Discussing what name we want to give our baby boy has definitely been one of the most fun things about being pregnant! It’s not something Ryan and I chat about daily, but it comes up a lot, especially since we didn’t go into this pregnancy as one of those couples who already has names picked out ahead of time. Sure, it’s something we’ve talked about in the past, but it was never a super serious discussion until now.
We’ve been given one piece of advice from numerous couples time and time again: Once you settle on a name, do not share it with everyone you meet. This will open you up to feedback and opinions and can potentially strip some of the joy away from finding your perfect name.
I love this advice and though my secret-keeping abilities rank at a two on a scale of one to 10, Ryan and I are going to try to keep our little one’s name under wraps until after he’s born. Realistically, we’ll probably share his name with some people very close to us, but I can also see us not totally committing to a name until after we meet our baby. I feel like I may have to meet him before I could really know what name truly suits him.
In the meantime, we’ve been having a blast brainstorming names and discussing tons of possibilities! When it comes to selecting a name, we do have a few random factors we’re taking into consideration when it comes to naming our baby (<— just our personal preference) which you will find detailed below.
And if you have any fun baby naming stories, I’d love to hear about them in the comments section of this post! I’m not sure why, but I find this kind of thing super fun to talk about… I’ve heard some hilarious and heartwarming stories surrounding baby name selection that always make me smile! (Oh and if you haven’t seen the hilarious comment thread surrounding a Humans of New York story about a girl named Beyoncé, click here for a good name-related laugh!)
Our Personal Baby Name Guidelines
- Avoiding Rhyme Time
As it turns out, Fagan is last name that rhymes with a lot of names and can sound almost “sing-song-y” when paired with certain names at times. I’ve always loved the name Reagan for a girl and after Ryan and I got engaged, I realized I’d never have a little Reagan… though Ryan said if we ever have a girl we should totally name her Reagan Megan Fagan. YES! Haha!
I’m also funny about names that end in “an” with Fagan which is kind of crazy because I’ve never thought of Ryan’s name clashing with Fagan and it falls into that category. Maybe it doesn’t bother me since it doesn’t rhyme at all?
- Paying Attention to Initials
I knew a girl in high school with the initials A.S.S. and always felt horrible for her! Fortunately there aren’t many three letter words that end in F that we have to work around, so I feel pretty safe on this front!
- Family Names
Neither Ryan nor I have any names in our family that have a long-standing tradition of being passed down from generation to generation. I do love the idea of giving our little guy a middle name that has some sort of family significance, but we’re still chatting about this one and go back and forth on middle names all the time. And no, Baby O’Fagan isn’t a real contender. Haha!
- Nothing Too Trendy
You know the cutesy names you see popping up all over your Facebook feed? We’re trying to avoid anything like that. Both of us like classic names, but we also love names that aren’t too traditional – striking a balance between something that feels current but not too trendy or old fashioned can be tough!
- Nothing Too Popular
We’ve ruled out any names we’ve seen on current “most popular baby names” lists even though there are quite a few boy names we both love that have become very popular over the past few years. (Liam and James are two names I personally adore!) Actually, one of the names up for consideration for our baby’s middle name is on this list, so…
- Easy to Say and Spell
Ryan and I both have very easy names. They’re easy to say and easy to spell (well, unless you’re a certain Starbucks barista – I’ve been “Jewlie” and “July” before) and we both appreciate the fact that we’ve never really had names that we’ve had to repeat over and over again for someone to understand them after we introduce ourselves. We’d like something similar for our little one!
Question of the Morning
- Do you have any fun baby name stories to share? I’d love to hear them!
- For the parents: Did you share your baby’s name with people ahead of time?
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My husband and I have a girl’s name that we both like, but we haven’t talked at all about one for a boy. We are also not even pregnant or trying, so I think that can prob wait anyway 🙂
I just remember my mom telling me they knew what my name was going to be if I was a boy but I can’t remember how they came up with my name as a girl. I was always like ok mom, but I’m not a boy so stop talking about it! haha
As someone saddled with the name Jennifer right after it was #1 in the country for FOURTEEN YEARS, I respect, commend, and appreciate your desire to avoid the top 10 lists. STAY STRONG!
