Gender Shock! What to do when nature foils your naming plans?

Gender Shock!  What to do when nature foils your naming plans?

Remember Kristen, the mom who was suffering from Baby Name Desensitization Disorder and just couldn’t settle on a name for the little brother she was expecting for Colette and Weston?  Well, her problem turned out not to be BNDD or even Boy Name Ambivalence but something much more dramatic.  We’ll let her tell the story:

With four weeks left till my due date, my midwife sent me for a series of ultrasounds. The baby is very healthy, but there is  one detail that now has my head spinning, eyes crossing, and hair standing on end. During the ultrasound they informed us we were having a GIRL! Yes, a girl! A GIRL!

We are thrilled and excited and can’t wait to meet this little girl who has played an awesome practical joke on us! Man, she will fit into this family just great! But after years of ignoring all things having to do with girls’ names, Jeff and I have no clue where to start.

What is popular? What is trendy? What is classy?  What is just weird? What is wayyy overused? Right now we are calling her lil Shocka Khan, Shocka for short, but hopefully we can replace that soon!

We are looking for a name that has a good meaning. Maybe that means “SURPRISE”! We want it to be very gender specific so on Christmas cards it doesn’t look like Colette has two little brothers, or maybe a little brother and a dog. We also like two syllable names that can be shortened. We call Colette Coco and Coley (as in Colel-ee) and Weston Wes. Any suggestion is so appreciated! All the support and suggestions we got for our little “boy” were so helpful! I feel kind of like I am greedily double dipping but I think all you Berries love a name challenge and are all so gifted in this area!

So all you Berries who had such good advice about naming Kristen‘s theoretical little Calvin, what say you now?  What girls’ name can work for this Mom in Shock?

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About the Author

Pamela Redmond

Pamela Redmond

Pamela Redmond is the cocreator and CEO of Nameberry and Baby Name DNA. The coauthor of ten groundbreaking books on names, Redmond is an internationally-recognized baby name expert, quoted and published widely in such media outlets as the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, The Today Show, CNN, and the BBC. She has written about baby names for The Daily Beast, The Huffington Post, and People.

Redmond is also a New York Times bestselling novelist whose books include Younger, the basis for the hit television show, and its sequel, Older. She has three new books in the works.