What's in a name?

You know what I love? When you tell someone the name of your child and they tell you a really cool story about someone they know with that name.

We sometimes get it with Amelia. It's not a super common name and is kind of old-fashioned so people often tell me about their grandma or their aunt or their grand-aunt.

We were at a party on the weekend (yes, a party!) and someone told me about how her sister was pregnant and having contractions and they took her to the hospital and the docs sent her home saying it was too soon and on the way, they sang a Joni Mitchell song called, "Amelia" because it has a line that says, "Amelia, it was just a false alarm."

So then when her sister actually had her baby, it was a girl and she named her Amelia.

I love stuff like that.

When picking names for both our kids, I really tried hard to find ones that were bursting with meaning (I contemplated naming Mela "Winona" because it means "firstborn daughter) but could never really find ones I loved and in the end, we just went with ones that we liked and we thought would serve them well.

But isn't it funny how, after they're born, you can find out a million things to do with their name?

Again, it's not so much a case for Nathan (although my mom did get him a couple "Nate the Great" detective books) but for Amelia, we found out that there is actually an entire series of kids books called "Amelia Jane" (her full name).

And she now has a bunch of other books with her name, like Amelia Goose (good kids book), Amelia Bloomer and one about Amelia Earhart (and a movie is coming out, too). And of course, Amelia Bedelia.

Hehehe ... I'll always remember telling my parents Mela's name. We were in the hospital, she was like, 5 minutes old, and Chris was holding the phone to my ear. I told them she'd been born and her name.

There was a lonnnnggg silence and then my mom said, "Like Amelia Bedelia?"

Fair enough.

But I think it suits her and is a good balance between unusual and trendy (have heard it a couple times at playgrounds lately).

And we get to hear fun stories!

With Nate, we went more mainstream but with the artist/rock star middle name option (Cael) but now I can't mention the vegetable "kale" around my dad ever again.

*sigh*

p.s. This whole thing makes me wonder, do I need to be listening to Joni Mitchell? I'm totally into this song! Am I that old already??

People will tell you where they’ve gone
They’ll tell you where to go
But till you get there yourself you never really know
Where some have found their paradise
Other’s just come to harm
Oh Amelia, it was just a false alarm