So, what's in a name?

We have been bombarded with people asking what we are going to name Blueberry. Most of the inquisitions coming from my family - love you guys.

My brother and sister-in-law recently announced that they also have a blueberry on the way. (For the sake of clarity we will call their blueberry, raspberry.) This is very exciting for all involved. My parents who have been patiently waiting (my dad not so patiently, haha) for grandkids and are now being blessed with two.

How amazing that Blueberry will have a cousin Raspberry that is only a couple of weeks younger. Rebecca has a cousin, whom she has been very close to, that is only a year or so younger. They were able to grow up together in the same neighborhood and have shared so many childhood experiences. I hope that our Blueberry has the same kind of affection with Raspberry.

So, what's in a name? Naming Blueberry has become a somewhat daunting task. Jane and I have been talking names since Day 1 and still have many weeks to figure it out. Before Blueberry became...a Blueberry, we had chosen the name Jackson for our first son. We love last names as first names and I would love to have a boy with my initials, JP. But Jackson doesn't work anymore, its become too popular. Though there is an awesome young man named Jackson that we know it has gotten too popular for us. Jackson's mom has an amazing blog you can follow here. We love the name, but we don't want Blueberry to compete with his peers on a namesake level. When we looked it up it was like #6 most popular name in 2009. Aiden, another baby name in our lives is #1. How crazy is that? For a list of other popular names visit: Most Popular Baby Names 2009.

We have laid out some expectations of the name

1. Be a family name (whether it be hers, mine or both)

2. Be somewhat unique, but not made up off the top of our heads

3. Be a name that screams masculinity for a boy (such as Wolverine, haha) or femininity for a girl

4. When/if it's a boy I would like to have some kind of shout out to a Sigma Chi founder.

Not all expectations have to be met, but these are the filters we are using.

I am very interested to hear how others chose names for their blueberries and if you have any names you want to throw into the hat. I have heard of baby naming ceremonies, but honestly it seems a bit much. My Mom wants to start the name suggestion off. For a girl - Sierra Rose. Eh....haha, love you Mom.