Baby Names

At this point we have (almost) settled on baby names. Our general strategy is that we'd like names that aren't too weird or hard to spell, but that are not very popular. You'd be amazed at how the popularity of names changes over time. We had to check out all the data (see www.thinkbabynames.com).

Boys names were pretty easy for us - for years we've always said that we would name a boy Ian. We never changed our mind, but we did feel compelled to have a "backup", which took a lot of thinking. We now kind of have two -- Quinn (which Elaine prefers) or Duncan (which Doug prefers). Neither of these is one that we're both excited about, so we expect to stick with Ian. We are still somewhat undecided about middle names. The tentative choice is Arthur, but we're still discussing. The possibilities: Arthur (Doug's grandfather), Richard (Elaine's grandfather), Anakin (Doug's favorite), Douglas (which Elaine likes) or Colbert (if the baby is born on the fourth of July).

Girls names were a lot tougher. Our original thought was Mhera, which is the name of an otter abbess in one of Brian Jacques' books. Although we'd been thinking about this name since before we decided to have kids, we weren't crazy about it. For one, it seemed like it would constantly be misspelled or misprounounced. So we decided to see if we could find an alternative we preferred. We went through the big book of baby names and made lists, but it turns out we have very different tastes in girls names. Doug like Minjonet and Mirage, which Elaine would never agree to. Most of the names Elaine liked were too common to meet our criteria. We both liked Anastasia, but the popularity of Ana discouraged us. Finally we turned to Star Wars (I think this must have been Doug's plan all along) and found a couple pretty names. So for a while we had a list of four choices: Mhera (the otter), Jaina (a female Jedi), Ailyn (another Star Wars name), and Jora (which Elaine made up). Eventually we agreed that we liked Jaina the best, and we've stuck with it. After some discussion, we decided on Caitlyn as a middle name, just because we think it sounds pretty.

So there you have it. If we don't suddenly change our minds when we meet the baby, it will be either Ian Arthur(?) McVey or Jaina Caitlyn McVey.

By the way, Ian/Jaina, any day would be a fine time for your arrival. Mommy is getting uncomfortable and we're eager to meet you.