The Name Game

We're considering two names:

Jack Parker or Gabriel David

I like both of them quite a bit, but I think we're pretty much sold on Jack Parker. It's just a great, solid name. If we went with Gabriel, we'd definitely call him Gabe--which I also really like.

We chose Jack because we've always appreciated the laid-back nature of that name. After throwing that name around for a while and trying to find a middle name, Amy realized that if she had a P middle name, she would be following family tradition on her Ma's side. Her uncle was John P and her brother is Jacob Peter.

We looked and looked through P names, and arrived on the following:

Jack Pierce (too "James Bond")
Jack Paul (too serial killer)
Jack Peter (that would be a nightmare come junior high)
Jack Preston (too pretty boy)
Jack Parker (perfect)

The only thing bad about it is that my sister-in-law called dibs on Parker when she was pregnant a few years ago. She chose that as her boy's name, but had a girl. So, if she has a boy for her second kid, we're gonna be in trouble.

Eh, she can still use it. Who pays attention to middle names anyway?

(I had always said I was going to name my first boy "Dexter" but that was back before we got our dog. Amy hates the name--rightfully so. When we got our dog, she looked at me and said, "Wouldn't Dexter be a great name for this dog? It fit--we actually named him Professor Dexter Beansprout--and now the name is taken by a family member already, so Amy won that little victory. I'm sure that by now, even without the dog being named that, I would have changed my mind when I pictured my little boy going to kindergarten with that horrible name--and getting the beJesus beat out of him.)

If it would have been a girl, we had only one name chosen: Ava Elaine. Elaine is my grandma's name and she's a treasure. Ava is just a great name. Period. Maybe next time, Grandma. XOXO