The journey to having a kid is an interesting one. There are so many life changes you have to get ready for. There is one thing that caught me a little of guard: the pressure of having to decide on a name. I could be alone in this, but there is a lot to take into consideration. Here are the things Angela and I tried to keep in mind:
- What their initials will be. For this reason, my child will not be named Alexander Scott. If you are into monograms (which Angela is), you must also take that into consideration.
- We didn’t want to pick a name that would turn into an insult later in their life.
- Angela and I decided we didn’t want a first name that ended in “er”. With Spindler as his last name, we felt like that would be too much “er” for one name.
- We wanted to pick a name that is not super common.
- Are there any family names that we want to carry on to the next generation.
- The name needed to follow phonetic rules. We weren’t trying to create any new English words by naming our child.
- One of my requirements was that it needed to have a good nickname.
- The meaning of the name. We didn’t want our child to have a name that meant “He who is weak” or “He who has lots of gas.”
- Is it a name my child will enjoy for their entire life. Sure they can legally change their name at some point if they choose, but hopefully they won’t want to.
With all these things in mind, Angela and I went into the war room. By war room I mean we created an Evernote note with name ideas. One for boys and one for girls (this process started before we knew the gender). After creating the notes, most of the conversations went like this:
Scene 1
Angela – (while laying in bed) What are your thoughts about a name?
Nick – (also laying in bed) I’m too tired to think about it right now. Let’s talk about it later.
This scene repeated for at least 2-3 months. As the months went on, there was a little more urgency to pick a name. I also started to notice more and more frustration in Angela’s voice each time she brought it up. We went back and forth on a few different names, and eventually found a combo we both seemed to agree on. We decided to let it sit for a couple of days and then see how we felt about it. After marinating on it for a few days, we both still liked it and decided we had reached our decision.
Around March 19, 2015, we will welcome Ezekiel Tate Spindler into the world! I’m sure Iron Man will forever be his nickname, but Zeke will be the man behind the mask. For those of you that are curious, Ezekiel means “God strengthens” and Tate means “cheerful.”
until next time…
PS – I titled the post “Part 1” to keep you from scrolling to the bottom and spoiling the ending without going on the journey. I hope it worked! If you are waiting on Part 2, it will come out right after Mel Brooks’ History of the World Part 2.