what's in a name?

so how does billy s. put it? "that which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet." unfortunately a lot of things go into choosing a name, something crystal and i found out when deciding on what we wanted to call our baby avocado.

do we go with classic/traditional names or go with a modern/unique twist? do we use a middle name or go with the filipino-inspired 4 names (first, middle, mom's maiden, and surname)? of course we have to be careful and check the dictionary to ensure the chosen name doesn't mean something negative in celtic or latin or whathaveyou origin. then double-check the recent trends so that your kid won't be one of 8 "jacobs" or "sophias" in his/her class growing up. 

then there's the inevitable shortening of names that one must worry about. you may like "nicholas," for example, but hate "nick;" or may have fallen in-love with "abigail" but despise "abby." so you have to love the full name and the soon-to-be nicknames that lazy people may conjure up. another thing that came up (one that i think only the ladies think about) is how would the initials look, in case you inadvertently spelled "B.A.D." or "L.S.D."

needless to say, the process of choosing names for baby d took a while. for some reason, deciding on a girl's name took significantly less time than choosing a boy's name. i don't know what it was but a lot of my choices were vetoed, including: Bruce Kal-el, Chalupa Batman, Michael Jordan, Tyrannosaurus, Optimus, Maximus, or anything remotely gladiator-esque. and of course, i vetoed some of crystal's suggestions for a girl's name that just sounded "hot." no. we can't have any of that.

so in 3 long weeks we find out if this kid's a "blue" or a "pink." though if crystal would let me dress the kid, even a boy would be pullin' off pink.