We have a name! OR, "How to preserve your marriage while naming your 3rd daughter!"

Katherine Lily Simpson - but she will be called Kate. I don't think she will know her full name is Katherine unless A) she has a substitute teacher in school who calls her by her given name, B) when she is in trouble and mommy or daddy holler her given full name, or C) it is printed on her birth and wedding announcements!

You know how everyone seems to have a friend or knows a friend of a friend who had a hard time naming their child or changed their child's name several times, even leaving the hospital without a name for their baby? Well, you all will be able to claim you have one "of those" friends! I never thought it would be us!!!

I have personal theories about naming a baby. Most of you probably know I don't like to spill the beans early for a couple of reasons: 1. I like to keep something a surprise when we already know the sex of the baby. 2. I don't want any unsolicited opinions about the name(s) we are considering. Well meaning people can make insensitive comments that we don't want or need to hear. 3. You get to name your children/dogs/fish...we get to name our children!

So, we had a hard time agreeing on what to name our beautiful little daughter. I had a name I have loved for several months. My children overheard a conversation with my sister and then they of course grew attached to it and have been referring to the baby by that name for quite a while. Daddy was not so sure about it, he was "on the fence" about it as he said. Well, near the end he suggested a name that was meaningful to him and that was on our list before we ever even had kids and quite honestly, I was over it. It did nothing for me and didn't meet several of my criteria for naming. (Unique, yet not too unique, cannot be a top 10, 20, 30 name, long first name, short middle name, etc. etc. etc...)

But we really came to a deadlock. Neither of us wanted to budge. We finally threw a few more names that I considered on the white board at the hospital and stared at them for a couple of days. Nothing was sticking. Most importantly, we wanted her name to come from us.

After coming home without a name, late night talks turning almost heated and emotional, we finally realized the ONLY thing we both agreed on was the middle name. Every first name was paired with the same middle name...Kate.

So, nobody will feel like they "got my way" that could really cause resentment in the future - we felt our precious daughter deserved to be more than the winner of a naming contest of wills. But everyone wins because we finally softened our hearts and agreed to move forward in the direction that pleased us both.

So, we found agreement with Katherine Lily. But, she will be Kate. I never thought I would name a child one thing just to call them another but this worked for us. Katherine is a classic traditional and therefore very popular name but Kate is quite unusual for a baby. (Ranked somewhere after 100.) My other kids names are not and will not be shortened but Katherine will forever be Kate. And we are in love. If you are one of the few people who know the other top names, we are not telling so don't tell either!

Keep this in mind as well - if you are ever with Caroline, you can call her "Baby Toot!"