Show Us Your Life – Children’s Names

Jason and I went back and forth about Charlotte’s name.  We had been talking baby names for a long time before we even got pregnant but actually being pregnant changed our opinion on some of our previously preferred names.  And we had some specific criteria for what we wanted and didn’t want.

We knew that we wanted a name that was not overly common — since our names were both in the top 5 names the years that we were born we didn’t want our daughter to grow up with always being such-and-such E. 

We wanted a name that she wouldn’t have to spell or correct the teacher every year at the beginning of school.  I always felt bad for the kids who had to spell their name any time they told it to someone or went by a name other than their first name.  (Although, to be honest, when I think about names for our next child — in a LONG time! — the names I like are ones that he/she would have to correct the teacher so this obviously isn’t as important to me now!)

We also wanted a name that was classic.  Something that seemed timeless and wouldn’t go out of style in a few years.

And we wanted to tie in to our family if at all possible.

We debated Elizabeth and a few other options but for whatever reason decided they weren’t the one.  I went and bought a name book which I NEVER thought I would have to do because I had been thinking of baby names since I was little, but we started reading through it.  The baby name book got overwhelming and so we started looking at common family names and looking for related names. 

We realized that Charles was a huge family name and so started looking for names related to Charles.  Charlene (my grandmother’s name) is a related form of Charles (my brother’s name, Jason’s grandfather’s middle name) and so we looked for relatives of both of those and then we stumbled upon Charlotte.  Which, almost immediately, we knew was perfect.  A traditional, classic name that, to me, was a very feminine, princess-y name.  A name that she wouldn’t have to spell and since it would be her first name she wouldn’t have to correct the teacher.  It was on the top 100 baby names but isn’t real common in the south so, hopefully, she won’t have a lot of other Charlotte’s in her class.  And it honored a lot of people in our family!  We loved it!

I knew from the beginning that if we had a girl I wanted her middle name to be Lee in honor of my Mom (it’s her middle name).  And so when we found Charlotte we put them together and Charlotte Lee sounded perfect! I still am so happy with her name! I think it’s beautiful and it’s so special that it honors so many people in our family.  After we announced her name we found out that there were even more people whose name was related to Charles or Lee in both of our families!

I’m looking forward to reading about other children’s names on Kelly’s tour today!

PS If you’re here from Kelly’s tour please check out my exisiting giveaways to Womily and Chickabug.  And keep checking back for new giveaways every Saturday and Wednesday in the month of May!