by Ashley Cormier

Created on: November 13, 2009   Last Updated: November 18, 2009

"You called your baby, what?"

Is this the first time you heard that? It's not the first time for me, and many other women. When choosing my son's name, I was most concerned about naming him a name that meant something to me, like an uncle or cousin's name that meant lots to me. So, we tried to call him Shane, in honor of a family member of my son's father who's life was ended much too abruptly in an act of desperation. Eventually, after having this name picked out right until my due date, the family expressed a bit of concern of memories that would be brought back, so I had 5 days to choose a new name! I thought long and hard, who in my family did I find I had much of a connection to? Well, there was this one summer I met a relative who lived far away from me, that I felt I could tell my whole life to whose name was Steven. I took a twist on that and called him Stephen. I never ever thought that people would be pronouncing it "Stefan" rather than "Stephen" and it's been an issue ever since. Also, in reality, now I have a son who's name means "Crowned One" "Jehovah Increases" "Son of Neal" "Rock"... strange name eh?

When I was pregnant with my daughter, I read an article about a teenager who was murdered by her mother that broke my heart. I started doing a little research on her name, Karissa. Karissa actually means "very dear", irony hit me. If this poor little girl was "very dear" to her daughter, why on earth would she kill her? In honor of this little girl who obviously was not "very dear" to her mother, I called my daughter Karissa. Once she was born, I found that it was the very perfect name for my little girl, she was indeed very dear to me. "Very dear" "Star of the sky" I find that very appealing, even when converted to its origin and meaning! Thank goodness she wasn't a boy, her name would have been "God Has Given" "The Lord Recalled", oxymoron don't you think?

Choosing a baby name is usually quite complex, especially if you chose a name beforehand. If you pick a name, and you have a baby that doesn't suit the name, you're back at square one!

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