why hazel?

*Since the "tone" of the written word can sometimes be misconstrued, I want to start this off by saying it is meant to be light hearted. I am in no way mad, angry, bitter, upset, or annoyed. This is merely an explanation blog.*

We get asked the question a lot, "Why Hazel? Is it a family name?" It isn't, we just both love the name for many reasons, which I'll get into in a bit. Our good friends, Adam and Andrea, had the idea to not share their baby's name until after the birth, because while the baby is still in the womb, lots of things can be said about a name because after all, no one knows the baby yet. But once a baby is christened with a name, no one would dare ridicule the baby, and somehow the name always fits that baby. So in their Jellybean's case, once they have the baby (which I'm still convinced is a boy! :) and Adam runs into the waiting room with cigars and yells, "It's a boy! His name is Jellybean!" everyone will smile and say, "Yes, of course. That baby is nothing but a Jellybean." I think that makes sense.

We ran the risk of ridicule by announcing Hazel's name ahead of time, mainly because James and I can't keep secrets that excite us. And we know that once she's out, she will be a Hazel through and through. Family on both sides have told us that they aren't the fondest of the name Hazel, but it hasn't fazed us, because we love it. And no one has been rude about it, anyway, nor said it to get us to change our minds. We're just an opinionated lot, I think. But I feel like I should go ahead and explain why we love Hazel so much.

Femininity Both of us love feminine names. There are three types of girl names out there, in my own made-up categorizing: spunky, Law Office, and feminine. (most of the following names are taken from the Top 20 girl names in 2006) Spunky are the names like Kaitlyn, Chloe, Kaylee or Hailey or almost anything ending in the "ee" sound. Law Office are the names that sound like, well, a Law Office: Madison, Parker, and Taylor. ("How may I help you?") And then there are the feminine names, which fit my and James' style: Olivia, Sophia, Madeline, Abigail, etc. I think most of the popular names from last year are feminine. Anyway, we love Hazel because it exudes femininity. No boy could ever pull off the name Hazel.

Short and Simple We knew we wanted a simple name. As much as I love the names Alexandra and Madeline (really...they were probably my 2nd and 3rd choices), we already knew the middle name would be Elizabeth, which is a family name on my side. And it would be years and years before poor little Alexandra Elizabeth could say her full name. I still think it's beautiful, but James loves simpler female names. Also, chances are, this girl will be a world traveler and will need a "name without borders." I actually read an article about that, and apparently, if you have a name that has a vowel after every consonant, it is widely pronounceable in many cultures. Once again, I'll use my friend Andrea - the "ndr" of her name is hard for many Indians to pronounce, and one of her friends even calls her Algeria because that is easier for her Hindi background.

Not Too Common As much as we loved the name Isabella, once we realized it was in the top 10 names of 2006, we ruled it out. It's a beautiful name, but she wouldn't be known as Isabella; she'd be known as Isabella R. Same would go for little Emma R, Madison R, or Ava R. (the top 3 names of 2006) That being said, it's also not a name that is too unique, or made up (which in my humble opinion is worse) - people know the name Hazel. There is no mistaking how to pronounce it or how to spell it.

Classic Twenty years ago, very few Americans considered naming their daughters Ava, Emma, or Olivia. But in this decade, Ava's, Emma's, and Olivia's granddaughters started having babies, and the beloved names of their grandmothers were given to these baby girls. So names that seem like "old lady" names are now the trend in naming. Not that either of us wanted to choose a name just because it's trendy, but the response of the name Hazel from my and James' generation has been very positive. It's mainly those from a slightly older generation that don't like the name. Just wait...Donna and Linda will be all the rage in about 20 years! And I won't understand that, just like the Donnas and Lindas now don't understand Hazel. For the record, I heard the name Hazel on a girl maybe about 7 or 8 years ago and fell in love with it instantly.

Indian or Western We loved the idea of giving our daughter a name from the country she'll be born in. But the names I liked, James didn't like, and vice versa. The only name we sorta liked together was Anika. But then I realized that my ex's name, Nik, was in there, and as nice a guy as he is, that would still be kinda weird to me.

Can It Be Made Fun Of? This is a hard one for me. I'm a bit cynical and think kids are creative enough to make fun of even the most common name. One girl told me that Emily (a very common name now) sounded like the name of some country cow. Also -and this one takes a bit of stretching- while I was in elementary school, Warren Moon was the quarterback of the Houston Oilers. So since my last name at the time was Warren, they associated me with him, and would call me Moon sometimes. In the embarrassing, pants-dropping meaning of the word. So see...kids will make fun of a name no matter what. Not that I'd purposefully ignore the connotations of a name like, say, Bertha, but I also don't think it would be weird if Hazel didn't have hazel eyes. Or something like that. You just never know what other kids will come up with.

I just realized how long this blog is already so I'm stopping here and just leaving it at that. So...what do you think? Agree/Disagree?