Day 114: It's a Boy

So we're having a boy, for anyone who doesn't know and does care.

We had suspended the naming debate 'til we could narrow the discussion. But neither of us have broached the subject of names since learning the kid's gender on Friday. I think Mary just doesn't want to face the discussion because she knows I have a strong preference for a particular name already, and she, while not necessarily objecting to the name, isn't crazy about it so far. I've cooled on "Elliott" (or "Eliot" or however it would be spelled). Now I like "Emmett" instead. Same idea, in many respects, with the punchy vowel beginning and the "t" sound at the end... but much cooler sounding than Eliot. Everett would be good too, along the same lines, but for family reasons we can't really use that.

Mary likes Dexter. One of the most prominent forebears on my father's side is Dexter Mason Ferry, who basically invented the commercial consumer market for seeds, in Detroit, in the late 19th century. (Mason is taken already - my god-son - or we might have considered using that name). Problem with Dexter is the 'er' sound in it. Dexter Faulkner doesn't roll of the tongue. We could get around it by using "Dex" as a nickname, which I like a lot, but putting Dex against Faulkner is problematic because it's two dipthongs in a row [Correction: dipthongs are consecutive vowel sounds, this is a triple consonant]. Hard to pronounce. The end of Dex and the beginning of Faulkner give you a weird ksf sound I don't like. Also "Dexter" is traditionally a wimp's name.

We'll figure it out. Maybe Mary will warm to the name Emmett. Or maybe I'll get over it. One scary thing is the speed with which we lose interest with names we had at some point liked. I get the idea that no matter where we settle, one year later we'll wish we had chosen something different.