Author Archives: Swistle

Name Updates!

Baby Naming Issue: When Do a Person’s Flaws Rule Out Using an Honor Name? #2

Lauren writes:

Absolutely love your site! Currently trying for baby number one, and in discussing names with DH, I got to wondering if you had ever addressed the issue of honor names for deceased family members who might not have been the greatest of people. Let me elaborate. If we have a daughter, I want her middle name to honor my beloved paternal grandmother, Virginia. She was an amazing grandmother and an amazing woman all around. If we have a boy, we’ve discussed using my paternal great-grandfather’s name. He raised my grandmother Virginia by himself. So our first child will be an honor name on my father’s side.

For our second child, I highly suspect my mother will hold a grudge if we don’t give the baby an honor name recognizing her side of the family. Unfortunately, the issue is that my mother was raised in a fairly abusive household. My grandmother had a serious anger issue, and my grandfather was a philandering alcoholic who occasionally hit my grandmother. But the thing is, by the time I was born, these issues had mellowed out with old age and they were absolutely amazing grandparents to me. I loved them both very much, and have been able to compartmentalize my relationship with them and see them for the wonderful grandparents they were to me and my brother. However, my mother has suffered crippling, lifelong depression as a result of her tumultuous childhood, so it’s hard to deny the toll their abuse took.

So what do you think? Could I name my child after my maternal grandmother/grandfather knowing their abusive past? Obviously I can picture myself explaining to my child that his/her name recognizes someone I loved immensely, but I can’t see myself keeping my mother’s dark childhood a secret from my child into adulthood, as it’s the illuminating reason behind her stunted adult life. And I’m not sure that’s a burden I want my child to bear.

Would love your thoughts. Thanks so much!

We’ve done one post that might be helpful: Baby Naming Issue: When Do a Person’s Flaws Rule Out Using an Honor Name? In that situation, though, the grandfather had “maybe” been verbally abusive (unconfirmed), and his flaws mostly seemed to involve drinking and dancing, both of which are highly subjective activities in a discussion of inherent wrongness; also, a telling detail is that the people related to the honoree didn’t see any problem with using the name.

In your situation, we have a case of established physical abuse as well as known cheating. We also have people from that household who were severely affected by the abuse, to the extent that they are still suffering those effects even to this day.

So no, I don’t think the honor name is appropriate in this case—not so much because you can’t still appreciate your good relationship with your grandparents (and how nice that they DID triumph over their issues with age), but because the use of their names would appall and hurt other people you have a relationship with, such as your mother. It’s one thing to understand that ALL human beings are flawed and that there is no such thing as an honoree who is absolutely perfect in every way; it’s another thing entirely to have an honoree whose behavior gave someone a dark childhood and a permanently stunted adult life. In imagining this situation down the road, I would not want to be the child finding out the family’s dark secret and then thinking of that in connection to my own name.

Your reason for looking for a name from your mother’s side is that you think she’ll hold a grudge if you don’t; if your plan is to accommodate those feelings, it may be necessary to ask her if using one of her parents’ names is what she’d have in mind. Your grandparents are only two people from that side of the family; are there other people you could honor? Your mother? Your mother’s siblings? You could consult with your mother about other honor names; perhaps she had good grandparents or a good aunt or uncle, or perhaps there’s a family surname that would work well. Or perhaps that discussion will demonstrate to her that using an honor name from her side of the family is not something she wants.

I also think it’s important to realize that there is “your side” of the family and “your husband’s side” of the family; it is not necessary to further divide that into your mother’s, your father’s, his mother’s, his father’s. Perhaps the second baby could have an honor name from your husband’s side of the family, rather than a second honor name from your side. If you put it that way to your mother (that the first baby has an honor name from your side of the family, so the second baby has an honor name from your husband’s side), I would hope that would seem reasonable to her. She may still be in the mindset of naming her own babies, where there would have been “her side” and “her husband’s side.”

Baby Naming Issue: When an Honor Name Now Has a Bad Association

38 Replies

K. writes:

Ive been struggling with this for along time now and would really love to hear some opinions from outside of my family and friends, ok here goes-

I have 3 beautiful children my oldest and only daughter is called Ava Alison, Ava was born unexpectedly at 28 weeks, as she was born so early we really hadnt finalized name choices, my husband picked Ava as her first name and I chose Alison for her middle name, Alison is the name of my oldest sister. My sister and I have always had a rocky relationship but at the time of Ava’s birth we were getting along well and I felt like by naming my daughter after her it was a way of putting all the conflict behind us and moving forward.

