When do you first remember thinking about what you would name your kids? For me, the earliest that I can remember is Grade 8. We were supposed to make a plan of what we would do every year for the next 100 years. Thinking back, I now realize that this was probably one of those fun time waster activities that teachers give on those last sticky, dragging on forever, school days before summer vacation, but this one stuck with me. I liked writing down all of those dream ” to dos” and I really loved naming all my children. I believe I planned on having at least 20. Ha!

I remember the names of the first boy and girl that I had on my giant list. The girl: Ava and the boy: Carter. I really have no idea where I came up with these names as it was long before Reese Witherspoon named her daughter Ava or Dr. Carter was on the television show ER. They did however stick with me for many years. Ava was actually still on the short list until my cousin named his daughter that not so many years ago. Which leads me to my point: did you share “your” names and have them “stolen”?

My cousin did not know that I had the name Ava in mind for one of my children, so I did not feel like it was stolen, but I suppose I was, for a quick minute, sad that it was out of the running. I know many people that have used a name that a friend loved for their little one. I have a friend right now that is broken-hearted over the fact that her sister-in-law is planning to name her new baby one of the two names she was planning for her own little boy or girl in the future.

I am not sure how I feel about the saving of names. I personally would not choose one that I knew a close friend/family member had wanted. I do not, however, think that people should get too protective of their choices because it is a person’s right to name their child whatever they want, whether you have “saved” the name or not.

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I once attended a friend’s party while I was pregnant with Little Tea Cup. There was another pregnant woman there that I did not know personally and we started chatting about babies. She asked what I was having and I told her that I didn’t know yet. When I asked what she was having, she quickly answered ” we are having a boy and we are not sharing our name choice.” Slightly taken aback that she thought I would steal her baby’s name, I ended the conversation shortly after. Months later, I had a good laugh when I discovered that she had named her little one Sullivan — the exact name we had planned for if we were to have a boy. What are the chances!

If you are wondering how we chose Little Tea Cup’s name, it was actually the first name that popped up when I googled Irish girl names. After all the possibilities we had considered before, we both loved the name and it stuck. Almost nine months later: Norah was born.

Now it’s your turn:

Did someone steal “your” name or did you steal someone’s name? What do you think about “saving” names?