It was very important to my mom that I be able to spell my name quickly. She originally wanted to name me “Lee” but that’s the boys spelling! So they named me Zoe. But she was also nervous that I wouldn’t like my name so they gave me two middle names of “Elizabeth Rebbecca” to give me options. I love my long name and I love that my parents gave me two middle names, it definitely makes me special. My initials aren’t great (ZERK) but I let it roll off my back.
We just had a little boy in November and it took us forever to decide on a name (I feel like girl’s names are easier). Like you, we wanted to avoid rhyming and popular names. We also wanted to use a family name as a middle name. In the end, we decided on Finley Hugh —it suits him perfectly! Good luck with the name decisions. In the end, whatever you and Ryan choose will be lovely 🙂 Oh, and we didn’t tell anyone the name ahead of time because we didn’t want to hear people’s opinions or for those opinions to influence our decision! People seem to have fewer opinions —particularly negative ones once the baby has been born and named.
I definitely agree with not sharing the name ahead of time– that would be the worst to have someone not react well to a name you looove! My last name is Jordan and I love the idea of naming my (wayyy in the future) children Jordan as their first name! And totally agree with easy to spell names.. I’m so glad I never had a hard name to pronounce or spell!
My cousin did the same thing (keeping the name a secret until the baby was born). When they had their first baby, whenever they would tell people ideas for names they would get stories like …well I had a friend who knew someone who knew someone who had a great uncle with that name and he was a total psycho…haha so the second time around they kept the name a secret and it worked out well!
I have a 6 week old daughter named Eve. When I called the insurance company to add her to my plan, the lady on the phone thought I kept saying Eze, so when we got the card in the mail, Eze was on it! I knew Eve isn’t very commom, but I never thought someone would think it was Eze over Eve!
May I suggest avoiding the initials O.F.F. and especially W.T.F.? (Those two came up first in my mind…)
I knew TWO girls growing up who had the initials P.M.S. That, my friends, was very poor planning.
My brother’s initials are D.A.M. but he’s always made it work!
I love that you are waiting to meet the little dude before finalizing a name choice. I don’t think I’d comfortable making a permanent decision until I saw his little face and said, “You look like a ____!”
We will be keeping our baby’s name a secret until she is born also. I just had a feeling she was a girl before we even had our anatomy scan, so I’ve had a name in my head since the beginning. Luckily, my husband likes it! Just my two cents on the popular names thing, from the “child’s” perspective — my name has been on that list since 1988 when I was born, and it really doesn’t bother me. I usually had one other Emily in my classes growing up, but it was never a big deal! Plus, I could always find things with my name on it :).
Completely agree with all these points! And, to the easy to say & spell, I would add – when there’s a name that can be spelled multiple ways, go with the standard spelling (just personal preference because this flies in the face of unique, adorable spellings). My reason… simply because I had the name that was correctly spelled on all pencils & knick-knacks with my name on it at the store. My sister did not and always felt left out when we’d get the item with our names on it and she bought the one without (my mom was literally always on the hunt or taking these pencils to have my sister’s name put on them!) More than that, even people ridiculously close to you will mess up spelling your name if its not the standard spelling!
I totally agree with making sure the name isn’t spelled crazy weird. For some reason that seems popular now to add in extra letters to make the name ‘unique’. My husband and I decided long ago we would NOT do that to our children.
I totally love having a family name as a middle name–it’s been wonderful for us! Although my daughter’s name is in the top 15 (it’s #14), I just knew she was a Lily, even though I too wanted to avoid super popular names (however, it was more popular earlier on, so most Lily names I hear in public places are on 4-5 year olds, funny, huh?)
We’re going to have such a hard time naming this next girl I think…..it was tough as it was to name one girl, haha! We also don’t choose the name until we’ve met our baby because I just can’t, hah.
Oh & of interest maybe: this was SUCH an interesting article about names & ages (so what names were popular when) & the research behind it: http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/how-to-tell-someones-age-when-all-you-know-is-her-name/
I feel like I would find it hard to pick the right name for my unborn child as well, so this post makes perfect sense to me. Right after I was born, my mom wanted to name me Kaitlyn, but my dad didn’t like that and preferred Katie. So they picked “Lynn” as my middle name to compromise.
I definitely love the “easy to say and easy to spell” requirement. My first name is Somer (pronounced like the season) which is a family name. While I do appreciate its uniqueness (I’ve never met another “Somer”!) I HATE having to constantly correct people’s spelling and verify the pronunciation.
