[watermelon0719]

Since this is the 'getting started' forum, I thought I'd ask this question here. Do you know what your baby's name is going to be? DH and I know we want a little girl from Guatemala, and we already have a name in mind, including a nickname!! Can you say over-eager?? Just wondering if anyone else has done the same thing!

[JLyle]

Originally Posted by watermelon0719

Since this is the 'getting started' forum, I thought I'd ask this question here. Do you know what your baby's name is going to be? DH and I know we want a little girl from Guatemala, and we already have a name in mind, including a nickname!! Can you say over-eager?? Just wondering if anyone else has done the same thing!

Yes, we already have a name in mind even though we're still working on a lot of the initial paperwork. For me, it helps me to stay focused, I guess, when I have her name to think about.

[quiescentfury]

My DH and I have had girls names picked out for 2 years, but we just picked a boy name a couple months ago. we are looking to adopt domestically.

Girls Names
Caralina Elizabeth - Cara Beth
Molly Kathryn
Ellie June

Boy Names
Trayson Lee
Anton Scott

[LisaCA]

hi,

this is one of the things that separates the optimists from the pessimists. Dd arrived home a year ago july. we had some names on a list, but no name picked out. we didn't want a name to be selected, and then have a problem with the match or have the placement not take place. No nicknames either. That distance made us feel comfortable with the risk (we didn't make up a nursery either until the very last minute). It's a individual, temperment thing .

lisa

[Bug-n-Bears-Mommy]

I had both a boy name and a girl name picked out from the time we started trying to get pregnant.

As it turned out, we have 2 boys. We also learned that we have REALLy come to love them as "their" names. They both really fit the personalities they have formed. Well, because both boys have multiple names as it is (bug has 5 and bear has 4) we are planning on keeping their first names and giving them each of the "boy" names we had chosen. We had originally picked Thomas Dwight. Thomas for my husband and Dwight after my father. When I lost my father to diabetes the life insurance I received funded most of our infertility costs. He was also the BEST dad/grandpa in the world!

They are not going to be "Bug" Dwight and "Bear" Thomas. As for a girl...we can only see what the future holds...one day I might REALLY want a Karleigh!

[Linny]

You know....much of the time, we had names chosen for our babies; but, most of the time, those names ended up being tossed out, or ammended when we looked at the baby and said, 'You know......s/he just doesn't look like a -------- !!!!!!

In the case of having a possibility arise for a new baby.....we've learned to be careful NOT to name the baby until the papers are signed to actually release the baby for adoption. And, like another poster, this has been our way of keeping a distance before we knew this baby would be 'ours'. We had one case a couple of years ago, where we drove to see this itty-bitty baby boy who was being cared for in the agency's cradle care. We just weren't sure (some drug issues and such)....and drove to see him and talk to the foster parents who had been caring for him for the past couple of weeks.

When we arrived at their home, my dh made the comment to our daughter (only 2yrs old).....that we were going to see (the name we'd thought we'd use). I quickly said to dh..."DON'T do that! You just never know, and I don't want to use that name in case something doesn't work out!!!!'

Of course, we fell in love with him, spent significang time with the foster family; and were just ready to hand him over and drive back to the agency to sign papers....when the phone rang and the agency called to say that there was an 'unknown birthfather who was contesting the adoption'! As it turned out, the birthmother had lied about most of the information; and he had aquired an attorney to contest. While HE didn't want this little boy; his own mother did. Soooo, there we were!

You just never know...and we've since learned to 'play it safe' with giving names---though you often have ones in mind before they arrive in your arms!

Sincerely,

Linny

[meimaemomma]

We have a "waiting name" - the goofy name ds (4) suggested in jest (Truckabella!) - and we call her by that for now. I did the same thing with my pregnancy with ds, though in my heart I knew he was always his name. I couldn't have used that name for a child later if ds had not survived the pregnancy. It just was him, from the positive test.
It's a little bit different with international in that you'd know there will be a (Truckabella) eventually, but in our case we're sticking w Truckabella for now, and if we have a situation that doesn't work out we can know that that just wasn't Truckabella. We also want to have the flexibility to incorporate her first name and adding a name from our family.
But we've been playing with lists of names since last May. It's kind of an obsession. DH is great at telling me what he doesn't like .

