Awhile back I explained a favourite method of involving friends and family in the 'name choosing' process without giving away your official name choice.  I used hypothetical names, but since I have 'outed' my first daughters' real name, I can finally share my REAL name choices with you...

So, here they are:

               For Boys:

Simon Theodore

Edmund Oliver

Elliot Nathaniel

Charles Nathaniel

Alexander Glenn

Nathaniel Glenn

               For Girls

Ingrid Anika

Charlotte Natalie

Sophia Scarlett

Jillian Grace

Audrey Marie

Natalie Joy

I would love to hear what everything thinks of these names, but I do have a few things I'd like people to realize - I LIKE all of these names, they are all potential runner-ups, so please respect that.  ONE of each of these names is already on the top of my list - not that this is a guarantee, however, since we changed Clara's name at the last minute from 'Gwyneth Elena' to 'Clara Faith' which was radically different, but both names were on our list.

The type of information I would like to hear from people is stuff like 'Charles makes me think of the Royal Family' or 'Charlotte makes me think of a spider' and stuff like that.  I know about the royal family, and I know about 'Charlotte's Web' but it's possible I don't know about some pop culture references that might come to mind when you see these names - that is what I'd love to hear.  Also, our last name starts with 'L'.  We are NOT sports people.  We don't watch sports on tv, and we don't play any kind of sports.  Everyone knows this about us.

I had shown our name lists around to many people and had NEVER had anyone mention that Clara Faith L gave her the initials 'CFL' which around here, means 'Canadian Football League' (I think...).  Anyway, on the day she was born and we announced her name, about three people walked into the hospital room saying 'Did you know her initials are CFL?'.   WHAT? This was why we showed you the list! Anyway, I probably wouldn't have changed her name even still, but it would have been nice to know beforehand...

We do have a few possible 'rules' for naming this second child that I'm not entirely certain we will stick to. 

1. I would prefer to not use 'C' as a first initial.  Although it's possible we will only have two kids, I would worry about having a third and either leaving him/her out of the 'name pattern' or desperately trying to find another 'C' name that I really like at the time.

2. I would prefer the name not to rhyme with Clara.  'Sophia' is a bit close to rhyming, but I really like it, so it landed on the list anyway.

Given my list of names, does anyone have any other suggestions for me that you think I might really like? I feel much less confident on my naming choices with this baby than I ever did with Clara.