And a funny initials story… my sister was ALMOST named Lindsay Somers, but our last name begins with a “D” and once my parents realized her initials would be LSD they changed the first name real quick. No drug references in the name, please! Haha!
My parents told me they used to test baby names whenever they went out to dinner and made a reservation. They would give the hostess a possible baby name as the name for their table! They would always decide if people could pronounce it correctly or if it sounded nice when someone else said it. Before my brother was born, they were testing out the traditional Italian name Sergio (which is pronounced “sare-gio”). When the hostess pronounced it as”ser-gio”, they canned it immediately! Haha!
My fiance is obsessed with the name Maximus for a future boy and I absolutely HATE IT. It’s become a game between the two of us… anytime we have a bet about something, we always wager: “If I’m right, we will / will not name our future child Maximus.”
As the future baby grower between the two of us, I think I’ll have veto power. 😉
I have this same problem! My guy loves the name max and I hate it too! Lol!!! Stand your ground girl, I am! Or make it the middle name, better than nothing.
Ha! What is with these guys…
I could [maybe] live with it as a middle name. Who knows! Maybe we’ll both have girls and not have to worry about it!
Ryan legitimately through out the name “Hawk.” Um, no. Veto. 🙂
This totally made me think of the Friends episode when Ross and Rachel are discussed names for their baby….”Rain” “Hi, my name is Rain, I have my own kiln, and my dress is made out of wheat” “Veto!”
Long ago when we had our kids we did share the names. My son is Christopher so that was no problem but my daughter is Shauna and we had several people tell us what a “odd” name it was! All I can say when choosing a name is to remember that they need to bring those names with them to grade school and middle school.
I am not even pregnant yet but I have been thinking of baby names for years! We have NO trouble with a boy name (Zachary Chase)- but when it comes to a girl I change my mind every month or so and my husband pretty much hates ALL the names I pick out lol. I love names you can shorten into a nickname- like Vivienne (Vivi), Everly (Evie) and so on. I don’t think we’ll ever actually agree on a girl name!
I keep saying I won’t settle on a name until the baby comes, and we found that all the names we used to throw around prior to pregnancy we didn’t like once it came to really naming a baby. My husband has picked a name he really likes and I find myself calling the baby that in my head more & more. We have shared it with our family & friends, but I do understand why some people choose not to. It’s a simple name so it’s hard for people to have too much negative judgment against it. But I won’t get anything with initials or his name until after he’s born b/c who knows, we may fall in love with another name when we see him. Good luck!
My name is pretty uncommon. When I was a kid all of the other Elaine’s I met were MUCH older and even now I haven’t really met anyone who’s close to my age with the same name. I’ve grown accustomed to it but didn’t really like it as a kid.
Once I got married and took my husband’s last name, it made my name rhyme and I think it actually makes me like it more now. Elaine Hussain! It’s kinda fun to say 😉
I’ve always considered these exact same things when thinking about baby names! This reminded me of an episode of What I Like About You (kind of old now) where Holly breaks up with a guy because his last name is Wood- haha!
I was named Olivia before quite so many people had that name, but now I feel like tons of little girls have the name, too!
We didn’t find out the gender so we had to come up with a girl name and a boy name. We couldn’t agree on anything. Finally at 8.5 months pregnant, we were driving down the road and I said, “What about Miles”? Done! Miles Cooper McClure it is.
I’m pregnant also, and am due exactly a month after you! 🙂 so I really enjoy these pregnancy posts. I’ve made the mistake of sharing our favorite girl name with my mother in law. She doesn’t like it! But we still love it so… too bad for her lol. But it has caused me to waver a bit. We find out the gender in 11 days 🙂 I have a son named Logan, and a daughter named Emily. Both on the most popular list but I wasn’t aware of that lol. I picked Logan when I heard a group of people mention the name. I love it! And for Emily, we originally picked Emma.. but I had a dream that her name was Emily Grace, and we liked that much better 🙂 if this one is a boy his name will be Wesley Kent Fredlund. Wesley because its my husbands middle name, and Kent is our favorite uncles name. For a girl we might choose Holly Annabelle Fredlund as the name, but are not positive. Thanks to my MIL!! 🙂
Our little boy will be Charles Patrick. Name after both of our grandpas 🙂
Our next boy (if we are lucky enough to have another baby) will be Ethan James.
