Mommy Talk Monday

Want to talk to other Mommies too? Join us!

This week's question:
Baby Names on your list...
What name did you chose, and why?

Sam:
Let me start off by saying that I had my list of names and my husband had his. With the last name of Pauly I vetoed any names that ended with an "e" sound. My other criteria were no names that could be shortened and there could only be one way to spell it. There are soooo many ways to spell Carrie and I hate having to spell my name for everyone. My short list of boys names included Jack, Andrew, and Samuel (my rules, so I can break them right?). I considered Henry (my maiden name is Henrickson) but there was the whole "e" sound at the end so Henry got pushed to a possible middle name. Brian liked the name Alex. At the top of my list of girl names was Anna. I would have loved to have an Anna Elizabeth (Elizabeth is my middle name and there is an Anna Elizabeth on both sides of our families). Perfect, I thought. Brian wouldn't budge. He liked Serina, Elena, Amelia and a few others I can't remember.

It took us hours to decide to call our baby boy, Sam. We tried Alex for a while, but it just didn't stick. The nurses like Sam, our families like Sam, and in the end I couldn't imagine him with any other name. Only 446 other couples in Minnesota thought the same thing about their babies that year (3rd most popular name according to the Social Security Administration). We of course have the best Samuel James in the world. (James was my dad's name)

*** IMO, I think we have one of the toughest last names to match a name with. P names are out (Can you imagine Peter Pauly?), E ending names are out, and once when I got a membership card for my cousin, Porter, on our account, the front desk lady chuckled at Porter Pauly. Sounds like Porta-potty!!!!!

Julia:
This time we actually agreed on a name. It turned out to be a complete waste since it was a boy's name. (Andrew Luke - which about a week before I was due I decided that I liked Luke Andrew instead). I was so thrilled to have a girl that I was willing to give a little and consider some of the names on Brian's list. He liked Lydia the best with Julie a close second. I was still stuck on Anna, but was pulling for Grace when again, he wouldn't budge on Anna. Julia had been on a list I'd made earlier on, but only as a compromise for Julie (the "e" sound again)
When we called our family and friends right after she was born we didn't have many stats to report other than the exciting news that it was a girl. As soon as she was born and laid on my chest she didn't leave for over an hour. It was so nice to get acquainted, nurse her, and just hold the baby I'd been carrying for nine long months. Weighing her and washing her up could wait.
Brian's idea of writing Grace, Lydia, and Julia on slips of paper and drawing for her name wasn't successful because it didn't work out in his favor. Then there was the whole Wedding Singer worry. Would she be called Julia Gulia like Drew Barrymore's character? It was a chance we were willing to take when Sam said JoJo for the first time. The deal was sealed when we called the church secretary so she could announce in Sunday's bulletin that Julia Grace Pauly had arrived.
**Julia "only" shares her name with 150 other little girls born in Minnesota in 2006 (28th most popular).