Picking a name is one if the hardest things I have ever done. I would have thought it was easy. Its just a name. But that's it, its just a name! Its your identity for the rest of your life. Its something that you can't really change (I know technically you can, but most people do not).
The pressure not to make the wrong choice. What if when she is old she hates it, or what if she gets teased, or what if a million other things.
I know we still have plenty of time before it becomes official. But I decided it was time to give the baby its identity. Of course I love the cuteness of people calling her Olive, but I could NOT see her living her whole life as Olive. I wanted her to start to feel connected to it and people to start calling her by it.
Gene and I had discussed some names from the beginning. The girls name actually came easiest to us, at least the first name. Back when we were undergoing our first IVF and we were in the bliss of excitement that we could be pregnant, Gene mentioned to me that if he ever had a girl, he wanted to name her Abby. I thought that was great because Abby had always been on my list and we have never talked about potential child names before. I thought that was a great connection and I stored it away in my memory bank.
So, in our discussions I brought Abby up and it was something we both liked. Gene wanted it to be just Abby, but I wanted it to be more official with Abigail. Here's where we offer different perspectives. Growing up I never had a nickname to my name. I'm just Lisa. It seemed like all my friends, and family, had full names that got shortened to something else. I loved that, I wanted that. Gene on the other hand, was the opposite. He has a full name, Eugene. He said it was, and still is, a drag to correct people to call you what you want to be called.
But, I asked him about his decisions for JJ. His first name is technically Joe. Everyone calls him Joejee. (I use JJ for Internet short hand). Jee was his given name from Korea, and its one of his middle names. Although not his first middle name. So, technically, he has to correct people to call him what he likes to be called. (But, he is now fine with people calling him Joe).
Its complicated and we haven't even chosen a middle name yet! I can still be persuaded to just call her Abby. I know Abigail is popular right now. Even though we don't know any. Its not done till she's born and things are on paper.
We tossed around several middle names. But I did some research on them and I thought one was particularly fitting. Gene has been presenting me with tree names options. Like Maple, Cherry, White oak. Just odd ball things that I knew he wasn't serious about, but he does like wood, and trees, and nature. The one name we had talked about has the meaning of Olive Tree. I thought that was great because not only did include his desire for trees, it included the nickname her brother has given her. It made the choice that much easier, Olivia it was.
So there you have it. The workings of choosing a name. Abigail Olivia Jameson. I hope she likes it.
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