I love classic names.
I do, too! And I love the name Ethan!
I’m named after my grandmother, who was named after her great aunt. I *hated* it when I was younger, surrounded by all my friends with “normal” names, but I’ve really grown to appreciate it as I’m older. I’ve only ever met a handful of other Nona’s!
I am girl but was named after Kelsey Grammar (my spelling is Kelsie though). My mom watched Cheers every night while pregnant with me and fell in love with the name!
They originally thought I was going to be a boy and planned to name me Dillon. I still kind of wish they would have named me that though because I think Dillion is cute for a girl! I may try and incorporate it into my future baby’s name somehow.
You look absolutely stunning in every single one of those pictures!!!!! I think it’s really neat that you are keeping the name to yourself for a while- it seems very intimate and special that way! I’m still just really excited for you guys!!!!
My mom was pregnant with my sister the same time my aunt was pregnant with her daughter, both had similar due dates. My parents were very open with everyone saying if they had a girl, they were going to name her Kelly. Well, my aunt gave birth the day before my sister was born, and named her daughter Kelly. :-/ To this day, it’s odd to everyone. So they named my sister their second choice, which was Jessica. Lol!
I definitely agree to keep the name under wraps! We haven’t had our little man yet and haven’t told anyone the name. Except for the occasional stranger who asks, but who are they gonna tell? His name is definitely different and we know that someone was going to spoil it for us. So we HOPE that no one says anything once he’s actually here. It has gotten quite annoying when people ask all the time what the name is, so beware! Our parents think for whatever reason they have the right to know, but we just remind them that it is something special my husband and I can share together. They still ask at least once a week though! 😐
Definitely agree about not sharing your name ideas! There is just too much input involved from others-people can’t help themselves. This was pretty much the one thing I stayed quiet about with my pregnancies and wouldn’t discuss. And with my second son, we couldn’t decide so had it narrowed down to two names (with the middle name the same either way) and decided when we saw him! You’ll find the perfect name for your baby! Enjoy the fun of it!
I say if you’re excited about a name then feel free to share it if you want to and just block off any negative feedback. Don’t let anyone influence what YOU want for YOUR baby. I shared my daughter’s name after we decided and I never got any negative feedback, everyone was just excited for us. We ended up picking her first name, Genesis, because it was the ONLY one we could agree on after going down a list of hundreds of potentials. I loved how unique it was and never ran into another baby with the same name until Alicia Keys decided to give that name to her 2nd son recently. Also, you could always change your baby’s last name if you wanted something that didn’t rhyme with Fagan. We did this with my daughter and since her dad and I are no longer together she has a different last name from both of us.
I have a funny name story. I didn’t find out the sex of my little one until he was born so I had to think of 2 sets of names in case he was a girl. The girl name was all family. Cody’s dad and my grandmothers names were the same, Edna but their middle names put together made a cute name: Naomi Marie. Cody came from a trip to Mexico where his dad had a little too much fun (while I was 8wks preggers and puking) that he said “you know what a great hockey name would be, Cody” I didn’t hate it. We kept Cody’s middle name in the family as well, my dad’s name William. Cody TOTALLY fit him after he was born. It’s Irish which means helpful and he is the most helpful 5 year old I’ve ever met. Enjoy the process of naming your baby, just remember it’s the name you and Ryan choose if people have negative opinions about it then they need to keep it to themselves.
I have an 18 month old named Atlas Luke. I definitely agree about not sharing the name before the birth. Atlas is a pretty unique name so we got a lot of negative/funny comments when we shared his name. But now everyone who knows him says they couldn’t imagine calling him anything else – his name perfectly suits him. 🙂 We are expecting a girl in June & we aren’t sharing the name this go around. Her name is picked, but only our closest friends & family know.
I love the name Atlas!
Thanks, Caitlin! We’ve only met 2 other people named Atlas, so it is definitely a unique name, but it fits our son so perfectly! 🙂
Ryan actually brought up the name Atlas as a middle name option for our guy!!
Whatever you do if you ever have a girl don’t name her Caitlin if you want something easy to spell. The first question I get asked after I say my name is “C or K?” followed by “Y or I”?
W.T.F
watch out for that one!
Haha seems like a fun process to go through though!
