When I was 16, I was one of those girls who had long lists of names for my future children, but as I’ve aged, I’ve come to hate all of them for very valid reasons. Mostly, I’ve met people named those names and they ruined it for me. The longer I’m on this earth, and the more people I meet, the harder it is to name children.
I really dislike naming my children. I’m ultimately happy with what we’ve chosen for all 3, but the process it took to get there was not my favorite.
This time around was doubly hard since we had to pick out boy AND girl options.
I didn’t take on the task of even thinking about them until I was past the first trimester. Then I saw a boy’s name in the credits of some movie. Don’t ask me which one. Pregnancy brain lives on.
Immediately, I thought, “Hey, I kinda like that!” Followed by, “Pretty sure Scott’s going to hate it.”
But I started to fall in love with it, and then I was scared to even suggest it to Scott because it was pretty much the only boy name I thought I’d ever like again. I tried to play it cool and casual when I suggested it to him one night before we fell asleep. I braced myself for the veto.
“Hmmmm…. yeah…. yeah? Yeah. I like that. I like it! Sounds like… a scientist!” he replied.
So obviously since that was way too easy, I just knew it had to be a girl.
And the girls names continued to spin us in circles, right up to a few hours before I gave birth. We considered quite a few, but our top contenders were:
Eloise– I liked how this sounded with Leyna. It’s origin is German, and Scott’s family is very proud of their German heritage. But I figured it would get shortened to Ella, and I didn’t know how I felt about that. Ella is far more popular than Eloise.
So that made me think about…
Elsa– Similar to Ella, but different. Just different enough to not run into a lot of other little Elsas on the playground, maybe? Also German. But Scott wasn’t sold.
With a due date in July, I let myself consider…
Juliet- And I LOVED this. For a hot minute. After that passed, I just didn’t feel 100% about it. I came back to it a lot, though. And Scott liked it, too.
Then I mentioned…
June– This was Scott’s favorite, and I loved it more and more each time we brought it up. It was our final choice, going into the hospital to deliver.
If we had come out of the hospital with a little girl, she’d be named…
June Robin Krause
The middle name would be in honor of Robinson, a family surname on my mom’s side.
As the story goes, though, we did not come home with a little June Robin. Instead, we stuck with that very first boys name we fell in love with back in February. And we gave him his daddy’s name as a middle name, though there will be no calling him Scotty or Scott Jr.
We’ll stick to calling him Lowell.
And maybe he’ll grow up to be a scientist.
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22 comments
I love his name!! He definitely looks like a Lowell! 🙂
I’ve often wondered if you look back to that moment when the doctor may have ruined your surprise… Do you think they did? Did you obsess over that moment while pregnant? Did you know it would be a boy, even without that moment that you thought they’d given it away?
Before we found out at 19 weeks, we knew right off the bat what the name would be if it were a girl, but we couldn’t decide on a boy’s name. I think deep down knew it would be a girl. 🙂
Wow! Two out of the three girl names we like are on your list Elsa and Juliet! My top girl name isn’t. Just like my husband and I we have a boy name we agree on but just a list of girl names.
@babyrabies Elsa and Juliet are on our short list for a girl for this baby! We have similar taste! However our boy name isn’t Lowell
I am happy to read that I am not the only one to hate to choose a name for baby, both of us struggle to choose one that we both agree on and then hear about it form relatives with their opinion. Something that was cute this time is that my 4 year old wants in on the name. she has already picked one but we decided on an other name and just like a 4 year old she said she will still call her the name she choose. loved Lowell,
cant wait to read your birth story.
My first experience with the name Lowell was actually scientific! The Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, AZ is named after Percival Lowell, an astronomer 🙂
Naming Oliver was world war 3 in our house, I would shoot something out there and C would shoot it down just as quick. So when he kinda of jokingly said he liked the initials OMG, I latched on an ran with it.
I’m hearing a lot of June lately…maybe because I’m just noticing it more? One of the favorites on my list was Juniper, Juni for short. In the end, we decided to go with something else, but that’s probably why mentions of the name seem frequent to me. I do agree with you 100% that naming children is a very tough task. I went to the hospital without a clue this time!
When we were team green the girls name was quick to come and the boys name we fought right till the end. It was a girl, think fate takes it easy on us in that way 🙂
I love the subject of baby names! I used to always have long lists of favorites, too. We have four kids and I thought it was fun coming up with names, although my husband disliked most that I suggested. Every time I was pregnant, I suggested the name Zachary for a boy. Every time, my husband vetoed it. Then when our fourth child was born, a boy, we didn’t have a name for his first day and a half. I was holding out for Spencer. My dear husband suddenly said, “how about Zachary, I like that”….like he just thought of it. Anyway, we went with it and it is funny how they just become their names. He definitely looks like a Zachary! I love Lowell, it’s classic sounding and unique. I also love June – one of my faves!
Hm well that’s pretty much the most adorable girls name ever and I’m done so I guess you’ll have to have another. Lol! Too soon? :). Love Lowell too. Very sweet.
My daughter is Eloise! Like you, I didn’t love how popular Elle/Ella are getting, some call her Lulu for short. 🙂
The process can be so exhausting. Luckily, it was easy each time for us and we didn’t know sex for any of them either. (Although, I still love Zoe Simone. For my husband, Simone was apparently the high school ho so it was vetoed).
I’m so glad Lowell is here and that his name choice was uneventful
I fell in love with Juliet, and luckily we DID have a girl! So we brought Julet home in April 😉 love Lowell though!
I agree, naming a child is a pain in the rear! Unlike you, I did not ever contemplate what I would name a kid because I didn’t want children at all! Funny how things change. I have four now and I’m amazed by how much I love them.
We wanted our kids to have “presidential” names, and I think we did a good job. Still, the process was tiring. I love your choices 🙂
I always enjoy hearing how parents travel through the naming process. Thanks for sharing!
Cute names! I too had my daughter’s name (Lillianna) picked out by the time I was in my early teen years. I still loved it when I got pregnant & my hubby agreed to it. However, I did go through a strange phase around 6-7 months along that I simply couldn’t stand it. I was thinking of every other girl name in the book. In the end, I fell in love with it all over again and we have our little Lillianna, Lilly for short.
You are so much more generous than I, when it comes to your husband and names. My philosophy: You are getting the last name, I’m carrying this baby and I get to decide everything else. I would not have gone with a name he hated. Ella is named after my grandmother (paternal) & a common name on my mom’s side. I don’t like how common Ella has become, but whadya gonna do?
I love your name choices. I found out what I was having with all three of my kids. The naming process isn’t easy and it took us forever to finalize my son’s name. I am glad that we went with the name that we love, it fits my son very well. 🙂
I still have my list from when I was 16, I add to it frequently enough that I made a BabyNames.com account to keep the list. 🙂 Until I find my husband, the baby’s last name is “Right” (Mr. Right) 😉 Names I’ll likely not use: Girl- Nafuna Sugarbum and Boy-Bernard Richard (B.Rick).
my husband’s a scientist – made me laugh. Congrats again!
Was just reading through some of your old posts, wow… If you had had a girl, and her name was Elsa… Proof, everything happens for a reason! Shit, now I have that song stuck in my head!
[…] written about how we got Lowell’s name before, but the short story is I saw it in the credits of Parenthood early on in pregnancy and immediately […]