Friday, November 11, 2005

What's In A Name?

There's a little game I call "If I were to have another child" aka "If Hell were to freeze over." One aspect of this game is wondering what we would name this mythical being. I honestly have not come up with a good name for a boy or girl so far (and all things considered, I have spent an inordinate amount of time on this) since I feel we have picked THE perfect name for Vaughn.
There are some self-limiting factors to what type of name it could be. I love one syllable. There are so many trendy two-syllable names among his peers that that is one of the many things that makes his name unique. The problem is so many one-syllable names are so blunt sounding: Blair, Blaine, Blah (that's what they sound like). Unlike Vaughn. Vaughn is like a sigh: Vaauughn.
Also, there is the musical nod to Sarah, inspiration for Vaughn's name. It's difficult to come up with other jazz musicians' names that (a) aren't already popular--Ella, (b) too obvious--Coltrane, (c) too ordinary---Charlie, (d) too odd---Dizzy. Although that last one might be kind of fun, except that I just remembered Bob the Builder's cement mixer's name is Dizzy.

And then there is the most important: Unpopular. It has to be a name that has never even glimpsed the 1000 Most Popular Names list. I once got a book called something like "Unique Baby Names." It was research for my "If I were to have another baby" game. (I told you I've spent a lot of time on this.) They had names that are hip or so uncool they're hip, like Homer. (Sorry, but this still does not seem hip to me.) There was also a section about names that are uncool and will NEVER be hip and are only fitting people over 90. Vaughn was in this category. Humph. Well, he will be 90 someday, God willing.

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