We have decided on a name for you! I love hearing stories of how names are chosen, so I thought you might like to know how we came up with yours. Your name came to us very easy, actually before you were conceived, I mentioned to your dad that I loved your name, and he said he did too. Once we found out about you, we started calling you by that name around the house, and it seemed to fit already. I even have a few nicknames already that I call you by sometimes. So, even though we decided fairly quickly on the name, here is what we wanted/did not want in a name.
1. It could not start with the letter “J”- There are some great J names out there, but since your dad and I both have names that start with J, we did not want to use that letter for our child too. Plus, if you have a sibling, then their name would have to start with J too, so they “fit in” with the family, and I don’t care for alliteration in names, so we did not even want to start down that road.
2. It could not be in the top 10 most popular baby names- Jennifer was the most popular girls name from 1970-1984 (I was born in 1981), so I was always one of many Jen’s around. I remember one time, there were 7 Jennifer’s/Jen’s/Jenny’s in my class of 25. When you subtract out the boys in the class, almost half of the girls were named with some form of Jennifer. I remember hating that growing up, so I did not want to do the same for you. Right now, here are the 10 most popular boy’s names that were immediately eliminated:
1 Jacob
2 Ethan
3 Michael
4 Alexander
5 William
6 Joshua
7 Daniel
8 Jayden
9 Noah
10 Anthony
3. It could not be too trendy- This goes along with being in the top 10, but basically, we didn’t want to give you a name that will tie you to a generation. We wanted a strong, classic name that has stood the test of time. Lots of boy’s names lately are ending in “-den” such as Aaden, Brayden, Jaden, etc., or starting with “Br” like Brady, Brayden, Brody, or ending in “-son” like Greyson, Jackson, etc.
4. It could not be a unisex name, or a name used for girls- Girls names are now crossing over into boy names in a big way it seems. I know kids like to tease about names, so I didn’t want to chance anyone calling you a girl by giving you a name that many girls are now using such as: Parker, Carson, Cameron, Hudson, Mason, Riley etc.
5. It had to be spelled in the most conventional way- This is more of a pet peeve of mine I guess, but it seems like sometimes parents will give their child a common name, but spell it in a unique way. I think that would be frustrating for you because people would always ask how you spell your name, or you would have to correct them. This is more common with girls I think than boys, but still, it was a rule.
6. It could not be a last name used as a first name- This does not bother me, but it does your dad, so names like Carter, Parker, Jackson would never work for John
And the name we decided on is:
HENRY JAMES
And here are some reasons why we love your name:
- We don’t have any negative associations with the name. I don’t personally know anyone with this name, although most famous people with this name are well regarded authors, artists, sports figures, or actors. Some of the famous people with your name include Henry “Hank” Aaron, Henry Ford, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and Henry David Thoreau
- One of my favorite literary characters is Henry DeTamble in “The Time Traveler’s Wife” I love the book and his character
- It is my great-grandfather’s name- although I did not realize it at the time, but my great grandfather’s name is Henry Leland. He died when my grandmother was 2, but when my mom told her of your name, she remembered her father
- Your middle name is John’s grandfather’s name and I love that we were able to honor him by using his name. Your dad will tell you all about him since he passed before your dad and I met. Even though there is a great British author with your name, we promise, you were not named after Henry James the author.
- Your name is currently the 71st most popular name in the US for boys- we love that it is not too popular, but not too unusual
- Your name was most popular in the 1880’s and we love that it has such historical roots
We hope you are happy with your name Henry! We can’t wait to meet you in a few months!
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