My Royal Baby Name Fear
You may have heard that Kate Middleton and Prince William are having a baby and that that baby is due any day now. The sex hasn't been revealed but there's a 50 percent chance it will be a girl, right? I'm having a girl in November and here's my (slightly-irrational) fear: that Will and Kate will steal my baby name. I am not a royal baby watcher or a celebrity baby watcher or really all that concerned with these people (I only read US Weekly on airplanes and I'm rarely on those these days). But I know what happens when a celebrity--let alone the future King and Queen of England--names their baby something semi-normal (i.e. not North or Cricket): It becomes super popular among us regular folk. And I don't want my kid to be one of five in her class with the same damn name. Or worse, for people to think I got the idea from reading Hello!
I have an Alexander and a Nora and I want to give my third a classic, non-trendy name as well. And I assume the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are going to go with an old-fashioned name they didn't make up out of thin air (e.g. North or Cricket). Don't get me wrong, there are some really cute "different" names and I considered some for my kids. I loved the name Harper for Nora-it's my grandma Adele's maiden name and she and I were very close (we shared the same birthday)--and I thought how cool would that be? But I couldn't go through with it and I'm glad I didn't, given that about five celebs (including the freaking Beckhams) named their kids Harper that year. I honestly would have felt the need to introduce her as "Harper, who's named after my grandmother not Posh Spice's kid." I'm sure in large part thanks to the A-list surge, Harper is now number three on Nameberry's top 100 girl names of 2013 (Nameberry tracks unique names and forecasts those that will become popular). Number two is Charlotte, which we came thisclose to naming Nora (turned out we could tell from day one that she was way too wild and crazy to be a sweet Charlotte). I do realize that Alex isn't exactly an unpopular name-it was number nine on the government's list of most popular names last year-but it's classic and I love it and so far in these parts, we haven't run into too many.
Anyway, we're leaning toward traditional girl names for our third and almost all of the names on our list are also on the bookies' lists for the royal baby (yes, people are placing bets on this stuff). Here are some of the names we're currently tossing around:
Anna
Mary
Bridget
Kate
Vivian
Marie
Caroline
As you can see Diana is not on our list, so we're good there. I LOVE Alice, which is also an alleged contender for the royals but I don't think I could have an Alice and an Alex in the same house. Apparently the frontrunner for girls is Alexandra with 4/1 odds. Alexander is also on the bookies' list of potential royal boy names and if it wins, Alex will probably sky-rocket to first place--d'oh! I guess you really never know if the name you give your kid is going to become super trendy. Nora wasn't even in the top 100 three years ago and now it's climbing the charts. And who knows what Will and Kate are really thinking? Nick and I do like a few other names that I can guarantee won't be future princesses (Cameron is one) but I just have this weird feeling that they're going to have a girl and they are going to give her our favorite name. Is this the end of the world? No. Should I really care about this stuff? Absolutely not. Do I? Yes. Because naming a kid is a big responsibility and I take a lot of things (some admittedly-ridiculous) into consideration before committing. I'm really not a big trend follower (you should see my very un-hip wardrobe) so inadvertently becoming part of one would be a bummer.
That said, I'm lucky that my baby is due after the royal baby so I can adjust if they steal my name. And I'll admit that, despite my struggles, naming a kid is fun. I love brainstorming and don't mind sharing my ideas and getting feedback. How about you? Do you find it a challenge? Do you consider popularity or does is not matter at all? And...do you like any of the names on my list above? Got any good girl names to share? I need some ideas!
