The Name Game

As soon as found out I was pregnant, I started compiling names to present to Arik. He is super picky when it comes to naming our babies. It took us all of 9 months to agree on a name for our 1st born. I think Andrew Kahlil has a nice ring to it, but I certainly wanted to pull my hair out because it took so long.

With our 2nd born, I remember at about 6 months, I just started calling him Aiden. After a while, Arik jumped on the bandwagon. We just had to decide on a middle name. It was down to two names, Michael or Matthew. We went with Aiden Matthew... Again, wonderful ring to it and his name rolls off your tongue when you say it.

For our third, I was really trying to stick with family tradition where are the children's names have the same beginning letter. Since we'd chosen the letter A, I was staying within the A realm. For boys, I had Archer, and Audrick on the list. I wasn't too keen on those names. I really couldn't find boys names that began with an A. Thank my lucky stars we were having a girl.

On my list of girls' names were:

• Aubrielle (nicknames- Elle, Brie)
• Addison (nickname- Addie)
• Adaline
• Ainsley (nickname-Annie)
• Azure
• Avery
• Adelynn
• Aubrey
• Asia
• Amelia (nickname-Mel, Amee, or Lia)
• Anastasia (nickname-Ana, Stasi, Asia)
• Anistyn
• Aurora
• Ava
• Avalynn
• Avaleigh

Well, Arik didn't like any of those names. I couldn't find any others that even made me think twice about them. So, I thought outside the letter A and came up with:

• Lucy
• Kharma
• McQuinn
• Tatum
• Savannah (nickname-Savvy)
• Bryn

He hated those too. And by this time, my anxiety for not having anything together for the baby was steadily rising. Which resulted in an argument.

I told him that if he didn't want to be a part of this process, that's fine. He doesn't have to have a say in naming my baby. I could go it alone. I gave him an ultimatum. I told him that if he wanted to show me that he cared even a little, he'd start researching some names and come at me with some suggestions by the end of the week.

Of course all that was said in the most over-dramatic way possible. There were probably some tears, I can't quite recall.

Well, he was listening and the very next day he texted and our conversation was this...

The fact that he took the time to think about why we should name Baby Bradner #3 is what sold me on her name. He always seems to do something incredibly thoughtful at just the right time to make me love him more. Damn him!

MaKenzie was the first name. Now we had to work on the middle name. I liked Grace, but of course, Arik had to give me a hard time.

He eventually stopped teasing me and let me have the middle name business. So, we ended up with MaKenzie Grace for BB#3. Another tongue roller-offer! The name game was done and I was in love.