might smell as sweet but would get her ass kicked on the playground. Or get an N (period) stuck behind her name to differentiate her from all the other Roses.

Incidentally, I think the name Rose is awesome. In fact, I’m for any and all Golden Girls names.

I love names. My name rule is – name your kid what you want. Rose, Ava, whatever. Try not to worry about anything and just name the lump. Names are the greatest human invention.

So today, as I reflect on my kids birthdays (and try not to meltdown over the upcoming party) I thought I would list the names I considered and pretty much Danny rejected. Feel free to steal. I’m a super awesome crew namer.

To catch people up my boys are named Charlie Fox (goes by his middle name) and Leo Bruce. So Fox and Leo.

I know.

It’s so

But you might be like, ‘wah I suck at naming. I pick my names off cereal boxes and now my baby might be called Boo Berry.’

I will help you.

Oh, and Berry is a super awesome crew name. I knew a Berry at camp. She was sweet. Camp is so pretentious but so fun.  What? Sorry, distracted. Names.

Boys

  • Tiernan Ink – I have some scottish/celtic background so I was kind of on a Scot/Celt kick and I made them mutually exclusive. It’s allowed. Ink is because I love graphic novels and manga and books. Danny hated it.
  • Westerly Carmichael – Westerly is the name of the boy in one of my favorite books, Seaward by Susan Cooper and Carmichael is a family name.
  • Felix Bruce – Felix was the only other name besides Leo that Danny would even consider. I know. He is no fun at all. I’m glad we went with Leo though.
  • Omri North – Omri is the name of the boy in Indian in the Cupboard. It’s also Jewish. I’m not Jewish but I do live in Oklahoma where no one would have any idea I was stealing names from another culture. North is just bad ass. I was so in love with this name but Danny pretend barfed on his shoes when I told him.
  • Percy – At first Danny liked this one too but it never got to middle name stage because we heard a one year old Fox say it. Yeah. Oh and then we realized how toddlers say Fox’s name… so basically we would have two children named Fuck and Pussy.  Pass.

Girls

I was pretty sure both boys were boys even before I really saw the ultrasounds but that didn’t stop me from thinking about girl names! No sir! Guess who refused to entertain the idea of discussing names before we knew the sex?

Anyway –

  • Shelby Grace – I would have pushed hard for this one. Shelby is my sister’s name and Grace is the name of this delightful little girl who used to come to my storytimes in Atlanta.
  • Sophie Isle – I know Sophie is really popular right now but it’s the name of the girl in The BFG. Plus popular doesn’t really scare me. When you give your children unique names (like, oh, Fox) when you run into some other kid with that name it’s very awkward because you are trying oh so hard to be unique and everyone knows it, so when it turns out you aren’t so unique – eeehh. Isle just sounds pretty.
  • Calliope Temple – Calliope is the name of the girl in my favorite book Seaward and Temple is a family name.
  • Penelope Hero – another name I would have pushed hard for. Danny thinks Hero is stupid but um, hello, it’s Shakespeare so… Penelope is Odysseus’s wife. Danny claims to like the Odyssey and was actually ok with Penelope. The only thing that would have sucked about this super awesome crew name is the nickname is Penny which…barf. No offensive if your name is Penny. It’s a cute name.
  • Persephone Odessa – Yeah I’ve got a thing for Greek mythology. Odessa is a just a cool pretty name. Plus, we could call her P. Dezi. Hilarious!

So there you go. Feel free to steal from me. If you need me to come up with a name for your child/fish/car, let me know. I love to name shit.

Share your favorite names or your kids’ names or pet names and why/how you chose them!

Oh, my name, Sadie comes from a pact my mom made with her best friend, Sadie. Only old Sadie (I’m going to get so much hell for saying that) anyway, old Sadie doesn’t really like the name so she said not to put it on the birth certificate. Hence, legally, my name is Sara. Middle name Temple. Sara Temple.