What's in a Name?

We still, at 31 weeks pregnant, do not have a name picked out for a girl or a boy. [Although, when I put it that way, it seems like we have TONS of time.] :) I kind of thought we'd settled on one of each, but Kevin made a comment last night about how we DON'T have them, so we clearly need to have some further discussions. :) I'd written this post a long while back about how we came to Lewis' name, so I thought I'd share now:

----------

When it came time to decide on a name for Lewis, it took us a really long time. We poured over books and computer print-outs on car trips, making lists of possibilities. I used all of the baby name generator websites I could find, like if you like Name A and Name B, then maybe you might like one from this list of 20 names like those names. We eliminated the vast majority and came up with a small final-ish list we were thinking through.

It wasn't until I thought I MIGHT be having contractions one night that we finally made our final boy and girl pick: Lewis Pete for a boy, Harper Adele for a girl (and her initials would be HAT and she could go by Hattie if she so chose). :) I think that we technically finalized the names a few weeks before I was finally induced, but we didn't tell a soul, which was fun.

A few things about Lewis and how his name came to be:

**I had a Grandma Lou (my dad's mom, Ladosca), and I didn't really think we were naming him after her at the time. Now that we call him Lew quite a lot, it seems like the universe meant for it to be. He would've loved her, especially going to her house to be spoiled with penny candy and peanut butter fudge. :)

**We liked the name Lewis because if he plays sports, it will sound awesome when the crowd yells LEWWWW!

**I remember adding Lewis to the final-ish list after seeing a kid working at Panera named Lewis and thinking he seemed like a good kid. [I know, my process was so scientific.]

**I had a student named Louis when I was teaching (an 8th grader who couldn't read...that's pretty much all I remember about him), and he was one of many who broke my heart, so he might have had a little influence on me liking the name.

**I love the show Flipping Out, about interior designer Jeff Lewis. (I didn't think of that until after he was born and named.)

**We made it clear from the start that he is not Lew-ey, and most everyone has obliged. :) There were a few slip-ups early on, but now everyone calls him Lewis or Lew or Lewis Pete.

And Pete:

**Pete, of course, is for our dog Peter. Our first 'baby' together, our first love of another living thing. Also, the best dog in the world. ;) 

**We thought Lewis Pete had a better ring to it than Lewis Peter. And if we go way back, originally, Peter was named for a counselor from Waycross folklore, Jim Peters. He is rumored to live in the woods and sneak in at night to steal a little youth from campers while they're sleeping--giving himself more youth and leaving the kids seeming a little older when their parents pick them up from the week at camp. :)

----------

So we're still working on what will be right for this boy or girl. Kevin has made it clear that Hattie will not be a contender for a girl, so poor Hattie Girl won't have a namesake. That's okay, though. I have nine whole weeks to convince him otherwise. Haha. ;)