Celebrity Baby Names: Thoughts on naming Hanson baby #6
Once again, we’re so pleased to share the thoughts of name-loving celebrity mom, Natalie Hanson, as she approaches the birth of her and husband Taylor‘s sixth child next month. Who will be the newest sibling of Jordan Ezra, Penelope Anne, River Samuel, Viggo Moriah and Wilhelmina Jane? Luckily for us, Natalie will be back to share her eventual baby name choice.
If you haven’t heard our news, Taylor and I are so excited to welcome baby number six at the end of the year, and as you can imagine, the topic of names has been a hot one at our house lately!
Once upon a time as a young name enthusiast, the thought of naming a sixth baby seemed like a dream. I would have lists so long of brilliant name choices, I could have, in theory, easily named at least twenty babies of each gender! However now that the dream is a reality, I’m faced with the unique challenges that come with this special job.
The first challenge I’ve noticed is that the more children you’ve named, the more of your favorite names you have probably already used. Much like a mother wonders how her heart will mysteriously grow to love another person as much as she loves her other children, I began to worry if there could possibly by any more names out there I could love as much as the ones I’ve already chosen. This name has a lot to live up to!
Secondly, whether planned or not, in a large sibset naming patterns have inevitably emerged. I began noticing some of my own patterns during this process more than I had in the past. For instance, I can really see how my boy names seem to be more fashioned after my husband’s style, and the girls mine. I guess I can’t help picturing mini Taylor or mini Natalie before they are born and tend to choose names with that feeling in mind. I also realized I tend to use the two-syllable version of my children’s names the most. I like that sound with our last name and would like to keep that pattern if it works for this baby. This time around, I find myself balancing not being too beholden to these patterns with wanting a name that feels like it belongs.
There is one more issue that has come up that is making this naming process a little different from my others. I’m referring to this new challenge as “naming by committee”. The beautiful thing about welcoming a new baby when you’ve already been a mom for sixteen years is you have all of these creative and interesting people who are invested is this new person. With all of that creativity comes big opinions! I’m proud to have raised such opinionated namers, but this is the first time I feel like I’m not in complete control of the decision and that is a new dynamic for me. So far, I’m approaching this situation the same way I do with parenting younger and older children. I want the older ones to feel invested and respected, and at the same time not saddled with the ultimate responsibility of parenting, or in this case naming. Therefore, I am now in the process of listening and debating and mostly just trying to appreciate how lucky this baby is that their name matters to all of us.
I look forward to sharing our choice with all of you soon, and for those of you who enjoy a little name research, I can leave you with a little hint…. both our top girl and boy choices right now are main characters in George Sand novels. Happy guessing!