what's in a name?

A few of you have asked me where our new little bundle of joy's name came from. Since we found out I was pregnant, my husband was in charge of naming the baby. He immediately downloaded a bunch of baby name apps and went to work. Daily he would shout out a random name and I would tell him if I liked it or hated it. If I liked it, it went on a list in the notes section of his iPhone. If I hated it, we just moved on. The list grew and grew and every time someone asked us if we had a name picked out yet (after we found out she was going to be a she) we would say, "We have 18" because we literally did.

I was always rooting for Dylan Heart Van Den Berg for our baby girl and she was going to be that until my husband decided otherwise. That was fine - I said he should name her and I was fine with whatever he wanted if he loved it and I didn't hate it.

We both loved Monroe for a while. Me because I read this: People with the name Monroe have a deep inner desire to lead, organize, supervise and to achieve status, power and wealth. And husband because: Marilyn Monroe (what else?)

I wasn't sold on Monroe as a first name because it is quite masculine so one day at dinner, my husband said that he had decided on a name. He wanted to name her Charlotte Monroe because CHAR (Charlotte) + M (Monroe) = his little lucky Charm. Well - who wouldn't be sold on that?

I still wanted to meet her before we declared the name to the world in case I changed my mind (there were 17 other choices after all) but when she arrived, I honestly was too tired to think or worry or care - Charlotte Monroe it is!

P.S. - I have asked my husband to save that list for future use - or to tell Charlotte one day what she could have been named (I was going to be Christie - weird right?!)