My daughter is now 5 and since the birth of Ava my sister’s relationship with me has deteriorated, to the point were we no longer have contact at all. I dont want to go into to much detail but the word I use to describe my sister is a bully, she has been so awfull and spitefull towards me and my family she has caused me to suffer horrible anxiety and there is really noway I can see us reconciling in the future!

I very often address my children using both their first and middle names, I love my boys names but unfortionatly every time I use Ava’s whole name it makes me cringe, I hate reading it, writing it and saying it Im angry that she was named after someone that has treated us so badly. Ive been back and forth for the last 3 or so years as to whether I should legally change/ remove her middle name. Ava is now 5 and really does love her name so I feel as though it will be wrong and confusing for me to change her name now but I dont think I can handle my daughter having a name that I cannot stand to here or say!

My friends who have stood by me throughout my problems with my sister are 100% supportive of Ava’s name change but people in my extended family feel like I will be causing more drama and confusing my daughter. Please could you let me know what you think, I really appreciate any help or opinions thank you

This is a very difficult dilemma. Changing the name would be a huge, symbolic, tie-cutting step—even more so because using it was a symbolic tie-affirming step. I know you say there’s no way you can imagine you and your sister reconciling in the future, but this would definitely set a fire on that bridge, or vigorously fan the flames that were already there. Especially with family, I’d rather leave the bridge alone even if it never does end up getting used. I would be very motivated to see if there were another solution to the problem.

If we were making this decision based on your feelings alone, it sounds like changing the name would be something to seriously consider despite the cost. But I agree with you: your daughter is old enough that her feelings are now also crucial to this decision. Parents are in charge of choosing their children’s names—but once the children take possession of those names, there’s a point at which the name belongs to the child and not to the parent. After that point, the parent has the legal right to have the child’s name changed against the child’s wishes, but I don’t think they have the ethical right. It sounds to me as if your daughter has reached this point: she has taken possession of her name, and she loves it.

I would listen to family over friends on this issue. I’d be uncertain that a friend had really been able to imagine herself in that situation, or to consider how she’d feel if it were her own family; family dynamics vary so much, what would be normal behavior in one family would be disastrous in another family. Your family is much closer to it and may have a better grasp on how things will actually go and how the people involved will actually feel. Also, your friends will have heard only your side, and you’re the only person in this situation they care about; your family will have more of a big-picture concern for the family as a whole.

So what we have here is a nearly impossible problem. The association with your sister is causing you to hate saying your daughter’s name, which is a highly undesirable situation; but for a variety of reasons, it’s also hard to imagine changing it. Let’s brainstorm some options.

1. If you moved fast, you might still have time to change it to Ava Ellison or Ava Alice. This makes the symbolic cut to the relationship with your sister, and yet your daughter mostly keeps her name. This idea depends quite a bit on whether your daughter knows how to spell her name, would notice/mind the change, etc. I’m also not sure it would help: if you said “Ava Ellison” or “Ava Alice,” would it still make you think of your sister?

2. If your sister is out of your life, I wonder if there is any way to soften the association of the name Alison. Do you know any other Alisons? Would it help to watch movies or read books with characters named Alison? One of my sons has a middle name that has a very bad association for me (a high school relationship with a bad break-up), but it’s also my grandfather’s name; after enough time had passed since the break-up, the positive association won out. But a high school boyfriend is not on the same level as a sister. Still, with time and distance, the feeling that you can’t handle your daughter having that name may diminish.

3. You could stop calling your daughter Ava Alison. I know you’d like to call her by her first-and-middle, but giving up that preference might be the easiest and least tumultuous solution. I call my daughter Elizabeth Marie, Elizabeth St. Claire, Elizabeth Louise—and none of those are her middle name. Perhaps you could start a similar running joke with your daughter, allowing you to call her by a variety of first-and-middle names. Or call her Ava-belle, or Ava-lyn, or Ava-lou, or Ava A., or just Ava.