YES!!! We’ve joked about that one — Oh, our little William Tony Fagan 🙂
I’m totally with you on all of this!! I struuuuuuggled with a boy name for awhile, because like you, I wanted something classic and respectful (for when he gets older), but not something super traditional either, while still being somewhat unique. It’s tough!! And I don’t know, some boy names remind me of dog names these days…drives me kinda nuts…Spike? Ick. I still love Hunter, but I’m also finding it’s becoming more popular which almost kind of annoys me. Haha! Oh well, nothing I can do now. As for middle names, we used a name that is also my husband’s middle name and is my husband’s grandfather’s name because it has meaning and because it flowed nicely. However, for our next we probably won’t end up using a family name because there’s really not many that I like and/or go well with the first names that we’re liking so far. I’m so excited to hear what you end up choosing!
I do not have any children, but I love to share the story of how I got my name at birth.
Throughout my mother’s pregnancy (1983-1984), she encountered a lot of medical students who attended to her. During the 80s, ultrasounds were not very common and only used in rare cases. Since my mom was working with med students, one of the students was learning to conduct ultrasounds.
The student on hand that day at the hospital asked my mother if she wanted to know the gender of the baby, and told my mother I was a boy. My mom picked out the name Raymond, Ray for short, and I was to be named after my grandfather.
The day I was born, the doctor announced I was a girl, and not a boy. My parents had no idea what to name a little girl. My grandfather said, “She can still be called Ray.” And my mom said, “Fine, we’ll call her Rachel, Rae for short.”
And there you go.
Aw!! Love that story!
I totally agree with you about not sharing the baby’s name until after he is born. I made the mistake of sharing and you’re totally right everyone has to put their two cents in- even when I shared the baby’s gender-seesh. I love the baby name ‘requirements’ as I too didn’t want a rhymey baby name.
I feel the same about names as you – I don’t like the super trendy names but want a mix between current and old fashioned. My name is spelled different than most and its 1/100 that someone spells it right! Good call on the easy to spell name!!
I have to weigh in here…
1st : The rule in our house growing up was “You birth ’em, you name ’em.” So, my mom got the ultimate veto power. Which turned out so-so.
2nd : Give the kiddo a name with OPTIONS. Multiple nicknames etc that he could go by if it turns out there are a million “Andrews” in his class (for example). I’m named after my GRANDFATHER…yeah, mom didn’t think that one through. And have a middle name that can be shortened to pretty much nothing other than Larry. -_-
It was always tough growing up. Teachers were always looking around for a boy when they did roll call & so my options are Jess & Jessie, which, people always spell wrong anyways, leaving out the i.
3rd : Yup, tell close family & friends, but strangers, acquaintances etc? Don’t make a peep until the birth certificate is SIGNED. Then they have to pretend they like it 🙂
I don’t blame you for wanting a name that you don’t have to repeat. My whole name is Bryanna, which isn’t very uncommon, it’s pronounced different. Thanks Mom and Dad. I always get the longer hand shake due to the “what was your name again?”. We are having our first child, a little girl, in July and definitely picked something that is easy to stay and not super popular. We don’t tell strangers our name because of the negative energy people can put off but we tell our family and friends. Our friends love us and our little girl already. They aren’t going to say anything mean about it to hurt our feelings.
We had a baby book, we refilled it with potential names that through my pregnancy I cross them off off the list and added some. When we knew the Gender it was easier to focus, we ended up with The name Lydia has a first name. Then for the middle name every night we would go through baby book and see what stuck out to us. We ended up with a name Eleanor and I think it was because the L in Lydia and the L in Eleanor complement each other so well. Her initials are L EW so for shortly call her Lew.
We told a few people about the name that we had chosen, and received mostly positive feedback, the negative feedback that we did Received we just brushed off, we love the name so much and after she was born she just fit the name so well.
So, if you tell someone and they don’t like the name, they can suck it. It’s your baby not theirs. And I mean that in the kindest way possible! 🙂
I think the hardest part is trying to avoid name associations. “Ohhh but this girl, in my second grade class, yeah her goldfish was named ___________ so we just can’t use that name.”
yes!!! we even got that with Sadie!
my maiden name was williams which is how i got william – which i love! 🙂 🙂
I LOVE that! I had a friend use her maiden name (Walker) as her son’s middle name which I think is so cute!
