). I wasn’t opposed to it, but I just can’t get myself attached to that name. I love the idea of naming our son [name_m]Malcolm[/name_m] in honor of [name_m]Captain[/name_m] [name_u]Mal[/name_u]. But I just haven’t been able to force myself to like the sound of the name. It feels awkward on my tongue, and I don’t really like the nickname [name_u]Mal[/name_u]. We live in [name_m]New[/name_m] Mexico where a lot of Spanish is passed around, and everyone knows mal means “bad” and it just doesn’t sound like a good nickname other than from Firefly. I’ve thought about it for weeks and even told people it’s our forerunner, but I just can’t seem to like it as much as I want to… My husband hasn’t really hunted names as much as I have, and when he hears one he likes, he just goes full throttle on it, and it’s the only name he’ll think of. He doesn’t really care about how it sounds (while I care deeply), but rather other famous people named that name and what it represents (like, oh we named him _____ after _______ from _______).
So… any suggestions on how to handle this? Also, middle name will probably be [name_m]Hayes[/name_m] (a name in both our families that DH likes) or [name_u]Dean[/name_u] (DH’s middle name, his father’s middle name, etc)