Names on my Radar

It's been a little while since the last post. I blame the little soon-coming human, whom I'll have the pleasure of naming on MONDAY! I tell you, there's nothing as thrilling as giving a real, live name to your own little real, live person! Such a privilege! In the meantime, here are some random names that have held my attention lately:

- Minor prophet names: Whereas OT names in general are pretty popular right now, even among the non-churchgoers, minor prophet names are still pretty obsolete. Granted, some don't exactly roll smoothly off the tongue ("Nahum", "Habakkuk"), but others are certainly underused. My favorites: "Obadiah", "Micah", "Malachi", "Amos," "Hosea", and "Zechariah."

- "Margaret"- I think "Margaret" is lovely in general, but I adore the nickname possibilities- there's something for every personality. My very favorites are "Meg" and "Greta," but there are countless options!

- "Jeremy-" I just like it. But I'd want to nickname him "Remy" which is pretty girly sounding, so it's not a name I could use.

- "Kyle-" Common, yes. Meaningful- not to me. But I've always had a thing for this name. I don't really care for "Kylee" or "Kyler" or any of its other derivatives, but "Kyle" will always have a place in my heart.

- "Megan-" This name was much more commonly used in my generation than today, but I think it's such a nice mix of girly and cute, but still serious. I like the fact that it's a two syllable name that still sounds really short, if that makes any sense.

Movies and Names

For the most part I'm entirely content with having been raised, well, not exactly sheltered from the world, but definitely sheltered from pop culture. Blake's always asking me, "Have you see ___________?" And I'm always replying, "What do you think?" Most things worth seeing, I've seen (thanks to Blake!). But there are a lot of movies that are not even on my radar. This is a little tricky when it comes to names. For instance, I've remarked to friends before, "I think ________ is such a great boy name!" Only to have them stare at me and comment, "That's the name of the freaky kid in such and such movie." Apparently said freaky kid is such a prominent part of culture that his name is off limits if I don't want my child associated with that movie character.

So, I've been pondering how much we should or should not let popular culture dictate our naming decisions.  I think I'm much more comfortable with the idea of my kid sharing the name with a movie character than my husband is, probably since I haven't seen as many movies. This holds particularly true if the movie isn't destined to become a classic, and it's probably one you watch once and never go back to. Or, if the name isn't a very unique one ("Will" may be the name of a movie character, but it's also the name of a lot of other people. "Frodo," on the other hand...).

Is pop culture something you considered or would consider in naming your own kids?