Friday, September 30, 2011

Banana fana fo Fudson

I consider it a near miracle that Alex and I were ever able to settle on a name for our baby boy. Alex and I are on the same page when it comes to a lot of things, but baby names isn't one of them. Alex's criteria for a successful baby boy name were:

Any name with the letters X, Y, or Z in it.
Anything uber modern.
Any name that conjures up the image of motorcycles, weaponry, or anything medieval sounding.
Possibly Hispanic.

My criteria were:
Any name that looked "neat" when I wrote it in lower case letters.
Anything old fashioned or classic.
Any name associated with my favorite artists, poets, musicians, or family members.
Possibly French.

As you can see we're talking two completely different books, people!!! We found that naming this baby allowed us to really hone in on our compromising, and sales skills and taught us how to gently let the other down-the names he loved, I hated! The names I loved, he hated. It seemed we would never agree! Being the obsessive planner that I am, I pretty much wanted the name picked out "like yesterday". Alex on the other hand, being the laid back, last minute sorta guy that he is was fine if we named him in the hospital! I pictured us in the hospital, our beautiful boy having just been born and Doctor Fern and a slew of nurses asking "whats his name?"...and the sound of crickets chirping as Alex and I shrugged, giving each other "Uh-Ohhh" looks. It would surely start our parenting careers on a really bad foot if we hadn't prepared the NAME of all things! He reminded me to calm down...that scenario wouldn't happen...we had 20 more weeks to figure it out. Well, I don't know if you've tried to reason with a crazy nesting preggo before, but lets just say that calming down wasn't exactly possible for me. Sooo I started making lists in Excel spreadsheets. I edited lists, added and subtracted and started all over, lists of names, lists of meanings, lists of monograms, LISTS!!! Our final list of possible names for the little Herbster were...

Diego
Mateo
Harrison
Hudson
Nico
Enzo
William
Carlyle

At first we were sure it would be either Enzo or Mateo...but when we excitedly shared these names with our peeps, the most common reaction we received was a rather unenthusiastic, "oh". If I had a word of advice for new preggos out there...it would be "DO NOT tell people your name choices...as snotty as it may seem, decide with your baby-daddy alone and wait until you're 100% before announcing it." We had second thoughts after sharing and I kept envisioning people making that disapproving face when I introduced my son Enzo, or Mateo...looking back it was pretty stupid to think that...after all, "A rose by any other name"...right?! At that point I decided to talk Alex into the name Hudson (which wasn't his favorite) using my persuasion and reverse psychology (shhhh) skills. ;)

The name Hudson came to me while visiting my sweet old Grandpa Bill (the most amazing story teller I know and the reason you see the name William above). After my Dad's memorial service we were reminiscing while looking through my Dad's shop when Grandpa found an old b&w picture of the family in front of their Hudson car. He started to tell Alan and I the story about the car and how he just LOVED Hudson cars and how they owned about 20 different ones and how they drove my dad as a baby in one...and when I think of the name Hudson I will always think of that moment, bonding with my grandparents.

(I'm pretty sure Grandpa said one of their first Hudson's was a dark green 1948 Commodore...)

How pretty is that? It was a perfect combination of Alex's wish for something masculine and engine related, and my desire for something old fashioned and sentimental. It also passed the "Not-Easy-To-Make-Fun-of-Even-Though-Who-Knows-Because-Kids-are-Cruel Test", the Banana-Fo-Fana-Test", and "Possible-to-have-a-Cutie-Pie-Nickname-Test", (Huddy Buddy, Hudsy, Hud Stud, among others). Anywhooo after a lot of convincing on my part, Alex agreed to Hudson as the first name if Ramon were his middle name (which of course I was totally down with because of the band The Ramones-though I didn't win the battle of keeping the letter "e" at the end). Alex and his dad share the middle name Ramon...perfect to carry on the tradition!!! I was finally able to breathe a sigh of relief around week 25...and picture my sweet Huddy Buddy Pumpkin Lumpkin Wumpkin Pootsie Pie! ;) Kidding...but don't put it past me to go a bit overboard with the terms of endearment, kisses, and snuggles at first for the rest of his life! Ha!

2 comments:

  1. I'm going to laugh when he is born and when you look at him you decide he looks more like a Carlyle :)

    LOVE the name Hudson, you are going to be great parents! Any day now!

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  2. OMG I know!!! Well, we are still somewhat flexible...if he looks like a Mateo-we'll name him that! Can't wait to see WHAT he looks like! Love you!

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