Show & Tell Tuesday: How We Named the Kiddos!

I'm linking up with Momfessionals again for another Show & Tell Tuesday. I really liked this topic: How we picked our kids' names.

Trent Joseph {Here's his birth story}

Man, Brent and I fought over naming Trent. We always knew a boy would have Brent's middle name {Joseph} and a girl would have mine {Kathleen}. But our first born was 'Baby Boy' from 20 weeks onward, and we couldn't come close to agreeing on anything past xx Joseph. Names we discussed included Miller, Brewer, Rylan, Drew, Carson...to name a few. But nothing even made the short list when we went to have him. I was pulling for Miller, and I honestly can't even remember what Brent liked. Probably Drew. Because he wanted to call him D.J. {Gag}

Having the last name Gurley makes it challenging to name kids. For a boy, Brent knew it needs to be a strong name to offset the tease-able last name. I didn't like anything beginning with a 'G' {sounded too cutesy}, and I wanted a name to not be in the Social Security's Top 100. {If you don't know, roughly every spring the SS Administration will publish rankings of names from the previous year. You can search by state, you can look at as far out as top 1,000, you can go back over 100 years, it is so fun!} Brent thought that was a dumb requirement. I thought Drew Joseph a.k.a. D.J. was stupid. You can see where we stood.

Then...he was born!!! I just knew after the agony of labor and pushing for almost an hour and a half, Brent would give in, and Baby Boy would be Miller. Well, apparently stitches in your hoo-ha get you exactly...squat from my husband! So we were back to square one. 

At night on July 1 {more than 24 hours after Baby Boy was born}, we were still stumped, and Brent decided it was time to get serious. So HE started looking at the SS Administration page. One thing to note is the resemblance between Baby Boy and Brent. We got so many comments on how they favored each other. So Brent randomly threw out the name Trent {#312}. Hmmm... I started marinating on that name because it seemed like a way of naming him Jr. without actually having him be a Jr. When I was nursing Trent in the middle of the night that night, I looked at him and just KNEW he was Trent. It was perfect, just perfect.

Well. Enter the dream squasher...my husband. The next morning, he decided he wasn't that fond of Trent anymore. Was it too cute to have them be Brent and Trent? NO!!! He looks like you, he's your son, let's go with it! Brent decided the 'fair' thing to do would be to flip coins. Trent {my fave} vs. Drew {his fave}. The winner of that would go against Carson {a name neither of us absolutely despised}.

As he pulled out a quarter to start flipping, I started crying. My baby just couldn't be Carson or Drew. HE WAS TRENT. When I told Brent why I was crying, he gave up and said 'Just fill out the birth certificate paperwork.' And I did! I might have promised Brent that we'd name our second baby Drew, but I was lying if we were to ever have another boy, so I hoped for a girl next!

Drew Kathleen {Here's her birth story: part 1 & part 2}

If you thought naming a daughter would be easier for my husband and me given how we ended up naming Trent...well...you'd be wrong. 

It seemed in the 3 1/2 years between our children, we got pickier about our requirements. Still couldn't be in the top 100, still had to be careful to make it not too cutesy when paired with Gurley {nothing starting with a G or ending in an 'e' sound to rhyme}, and now we knew we liked 1 syllable names. We did figure out we liked boy names for girls. Yes, Drew was on the list {not even in the top 1,000}, and quite a high contender, but was it THE name? We weren't sure. Alex, Sam, Tate, Ellis {the one 2 syllable name I liked}...other names I really liked that Brent wasn't sold on.

So when labor began on January 2, we went to the hospital for the second time with an unnamed child.

January 3 rolled around, and we were taking a walk up and down the halls of the hospital pushing our little unnamed girl in her basket, and we looked at each other and said 'Well, should it be Drew?' And that was that! Brent got his way and Trent's leftover name did indeed become our second born's name. Thank God we had a girl!

It was definitely a challenge to name our babies, and I don't foresee it getting any easier for any future children {Yes, Brent, there'll be ONE MORE...maybe}, but at least we will know what we're getting into!