What is in a name?

So, as you may know, I am pregnant with our third daughter. If nature had its way, it would be reasonable to expect her arrival on or around August 4th. Nature, in my case, was thoroughly resisted for the deliveries of Claire and Ava, and will likely be thwarted again come July. I had "the works" with Claire ... pitocin, water break assistance (SO unpleasant), epidural, and finally the dreaded C. She came out literally in an instant, understandably upset, but not enough to be placed in a mudroom to sort things out alone. She was laid on my chest where she oggled me with those newborn baby eyes, just like my library of baby books said she'd do. It was great.

Ava was a planned C, which took all of the nasty not knowing when out of the equation. I also skipped the pitocin and water break to go straight to the epidural and C. She was furious! Knowing her like I do now, I am not surprised that she put every bit of her seven pounds 12 ounces to work, fighting off rude doctors. Sadly, she was not handed to me for any oggling. I barely caught a glimpse of her little face, beat red with anger, before they wisked her off to make her a lot angrier in the nursery. It is a good thing for the medical staff she didn't come equipped with a stinger. My poor baby! I was left on the table with a piece of paper smudged with two mad little foot prints. John asked if he could follow the baby to see how she did and I said "no way. You sit down buster while these jokers sew me up!" Only I said it in a much nicer, medicated way that probably came out as "erp!"

So now we've got this third little girl on her way and I am so excited! During my first visit to the doctor to discuss my condition, my OB launched into a long winded, sort of desperate sounding explanation as to why we couldn't possibly consider anything but a third C. I cut her off "you're preaching to the choir, sister. I have no NO intention of doing anything nature's way after what I've been through". I immediately wished I hadn't called her "sister" because my OB happens to be black. Maybe sister seemed too chummy. But no worries! She simply continued her train of thought regarding ruptured uteruses like I hadn't just told her "look lady, I'll perform the C myself if you won't". Ha! Anyhow, I think it's a lot of crap that my uterus would explode, were it subjected to normal every day labor. But I digress. In a very serious way and with questionable language as I really intend to talk about names, more specifically, BABY NAMES.

The day I found out God was smiling down on me by sending me a little girl baby for my first baby, I suddenly, out of nowhere, thought of that beautiful, and not beaten to death name, Claire. Oh I liked it! On my way back to my JPMorgan cubicle, I called all of my family members to air the name. It was IT! Just like that (snap your fingers, please), it came to me. I allowed John the satisfaction of approving the name and even let him "help" by finding the perfect middle name. Surprisingly, he had a long list of ... names ... I WON'T say "awful names" as I was thinking in my mind, as one of you may have a beloved mabel or edith in your life. So his list, I suspected, was a list of ex girlfriend names. No, not really. But they were a little suspicious ... for example, he loves the name "Noelle" second only to me and now (possibly) his two children. I couldn't figure it out. Noelle? The guy's family is budhist, at least nominally, and Noelle means without a doubt, CHRISTMAS. So maybe the joke is on him? His second name choice, one he found equally as exciting, was Frances. FRANCES??! I think I laughed out loud when he told me. WHERE, no HOW on EARTH did he come up with THAT??? (remember, all caps = yelling, at least internal yelling). He lobbied hard for Frances Claire. I put my foot down in a way that made it not seem like I was by artfully suggesting Claire Frances. I thought it was rather big of me to allow my perfect little Claire to also bear the name Frances. He relented and, at this very moment, I have a Claire Frances hollering from her crib in the nursery "Auntie Leeeeeeessssssaaaaa! Where ARE YOU?" She must have noticed how I leap to attention to help my nieces.

So now, onto Ava. Ava's name is actually Avery Belle. Avery was the name of a very helpful sales woman who sold us some furniture at Lillian August. We left the showroom and John and I said in unison to eachother "Do you like the name AVERY?" Yes! We both did! Done and done!! In my magnanamous way, I again allowed him the middle name and he immediately came up with Avery Noelle, which I thought was very pretty. And also disposed of another of his (horrible) names.

Now a few weeks after this, we were shopping for curtain rods at Restoration Hardware (we were feeling filthy rich that day) and I ran into a couple with a baby Claire's age. They commented on the fact I was pregnant and wanted to know about possible names. I told them "Avery" and they looked at one another. "We love that name!", they said together. "We have since we bought furniture from a woman named Avery at Lillian August last year." So this poor furniture saleswoman was spawning little Averies all over our state in oblivion. I knew then that maybe MY Avery would not be the ONLY Avery but at least it would be less common a name than "Ava" which I loved but wouldn't deign to name my child as it has been in the top ten every year since "Lisa" fell out of favor. It was Claire that chose that name in the hospital. We told her, Claire, this is your little sister, Avery. She said in her most charming baby voice "AVA!" rhymes with lava and we've been calling her that ever since. Ava's middle name was changed a week before she was born when my grandmother, Belle Winifred, passed away. I thought it would be meaningful to name her Avery Belle rather than Avery middle name with dubious origins. John agreed and now I have a little Avery Belle who I often call Ava Belle which fits her to a T!

A few days after Ava was born, we got one of those little card things (what are they called?), commemmorating my grandmother. Her name was BellA Winifred as was her mother's name. Apparently, she didn't like the name Bella so had unofficially renamed herself Belle, which I think IS prettier. Although, both names mean pretty.

I think I want to name this baby "Aenore" which, while rhyming with snore and bore and other even less nice words, is the origin of the name "Eleanore". "Alia Aenore" ("other aenore" in greek) was the name of a very famous french duchess in about 1050 AD who later married King Henry the II of England and was the mother of King Richard the lion hearted. Her mother was named Aenore. Alia Aenore became Eleanore for convenience, I suppose. Aenore means "light" as does Eleanore. Eleanore was the name that survived the test of time, and Aenore became somewhat, or maybe even totally, extinct. But I think it is so pretty and extinct means she will likely never ever be called "Aenore Z". So what do you think??