Her Name Won't Be "Spawnie" Forever

Choosing a baby name is a lot harder than I thought! I thought I had it all figured out and decided if we were having a girl but that all changed when I found out she IS a girl!

I'm sure this is one of many "help me name my baby" posts I'll have. I'm not sure yet if I'm sharing the name I choose. Some of the names we've loved forever don't seem as appealing to me now and I've gone through an entire iPhone app full of baby girl names. Nothing screams "this is it" but I do like about 6 or 7. My husband likes all but one.

I'm looking for something not common, but not too unusual. My husband and I both have common names and we want to give our child something more unique. I would love to find a name that starts with a "J" so we can share the same initials but that's not a requirement. I also really like names that also have shorter nicknames.

I know some people invent names but I'm not very good at that. Have any suggestions?

Here's a few names I liked but don't look like they're making the cut:

Jaden
Jocelynn
Maybellene
Mya
Serena
Serenity
Trinity
Vanessa

That should give you a little bit of an idea of the type of names we like. For a middle name I'm thinking Lee or Lynn.

So please, help a mama out! Name suggestions? Name book recommendations? Help!

The Namesake

What would you do if there was someone in your family you loved dearly who wanted you to name your child after them? If the name is a nice name, or a name that's "with the times" that's probably not a problem right? But what if the name is something you absolutely are not a fan of?

My family has a mixture of "normal" and "unique" names. There's Johns, and Richards and... well, that's about all of the common ones in my extended family. I have grandparents named "Ronald" and "Siebra." My mother's and grandmother's names are "Joy." My mom I guess wanted to give all of me and all of my siblings the VERY NORMAL (almost too common) names and gave us: Jennifer, Heather, Michael, Lauren and Kimberly. But trust me, I'd take that over any of the latter.

My dad goes by DJ but his birth name--Are you ready for this?... Dyke.

I love my grandpa, and I want to name a child after him, but "Ronald" isn't my first choice in names.

What would you do if someone in your family wanted you to name your child after them but the name wasn't... Let's say it wasn't one of your top choices. Would you still do it?