Oh my gosh, REAGAN MEGAN FAGAN!!! I totally spit out my coffee on that one! I’m the evil parent with a terrible sense of humor who might actually do that to my child just for laughs lol Although I’m sure once that time comes, my tune will totally change.
I think our biggest challenge will be finding a name that hasn’t already been taken- My husband comes from a ridiculously HUGE and very close family and the list of available names gets shorter and shorter every year. My husband’s also a Jr., and he always talks about how confusing it is, especially at work [they also run a family business!] so he has pretty much shot down the idea of continuing that tradition. Who knows what we’ll end up with?!
xo, Steve
[Steve is a nickname, in case you’re wondering!]
I kinda disagree on the whole “not sharing your name” thing. I’m due at the end of June and everyone who asks about her name follows up with a “but you’re not sharing, are you?” comment. Nope, I have NO problem sharing it! I love the name, why wouldn’t I share it?! My SIL is pregnant and has been keeping her name a secret (outside family) but it’s likely so she doesn’t get judged on it because it’s not the norm. Ours isn’t either but it’s gotten nothing but good reactions!
I’m 37 weeks pregnant and we have kept our names to ourselves. Even after all this time I still haven’t come up with a graceful way to tell people that we aren’t sharing the name…. And EVERYONE asks. I though that not knowing the gender would deter people from asking about names, but they forge forward and ask none the less. Strangers or acquaintances are the worst, people who are closer to us (coworkers, etc) usually drop it once I tell them we don’t know the gender. Our last name is very unique, longer and people always have a hard time spelling it (even though it is phonetic!) so we are keeping our name short and easy to spell as well. Our top contender for a boy name is very unique, which worries me a little, but it is monosyllabic and sounds good with our last name, and my husband loves it. As an Erin of the mid-80s, I am all about our kids not having common names (my 4 very close friends named Katie/y agree!).
I am not pregnant, and not planning to be for a few more years. But there is nothing I love more than reading baby name ideas! I keep a list going for when I hear something I like. Hopefully when the times comes I have some good ideas 🙂 I also would NEVER tell anyone the name until he/she’s born. Everyone has an opinion and they will ruin it!
http://www.morningappleblog.com
We had much of the same criteria naming our son. Thank God we had a boy, because we had a favorite girl name but could NOT come up with a good middle name to save our lives.
I hate rhyming names & super cutesy/trendy names. We heard “Luca” years ago and both kept it in the back of our minds. While it’s trendy in some parts of the country (and popular in Europe), it’s not trendy in AL where we live. It’s different but familiar (Luke and Lucas). I love family names, but none of ours were very pretty for a first name. I’m personally not a fan of juniors or II, III, etc (my mom is also Catherine, well, Cathi, and it was confusing). My maiden name was always going to be my boy’s middle name–which gives our son the initials LDM, so hopefully the “LD” part isn’t too bad for him. 🙂
I hate when people fail to consider how the name sounds for a child and old person. Although my real name is Catherine, my parents nicknamed me Cassie, which is a bloody nickname for Cassidy or Cassandra. I’ve always hated it and finally decided to go by Catherine at work; I only wish I’d done so in college because I hate being called Cassie since it sounds like a child or dog. Anyway, I’m glad you’re being mindful and I agree with keeping the name a surprise till he’s born.
I have an invitation business, and boy do I see some CRAZY names! My husband and I joke that I could write a “Strange Baby Names” book from all of the ones I’ve seen.
We chose an Irish name for our son to go with our Irish last name. His name is Cullen and everyone calls him COLLIN. It drive me nuts, and him as well! I thought we had chosen a safe name, but I guess just about any name can be butchered, haha!
Love the name Cullen!!
My name was set in stone whether I was going to be a girl or a boy – I was named after my paternal grandfather, who passed away when my dad was 10. It’s spelled with the “anne” at the end because my parents just tacked on the “ne” to turn the boys name into a girls name! I do have to spell it for most people, but I love that most women with my name spell it Adrienne, so it’s still special!
I love my brother’s name story – my parents were set on Madeline if he was a girl and Evan if he was a boy, and when he arrived he didn’t look like either to them! They eventually settled on Jarrad. I maintain to this day he should have been Madeline 😛
Hubs and I have talked about names, and I think we’re going to use at least one grandparent’s name as a middle name. I also love the idea of using my maiden name for a middle name!