Tuesday, January 11, 2011

What's in a name?

Deciding on a name for our baby has been a bit harder than I expected. Sorry to say I'm not one of those girls who knows by age 10 that if I get a girl she will be named *** or if I get a boy he will be named ***.

I had a few demands for the name, I wanted the name to be able to be pronounced in English as well as in Danish. I must say I have been lucky that my name is easily pronounced pretty much all over the world. But while being in the USA as an Au Pair I met a lot of girls from different countries, and many of them had to spell their name over and over before people just got a slight idea of what they were named! Besides from the name being easily pronounced I would like my baby to have a special name, which wasn't too special... do get what I mean? I want a name that isn't super spacey, but I also don't want the boy to be one of 8 in his class named his name (but there is always a risk that with a fairly common name he will be one out of several).

When we first found out I was pregnant neither of us could come up with any suggestions for names... so we decided to put that on hold until we had had the second ultrasound, and knew if it was a boy or a girl. It seemed a bit surreal to both of us coming up with boys names if we were having a girl and vice versa.


So after finding out we were expecting a boy, well it didn't get much easier, but we started coming with suggestions. And every time I suggested something my husband didn't like, he would say "we should name him Frank Jr." All because he knew I would hate it. At one point I thought we would never agree... so I started to abandon my demands. I figured what the f*** who cares if it's easily pronounced in English, my brother lived 5 years in the UK and managed pretty well, even if he's named Torben!


But after a while we had it down to 3 names: Jonathan, Mathias, and Benjamin. After going with these 3 names for a while we decided on Jonathan. Which we told a few people when they asked... and then the day before going on vacation we received an e-mail from my cousin, thanking us for the gift we sent them when they had their son. And he was going to be named... surprise... Jonathan! To say the least I was pretty upset... they stole my name! Okay we could name our boy Jonathan as well, as we don't see them all that often, usually just at Christmas time, but no, Jonathan is now out of the picture. So you would say hey you still have 2 other names left... but no, after deciding on Jonathan, the others just didn't seem right.

But a 9 hour flight to The Dominican Republic will give you time to think of new names:) So when we arrived in Punta Cana we had narrowed it down to 2 names, Jonas and Johan! Leaning towards Jonas, but we weren't completely sure. At the end of our trip though, we were sure he is a Jonas. So until further notice that is what our baby boy will be named. But who knows, someone might pop out another boy and name him that as well... but I hope not, I don't want another 9 hours flight to come up with a new name!

Honestly I thought coming up with a name would be the easy part, I guess I was wrong. But now we are ready for Jonas to arrive. Just 5 short weeks from now:) I must say I really enjoy my maternity leave, I get so much done, the whole house have been cleaned, most laundry been done, I have even been creative... I can't remember when I last painted something that I dare show someone, probably back in pre-school!
A few paintings for Jonas' nursery


I have even started making meal plans... so on Monday night I went shopping, and now I don't have to go grocery shopping for the rest of the week. Which is really nice, I'm used to picking up things for dinner on my way home from work... this way I bet I will save both time and money:) Speaking on saving money... not having a car and being stuck at home during the day will help you save money as well. Today we will know if they are able to fix the car or not. If they are able to fix it we will probably get it today as well. But if there is too much damage we aren't going to get it fixed. It's an old car, and you can get one similar fairly cheap, so if it's too expensive to fix we are going to look for a new one!

Sorry for the long post, hope you all have a great day!

5 comments:

  1. Jonas is a beautiful name! Hopefully someone else doesn't steal it. And at least in the U.S. Jonathon is super common and there would have been 8 of them in his class - so Jonas is much more unique. I also LOVE your paintings - you are so incredibly talented! I may commission you to do some paintings for my children when they come along!

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  2. i imagine naming a person is pretty tough! i've never thought about names either. i also think i would have different favorites names each year. too bad you can't wait until he arrives to ask him. jonas is a great name though! i agree with kattrina, jonas is totally unique, but not weird. and i know literally dozens and dozens of jonathan's here in the US. they are everywhere!

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  3. Aww! I love Jonas! What a wonderful and strong name!

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  4. I think Jonas is a really beautiful name - I can't wait to see piccies of him!

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  5. it is a very interesting article.keep it up.Thank you very much
    http://www.mumzone.com.au/baby-names.php

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Your comments makes me smile:)