Deciding On A Baby Name

by Miekeba J.
(Capitol Heights, Maryland, USA)

Trying to decide on a baby name for my soon-to-be daughter was difficult.

I thought that it would be a good idea to give her a name with meaning to it.

I started searching the Bible for attractive names starting with the letter ‘M’. I chose the letter M because my name starts with the letter M and my two sons’ names start with the letter M also.

It was virtually impossible to find a biblical name that starts with the letter ‘M’. Nothing was appealing.

Next I tried looking in baby name books, but nothing seemed to grab me. I looked in a book of ethnic names and nothing came of it. I also considered giving her my mother’s middle name which was also her mother’s middle name; Elizabeth.

I thought Elizabeth was appropriate and semi classy. It was a name full of tradition and feminine qualities. It was a name fit for a queen. I told my husband that if he did not come up with a name that he liked, then Elizabeth would be her name.

I even told my mother that I was going to name the child after her. She was ecstatic.

Finally the date of the birth arrived.

Here she is, a beautiful baby girl. She was so small and petite and already had her legs crossed. I thought it was very dainty of her to keep her legs crossed at such a young age.

Then the phone calls started coming in.

Everyone wanted to hear about the baby and her name.

At the last minute, my husband calls with the name he had picked. It was a name picked by his mother.

The name of my daughter is Melaina.

Not so bad, but check out the middle name. Her middle name is Jamilla.

I did not like Jamilla, but since I named the boys I gave him first pick for naming our little girl.

When we arrived home from the hospital and got settled in, both my husband and I agreed to disagree on the name Jamilla.

The name was already on the birth certificate, which did present a problem.

My husband and I both said, “Hey now, I once knew a girl named Jamilla and she was not pretty at all”.

Then my mother in law said she also knew a girl named Jamilla and she was not so pretty either.

So my husband and I both said, “Why on earth would we decide to give our baby the name of a not-so-attractive person”?

Now our daughter has the ugly name for a middle name, and we wish it wasn’t so.

So make sure you both like your baby’s name BEFORE making it official on the birth certificate.