4. It might work to add a second middle name. This wouldn’t burn the bridge, and would perhaps allow you to transition slowly to calling her by her first name combined with the new middle name instead of the original one. You could also start using the new middle name as the default on forms that allowed only one middle name. This option depends a lot on what your daughter would think of that. She might find it fun to help choose, and might then even prefer to be called Ava with her self-chosen middle name.

5. You could wait, and discuss it with your daughter when she’s older. It’s hard for me to picture this, though: there’d be so much pressure on her to agree to the change even if she didn’t want to, and by then she’d likely identify with her name even more strongly.

6. You could discuss it with your daughter now, being as frank and detailed as appropriate for her current age, and ask if she would be willing to have a new middle name. Again, I am having trouble imagining putting this kind of pressure on a child, or her having enough understanding of the issue to be able to make an informed decision.

My own preference, I think, would be for #3: stop calling her by her first and middle, and see if that solves the problem to a bearable level. It’s a sacrifice on your part, since you’d rather call your children by their first and middles—but there is a cost no matter which option you choose, and this seems like the lowest price.

I might combine that with option #2: weakening the association of the name Alison as much as possible, while waiting for time to pitch in on this as well.

If dropping the middle name from use is not enough to solve the problem, my next choice would be #1 (using Alice or Ellison instead of Alison) or #4 (adding a second middle name and transitioning to using that instead of Alison); #1 is much more bridge-burning than #4, so #4 would be my own choice. But these depend on your daughter, and I don’t know if they’re a good fit for her or not.

Because I like to talk about names and hypothetical situations, I might also try a soft version of #6: raising the subject with your daughter, giving her a very vague and casual “everything’s okay”-type overview of the situation, and collecting her thoughts. This might be useful for any of the options, or for deciding among them. But it depends on your ability to discuss an emotionally-fraught subject in a casual way, and it carries with it the risk of communicating to her that there’s something wrong with her name, or of worrying her with family drama.

I am even more eager than usual to hear what everyone else thinks of this difficult situation.

Baby Boy Gregwar, Brother to Beatrix

46 Replies

Marianne writes:

I have been waiting for Valentine’s Day this year because it was the date of our anatomy ultrasound (my husband wondered what I would get him and I said “either a girl or a boy”!) and lo, we have our answer. It is a boy, the first of his generation and he is a total, complete foreign oddity in our family of sisters and nieces. Due in early July.

We are super excited to have a boy and completely stumped on a name. Not just a name, but a naming universe where my husband and I could theoretically co-exist. So far the very best we can do is come up with one or two names that aren’t immediately rejected. Nothing remotely close to right for us.

We have an almost 2 year old daughter named Beatrix Majel. It took approximately 8 seconds for us to choose her name. My husband’s fist name is Rob and his last name is our daughter’s second middle name and is Belletier with a P (pell-tee-ay). My name is Marianne and my last name (and the kids’ last name) is Bregoire with a G (greg-war). We didn’t hyphenate because that’s too much name! We like the idea of more kids but take it one at a time. Three is definitely plausible.

If the baby had been a girl we were liking Magdalene or Nina Eloise. We tend to like names with nick-names, prefer older over newer varieties and prefer to stay away from classic standards like Michael and Thomas, and I seem to have a problem with last names as first names (Bennett, Conner, Parker etc which are all no-go’s for me). I prefer the name not to be too popular but honestly if we find a name we both like we will clutch it to our chests and never let it go.

My husband seems to prefer names from things he likes (such as Emmett from Back to the Future. Solid films, I agree) and seems to be fine with conventional popular names, although will randomly reject something for an unexpected reason (Theodore is out because of the Chipmunks!).

I know with Beatrix we are in danger of having a hipster name sub-set but I’d rather that over calling this kid “the boy” until he’s old enough to name himself which was our plan until we found out our first was a girl.

Boy names that are on the reluctant maybe list:
Arthur (mine) —>more than OK with the Bea Arthur reference/homage
Martin (Rob’s)
Augustin/Gus (emergency boy name for our daughter, I admit I had a panic the ultrasound tech was wrong when I went into labour)

Totally rejected by one of us: Donald, Theodore, Otto, Peter, Pierre, Jasper, Benjamin (already used)

BONUS difficulty: If this makes it to the blog and there are any Franco-American or French Canadian readers a bilingual (French/English) name would be amazing!

I know I listed lots of preferred and not-preferred variables but we are wide open to suggestions! Nothing is really set in stone.

