I was reading Clover Lane’s post on baby names this morning. She made some funny and interesting observations about the perils and theories of baby naming. Here are some thoughts inspired by her post.

My 7 children’s names are divided into eras. I didn’t do this intentionally, but my little groupings are embarrassingly apparent.

1. Darby O’Cabbage and the Frosted Little Leprechaun

These babies are known to everyone as Aidan and Ryley. Their names have Celtic origins and are strongly associated with a little emerald isle.

When we named Aidan, nobody was named Aidan. We found it in a baby name book cleverly called Name Your Child, by Laureina Rule. It was published in 1969. Aidan was in the GIRLS half of the book. Now our daughter shares a name with 25,000,000 first-grade boys.

Ryley’s name was chosen because it fit him so well. It still does. When he was born, he didn’t look like the name we liked. Ryley was all feet and hands with a tiny button nose. He was a rabbit. Rabbits aren’t named Alexander. They are named Ryley.

2. The Bible Belt Boys

…and along came Samuel, Thomas, and Joel.

Around here, they go by Sam, Tommy, and Joely.

Sam could have been Theodore. More than once after he was born I called him “Teddy.” Oops. He is not Teddy. He is so-Sam.

Thomas was always going to be Tommy. I’d ponder what a dangerously common nickname Tommy is…but then, I couldn’t think of one example of a real-life child Tommy outside a 1950s comic book. Tommy is so common, it’s uncommon. It has the perception of being everywhere. In reality? Tommy has a unique name. It’s like the name Rover for a dog. You think it’s everywhere, but a survey in a veterinarian’s waiting room will reveal Max, Chelsea, and Gretchen.

Woof.

Joel’s name was chosen as my husband and I flipped through a Bible at church on Sundays between May and October 18th, 2003. We should have been listening to the message. Instead, we watched each-other’s face when we’d point to names like Abimelech and Enoch. Joel always made us smile and shrug. Joel. Minor prophet, major message. Joel. We kept coming back to it. Flip flip church is already over?

3. Dotty British Pensioners with Rose Gardens

Meet Beatrix and Archie.

Beatrix is Beatrix. She is one extreme child, full of life and passion, passion and life. Maybe it’s the “X” factor? We had several possibilities when we named her, including the variation of Beatrice with a nice, sweet and soft C. Beatrix and Beatrice are two completely different people. A few nights before she was born (3 weeks early), my husband and I sat in a parking lot slurping Chik-fil-a handspun chocolate shakes. We talked about baby names, not knowing if she was a boy or a girl. If she were a boy, she would have been….

Archie.

Archer Edmund is his given name. The only time I call him Archer Edmund is when he is turning on the xbox, ejecting the disc, pushing it back in, and looking up, expectantly, at the big TV screen. Archer Edmund is a genius at electronics AND growing roses. You’ll see.

Otherwise, Archer Edmund is Archie. It’s a friendly old name with some pop culture baggage. More than once, we’ve been asked about Jughead and Veronica’s whereabouts.

Those are the twins coming in 2011.

*names from the future Now is the time on Sprockets when we dance! phase, coming in 2014.