The Name Game

As we near the finish line to the arrival of our baby boy, (10 days til my due date, y'all!  TEN DAYS! How is that possible?!!?  My older brother was 10 days early.  Yikes!) we've been nearing a final choice on name.  Nope.  I'm not telling.  Yet.  But I would like to talk about how you test drive names for a baby.  I mean, you've got to get the feel of a name and see how it handles.  If it fits.  If it's "the one", right?

Fill in the blank

First up is the obvious way- referring to the baby by the name.  We've gotten to the point that we either refer to our son by our prospective final choice or "the baby".  No more endless rotation of ridiculous possible names.

A friend suggests the following methods:  1. Envision the name signed on a holiday card with the rest of the family.  This makes sense.  You can see if it fits with the family as a whole.  I guess you could also literally write all the names out to physically see it.  2. Holler the name as if your child is in trouble.  Other variations include: as if you're getting their attention on a playground or other crowded space and as if you're calling them in from playing outside because it's dinner time.  Also an excellent barometer, I think.

We've tried our own non-traditional methods.  When we see the midwife at the Children's Centre there are often mommy and me type classes going on.  So as we wait for Mandy, we often get a peek at what's going on.  Sometimes it's a "messy play" class with adorable babies doing sensory play with different textures.  Sometimes it's a singing group.  One day, whilst waiting, the singing group was doing a little introduction song where they went around the circle singing this song with each child's name put in:

_______ is a jumping bean.

The biggest bean you've ever seen!

He/She can jump so high.

He/She can nearly touch the sky!

We've since used this song to test drive names and frequently refer to the baby as the biggest bean we've ever seen.  

The final thing we've done only works on certain names because there's a list to select from, but it's pretty fun!  Ross found a link on one of the many "freebie" sites he subscribes to that inserts your chosen name into a song sung by Elmo!  You can try out as many different names as you like in the free short clip (though you can't save it) and you can download with your final selection if you like.  There's no better way to decide on a name than by getting Elmo's stamp of approval.

Did you test drive a few different names for your baby, or did you just pick?

What method of testing do you think works best?