For my kids’ names I wanted something that was not on the most popular lists but not something so bizarre they’d get teased about it or have to explain where it came from.

My son was named for my husband’s cousin who was his best friend growing up and died in an accident at a young age. Hubbie was against it but I stuck with it and he finally asked his mom and aunt and they cried happy tears. His middle name came from my grandmother’s brother. It was #560-something on the list of popular boys names that year. I always call him by his given name, never shortened.

For my daughter I wanted something Irish, because she was IVF and the transfer was on St. Patrick’s Day. Her name isn’t actually a girl’s name in Ireland, that I know of. It’s not an easy name to shorten and most people call her by her given name. Her middle name was for my grandmother. It might have been her first name except it has become very popular and my cousin named his first for my grandmother. Her first name is also the name of a beach town down by the shore and I love the beach, especially the ocean.

On to the name thing… I HATED my name growing up. The 1st day of school the teacher would always call me Dennis while reading the role and I would get placed on the roster with boys while playing sports. I got tired of always having to correct them when all they had to do was read it instead of glance at it and say Dennis.

Now, I knida like it. For the most part it has grown on me and one good thing is that growing up I was the only Denise that I had ever met so it set me apart from everyone else.

I just couldn’t resist responding …

My name is “Stephanie”, and when I was little I often went by “Stephie”, and the most common nickname that has stuck my whole life is the obvious “Steph”. Every now and then I get “Stephie” as a cutesy-nickname (especially from my parents or aunts/uncles, or if my friends and I are joking around).

In my immediate group of friends there were three “Stephanie’s” (chalk it up to being born in 1985). In the group, we literally call ourselves “Steph1″ (me!), “Steph2″, and “Steph3″. It worked really well having a numbering system when I was roomates in University with Steph2, let me tell you. LOL.

The cutest nickname I have is “Estie”; this is the name my now 9-year-old brother calls me – it was the first thing he ever called me back when he was barely speaking, and it’s stuck this long due to a lot of reinforcement from my family (it was just too cute! How could we not insist it continued?). So now every now and then I have a few other people in my life randomly call me “Estie”.

At work and when I first introduce myself I always go by “Stephanie”; however it very quickly becomes “Steph” if for no other reason than it’s such a popular name that I think people automatically assume that us “Stephanie’s” go by “Steph”. I do, but not nearly as frequently as my Steph2 does (She even has “Steph” on her mastercard).

I think names are wildly interesting. When I have kids I hope I’ll choose names that aren’t so popular they have to deal with what I’ve had to as a “Stephanie-of-the-mid-80s” ; but I also want to choose nice, normal names so we’ll see what happens to them. LOL.

Lovely to “meet” you, I really like your blog I’m sure I’ll be popping back. Love the name “Lexi”… super cute and yet strong enough for a grown-up woman to handle as well.

when trying to pick out a name for tucker, it took us forever. i had a ton of ideas and names i liked, but matt always wanted a mathew jr. eeek, i hate juniors. so, i tried and tried to find a name we both could agree on and one night, he saw tucker on the list and he actually liked it. i call him tucker (or pumpkin or honey) most of the time, but sometimes i call him tuck. if anyone has said anything to us about the name it is only that they like it…well, except for one deputy i worked with that would say ‘tucker the little *ucker’ – use your imagination there folks. i guess there is obviously THAT but i don’t think it will be a major issue. i love it and would never change it.

i’m rambling. i think you’ve picked out a great name for your babe!

It’s hard picking out names for your children since they will have them the rest of their lives. I like several names for little girls, but I would not use them for the simple fact I cannot imagine them going thru college and adult life being called those names. They just sound too young. You know?

I think Lexi is adorable. Will her full name be Alexis or are you using just Lexi?

As for our kids names… we did put a lot of thought into them… we wanted something different, but not too “out there”. We were a little concerned as to how other people would accept/like/perceive their names, but with Porter’s name we’ve had nothing but great compliments from other people. I’d say at least a couple times a month I have people tell me that they just love his name and that its so different and neat/cute. I hope Hudson’s name will be taken the same way.

I don’t feel strongly about shortened or not but my name never changed as I aged. Gina is Gina is Gina…I guess I liked that but never knew the other way.

Anyway, growing up I thought my name (Anne) was SUPER boring. But I grew into it, and now I really like it. Also, it is nice because it can’t be shortened or lengthened, and I like that. Oh, and I HATE it when people pronounce the ‘e’ on the end of my name and call me Annie. Silent ‘e’, hello?!!!