[blessedbybug]

We are waiting for our second babe, and we call him/her LilBee. We do have names picked out we will use, depending on how much input the first parents want. I think it is a way for me to stay hopeful, but many who posted are right. You do have to be careful to guard your heart and keep distance in situations.

We had a name (the only one we could agree on!) picked out for over a year before we got the call about Bug. When we heard the expecting mom's name, we knew we would use the name we picked for DD, as it was a form of the expecting mom's name. And she loved it. But we also knew that, if this situation didn't work out, this baby would always have that name and we would have to search for another name.

To me, naming is a big part of feeling like you are the parent. It can also be a big part of feeling like you are on your way to being a parent. Blessings on your journey...

[rredhead]

I love threads like this one; they're so much fun, and no one "yells" at anyone else.

I have had a daughter's name picked out since I was about 8: Cassandra. Called Cassie or Casey.

I have never been able to stick to a boy's name. I just don't like a lot of boys' names. My favorites for awhile were Christopher and Alexander, but my last name is now such a tongue-twister, they wouldn't work.

After matching with a wonderful expectant mom who told us: "You need to pick out a boy's name, because that's what you're having." we decided on Jackson. I'm already calling this baby Jack. I've said things like, "When Jack gets here," or even, "We may not be able to bring Jack home" (if S. changes her mind, of course). I'm hoping this kid "looks like" a Jack, because it's literally the ONLY name DH and I could agree on.

Thanks for letting me share.

-Robyn

[blessedbybug]

Robyn... DH and I could only agree on one name for DD. We went to the hospital with only a girl name...if she would have been a boy, maybe Sue??? LOL! I am relieved that we have one for a boy and a girl this time. Oh and for good measure, I do like Cassandra too! Best of luck!

It's so hard to live with the "if"s isn't it? I am glad you are living in hope that Jack will come home...

[Curvyred]

Oh yeah! We have two boy names and a girl name. We keep saying we need a second girl name so that we have a couple to choose from and all the potential "twin" combos covered just in case.

And we aren't starting the paperwork for another year!

We've always talked about names, even though kids were always planned for a good five years out. Most of our choices include family names for middle names, some of which are on both sides of the families.

Our winners so far include--

Henry Xavier (to go by his middle name--family tradition. Henry was the name of the first free-man in DH's family. His mom has copies of the papers.)

Zoe Elizabeth (middle name is MY middle name and DH's grandmother's middle name.)

LeRoy Major (both family names--first is my grandfather, second is a multi-generational family name on DH's side) It will take a strong kid to take that one though.

I keep checking the baby name lists to make sure they haven't crept too far up the list. I'm a Jennifer . . . along with and unreasonably large percentage of the women in my generation. I swear, no top ten names!

[BabsCanada]

I had a 'girl's name' picked out since I was 12 - spelling varied, but it was always basically the same.
My 2nd favourite girl's name and my first favourite boy's name were both so overused by the time it was my turn - grateful now !
Our daughter has the unique name I chose a long time ago, tho we had literally less than a day to name her, and hubby & I had never discussed it, and I found myself struggling with the spelling ...
We also adapted the name upon meeting the birthmother, adding one of her chosen names as a middle name
The only discussion hubby & I had ever had prior to actually choosing a name, was that he wanted a boy to be named after himself and his father (hubby was known as ****** Junior until adulthood), unfortunately hubby & his father share the same first name as my father, and I was NOT prepared to name a son after my father ...
I'm glad we were blessed with a girl!!!
Anyway, you're very wise to have some choices picked out ahead of time, but I'd also be open to variables, like maybe honouring birthmom &/or culture.