Baby Girl's name

As I mentioned in an earlier post, we had a very definite girl's name picked out for Baby Wolfrum, but the boy's name was less definite. We're still going back and forth on the baby's middle name, but the first name is ...

It's one we've always liked, always agreed on and love that as our baby gets older, there are several nickname possibilities (one Web site lists more than 150 deviations from the name!) that can come from this classic name.

From the interwebs: It is of Hebrew origin, and its meaning is "God's promise; God is my oath." Biblical: the mother of John the Baptist. Popular name since the 16th-century reign of Queen Elizabeth I of England. Elizabeth was the tenth most popular name given to baby girls in the United States in 2007 and has been among the 25 most popular names given to girls in the United States for the past 100 years.

In that earlier blog post, I also mentioned that the girl's name for us had a story behind it. Again, we've always liked it, like that it doesn't have a dozen different spellings, like that it has several different nickname possibilities. (Our current favorites are Elle and Lizzie.)

But we've also liked names that have personal meaning to us. And this one does. I like that I'm named after one of my mom's good friends (although my mom changed the spelling from Kristen to Kristin.) My best friend, Meghan, had the middle name Elizabeth for approximately 26.5 years. When she got married, she dropped "Elizabeth" and made her maiden name her middle name. Trust me, folks, this was a serious topic of disagreement for us. I even brought my future children in to the debate, asking Meghan how I was supposed to explain to my future daughter that Aunt Meghan's middle name was good enough for my daughter but no longer good enough for Aunt Meghan. I tried to pull every guilt card I could think of, and still, she legally changed her name. I stubbornly still add it in when I'm feeling especially difficult, but to the rest of the world, she's no longer known as Meghan Elizabeth.

And Meg probably won't believe that I kept these e-mails, but seriously, we've been having this discussion for over a year and a half now. When I asked Meghan how I should explain to my daughter that the person she was named after no longer had the name she was named after, my presentation was along these lines:

"Oh, well, Aunt Meg used to be named Meghan Elizabeth, but it wasn't cool enough for her anymore. So basically you got a castoff name? I don't know, sweetie. Mommy has a headache and needs some of her special 'juice.' Go ask your father."

Or something like this:

Kristin: Come on, little Elizabeth, it's time to get up.
Elizabeth: Mommy, how come you named me Elizabeth?
K: Honey, it's after your Aunt Meghan. It was her middle name. Daddy and I loved it, and we wanted to give you a name with lots of possibilities so you could pick a nickname to match your personality. You can be Lizzie, Eliza, Beth, Ellie, Betsy, Liza, Liza ...
E: But how come she doesn't have Elizabeth in her name anymore? Doesn't she like it?
K: Well, apparently it wasn't good enough for her.
E: Then it's not good enough for me. I want my name to be Gertrude. Call me Gertie.
K breaks down in sobs.

Meghan's response to that exchange went as follows:

Elizabeth: Mommy says you got rid of your middle name, Elizabeth! Didn't you like it?
Auntie Meghan: Of course, I loved it! But it would have been too long to keep it with my old last name and my new last name, when I married Uncle Mike. Instead, Uncle Mike and I decided we would pass down the name.
Elizabeth: So you gave it to me as a present?
Auntie Meghan: Exactly! That and about a hundred cute little outfits I found at Target.
Elizabeth: Ok, I won't change my name to Gertie then.
Auntie Meghan: Your mommy will be very relieved.

So this isn't just some random name. It's a name that was chosen for several reasons, including one with very personal meaning (until Meg switched the plan, but we've gone over that).

Now we just have to decide on a middle name, and we'll be set. Currently, Baby's Girl's initials are EW. We need to change that.