Girl names...

Since we found out we're having a girl, people have started asking if we have a name. The truth is, I do. I've had one since *before* we knew for sure it was a girl, and the first and middle name came to me while driving home from a temple trip in St Louis MONTHS ago, so I feel pretty good about it. J likes it. I like it. A, E, and O are still processing but I'm sure they'll come around.

One of the nice things about it, though, is that for the first time it's not a name that is on ANY top ten names list (that I know of) anywhere...good or bad name lists. This is new for me. When we came up with our three older girls' names, we thought we were being so clever because we named them scripturally...little did we know that other people were loving these names, too. Consequently, when A, E, and O (especially O) go to school, they'll be in classes where there will be SEVERAL girls with the same name to be sure. Ugh. So, I wanted to avoid that. It's also probably why when the name came to me, I was so dang tickled.

Anyhoo, armed with the fact that this name was fairly unique, when people used to ask if we had a name, I'd proudly say, "Yes! It's..." and freely tell them and enjoy basking in the "that's so cute!" that they normally reply (and thanks to those of you who thought the name was gross but humored me anyway). However, that being said, I was reading on a friend's blog the other day and their friends just had a baby and had named the baby MY name...well, a variation of it, but still! Now, truth be told: I have NO idea who these other people are and this particular friend doesn't know that that is my baby's name (and in fact, may not even know I found her blog!), so they did NOT steal the name, but still. How weird is that???? So I've decided to reveal my name on a Need to Know basis only, so forgive me if I'm a little coy about it.

In the meantime, I thought I'd have a little experiment and list some of the names that my girls have come up with for their new sister (or past imaginary friends) and have subsequently named some of their dolls. Do tell if you hear of anyone naming their girls these names.

Names From A: Angel Princess OR Angel Valentine (ugh. Seriously, can you imagine? And of course, A is very fond of both of these potential names) ; Acicia (A-see-see-ya) who is now the name of a doll; Creesha (this was the imaginary friend I was referring to. Seriously, she was part of the family for a while. One day, we were driving home from church and were several blocks away when A started screaming that we'd left Creesha at church and she was running behind the car, frantically trying to catch up with us. No lies, we had to pull the car over, open the door and let Creesha "in" before we could drive on home. I've always admired and had quite the mental image of Creesha pumping her little imaginary legs to get to our car from the church building, because we were probably driving 40 mph...that story still makes me laugh when J and I talk about it).

Names From E: Baby Ondica (On-de-kah) also now a doll's name; Tina Maki (Tina Mah-kee...which sounds like a sushi to me, but still, this was an offering)

Names From O: Ado and Odo (these are the names she calls A and E, so they may not count, but think they are a hoot and had to share).