Would you please call me Cordelia?

VWH is truly my other half.  I don’t believe that there’s only one person out there for you and if you miss him or her you’ve lost all hope for complete happiness.  If I did though, I’d be pretty sure I nailed it.  I am happiest when it is just the two of us.  Even if that means the two of us are in bed reading different books (him translating something from Latin to English, me…Dave Barry), there’s a peace and completeness that is unmatched in any other area of my life.  We see eye to eye on just about everything.  We read each others’ minds.  We encourage each other and strive to give 100%.

But, as in all marriages, there are troubles.  And this one particular area has been a challenge for us since our dating days.  It involves life-changing choices affecting the lives of other people, so you can clearly see how vital it is that we resolve our differences.  The topic continually crops up and, each time, we realize anew how dissimilar we are.  I share this with you today as a testimony to our imperfections and also as a plea for you to side with ME.  I genuinely think you’ll find that my perspective is sane and “normal.”

That issue is: what beautiful and respected names will we bestow upon our future children?

I spoke with my sister-in-law the other day.  (She is the recently married one.)  She and her new husband have already decided what they will name their kids, even though they are non-existent beings as of this moment.  They’ve been married for, like, a month.  VWH and I have been married for 3 and a half years, plus 2 and a half years of dating.  And nada.  I kid you not (haha) when I say this topic probably comes up once a week.  We explore it to the utmost each time, exhausting our current list of possibilities before we quit, worn out with the effort of not laughing too hard at the other person’s suggestions.

But seriously, you will see why we struggle when I share some real live suggestions.  As you may already know, VWH has a fascination with the ancients.  (See previous blog entries for hints and tidbits.)  He is fluent in two ancient languages and finds the names of the mighty heroes of yore entirely suitable for a toddler in the 21^st century.  Some of his most recent suggestions included Iona, Crysse (I don’t even know how to pronounce that), Phylla (I thought that was some kind of dough), and…I am NOT making this up (to quote aforementioned Barry), Alphaeus.

I can see it now.  The nurse hands us our newborn son and smiles as she asks for the baby’s birth certificate information.  VWH proudly declares, “His name…will be Alphaeus.”  (Echo, echo, echooohhh.)  The nurse blanches, and then quickly regains composure as she looks at me and asks quietly, “Really?  Are you sure?  How do you even spell that?”

If it’s not an ancient name like Alphaeus or Hercules, it’s what VWH considers “royal and dignified” and what I consider “homespun and backwards.”  Names like Henry, Harold, Reuben, and Alfred.  I don’t want our kids to hate us!  In an effort to stir up some support, I ran a few of these ideas past my mom, who eyed VWH warily and very diplomatically responded, “We’ll love it no matter what you call it.” 

So what if I like the name Aiden?  I realize it’s a little modern and currently pretty popular, but it sounds strong to me and it works on a 2 year old and a 40 year old.  Harold does not work for a 2 year old.  It just doesn’t.  You cannot convince me otherwise.  Feel free to try, but it won’t work.  There is no way I will be able to get away with naming a son Aiden, but at least I can feel justified in my selection.

We have a very common last name.  The most common, in fact.  This poses a challenge in that a lot of cool names all of the sudden don’t work.  I really love the name Andrew, but I’m not sure we can pull it off, particularly since I’m already related to at least one Andrew S____.  (Gee, I wonder if you can crack that code!)

I just want to sum this all up by saying, NO we are not expecting a baby.  And, yes, we have found a girl’s name that works.  But I’m not telling because then everybody critiques and criticizes behind your back.  We both think it’s beautiful and fits.  I’m just hoping we can make it all the way to the birth of our first daughter without one of us changing our minds.  And if we happen to have twins, we may be forced to pull a name out of a hat…literally.