The Name Game

One of the first questions we get about our boy when people talk to us about the adoption is, "What is his name?" Like those who wait until their baby is born before revealing the name, we too are waiting until he is officially part of our family to share the name we have chosen for him.

But in the meanwhile, we can play a fun game called "Guess Shamrock's Real Name." I will send an awesome prize (probably something cool from Kyrgyzstan along with some Kyrgyz chocolate!) to the person who correctly guesses his name. I'm betting that nobody will be able to figure it out, but it will be amusing to see the guesses, and you never know! 

I will give you some hints based on my rules for naming. Keep in mind, these are my own personal "rules" for choosing names. If your name doesn't follow these or you have a kid and didn't follow these when naming your child, I'm totally not dissing you. I just have a weird thing about names! So, leave a comment with your guess as to his name, given that it follows these rules:

1. It must be easy to pronounce. If you see it on paper, you would have no question as to how to say it.

2. It must be easy to spell. You should be able to say it to someone, and there will be no question as to how it's spelled.

3. It must be clearly only a boy's name. No girls would have this name.

4. It must not be "trendy." It definitely wouldn't be in the Top 100 names in this country. When he goes to school, there will probably be no other boys in his class with this name.

5. It must not be an invented or strange name. People will have heard of it and know that it's a name (versus a fruit or a color or whatever).

6. It wouldn't have an obvious nickname associated with it. I'm a fan of naming the kid what you want him to be called (otherwise my thought is that you should just name him what you're going to call him!). Yes, I am fully aware that my own husband's name doesn't follow this "rule," and I realize that nicknames (like "Shamrock") may be used anyway.

7. Meaning is huge. The name's got to have a "meaningful" meaning.

8. Some sort of Biblical and/or saint connection is cool.

9. Some other sort of personal connection or significance to the name is important.

10. I typically would want to avoid names that belong to students I've taught, so I don't have any preconceived notions of what someone with this name looks or acts like (for better or worse!). Though I've taught hundreds of students over the years, none of them has ever had the name we've chosen for our boy!

11. Similarly, I wouldn't pick a name that belongs to a friend, family member, or someone I already know, because then his name wouldn't seem like his own (at least in my mind). I wouldn't follow this rule if we were naming him after someone, but we didn't do that in this case.

11. It must not rhyme with anything bad or lend itself easily to teasing.

12. His initials must not spell or stand for anything weird/bad.  

13. It wouldn't be a super long or a super short name.

14. It's not Bruce or Dawn. If you don't understand this rule/joke, say those names real fast along with our last name, Keys. :)

I'm not particular or anything, right? Ha. But seriously, names are a huge deal to me. I'm looking forward to sharing Shamrock's real name with everyone soon, along with the reasons why we chose it. In the meanwhile, let's hear your guesses!