Thanks very much for your time :-)

I think I will just start flinging out names:

1. Pascal. I feel like this name could be a huge success. It has math/science/computer-geek appeal, French appeal, and a cool sound overall. The main problem, I think, is pronunciation. I wasn’t even positive I KNEW how to pronounce it, and my perusal of an assortment of pronunciation sites showed me that it varies a bit. The most prevalent English pronunciation seems to be the one where you say the word “pass” and then you say “cal” as in California. The nickname Cal is available if wanted.

2. Calvin. Great nickname.

3. Claude. I am ready to hear this name again, and I think Claude Gregwar sounds handsome and literary. Or Claudius?

4. Jeremy. Jerome.

5. Ian. I like to say this with your daughter’s name: Beatrix and Ian.

6. Leo.

7. Barnaby.

8. Eamon. I had to learn to pronounce this (AY-mun), but it didn’t take long.

9. Kipling. It’s surnamey, I admit. But so literary with Beatrix! And the wonderful nickname Kip! [Edit: The white supremacist views of Rudyard Kipling have been brought to my attention, and I would no longer recommend this name.]

10. Eliot. Surnamey but literary!

11. Truman. Surnamey but literary!

12. Wesley. I think Wes is my top favorite boy nickname.

13. Oswald.

14. Louis.

15. Edmund.

16. Frederick.

17. Franklin.

18. Harvey. I love this name and wish more people did too. Maybe it will be the next Henry.

19. Malcolm.

20. Sterling.

21. Darius.

22. Rufus.

23. Ruben.

24. Simon.

25. Corin.

26. Oliver.

27. George.

28. Charles.

29. Dean.

30. Paul. I think the eye could accidentally skip past this one in the name book. My eye did (despite it being my husband’s pseudonym on the blog), until my brother and sister-in-law mentioned it was on their name list for my nephew. Suddenly I saw the name in a new light: squeezy, cuddly, adorable little baby PAUL! Paul Gregwar; Beatrix and Paul.

31. Russell.

32. Stuart. I noticed Arthur and Martin both contained “art”. So does Stuart.

33. Murray.

34. Ira.

35. Linus.

26. Ivan.

I am also drawn to Emmett and Augustin from your lists.

I wonder, especially since a boy in this family tree is a relatively rare event, if there are any family men you’d like to honor?

Name Updates!

Baby Boy or Girl Ott-with-a-Sc, Sibling to Eliza Katherine

26 Replies

Brianne writes:

i’m brianne and my husband is dan and our last name is ott with a -sc in the beginning. we have a daughter named eliza katherine. we are due in july and will not be finding out if we’re having a boy or girl. our boy name is everett (nn rhett). we would like to have four children. we’re having a lot of trouble agreeing on a girl name. i like all your great grandmother’s contemporaries’ names. whereas my husband sent me a list with names he like and it read like a 1980s kindergarten roster. we had no problem naming eliza, it was the only name we agreed upon. we’ve both always loved rhett but decided everett made more sense with our surname. i have people who address me by my surname, even after recognizing i’m female so i’d like to pick obviously male/female first names. dan hasn’t had a significant amount of input for other boy names, but some i still love are below.

other boy names i love: sawyer, calvin, sullivan, theodore

girl names i like: sabrina, tessa, rosalie, vivienne, tabitha, matilda, norah, alice, susanna, joanna, cordelia, louisa, juliette, sylvia

my very favorite girls name is louisa (nn lou, lulu, ouisa).

i love three syllable girl names, usually ending in -a. it just sounds most pleasant to me with our surname.

i want to pose the question of how i can convince my husband to love a name he’s vetoed, but know that would sound terrible (even though it’s honest!). so, instead, dear swistle, please help me think of a compromise name or convince me that i can love another name as much as louisa…but that would make my husband happy (who’d gladly name our child jessica).

thanks!

I love the name Louisa, too! I think it is so pleasing to say. I find it very similar to Eliza, though: ee-LY-zah and loo-EE-zah share a strong Z sound, an L sound, two of their three syllables, and the same rhythm, emphasis, and final syllable. Perhaps, though, you are saying them eh-LY-zah and loo-EE-sah, in which case they are much less similar—and after practicing it a few times aloud, I think I do say eh-ly-zah rather than ee-ly-zah. They still seem very close to me.

One way to convince someone they love a name is to find a tie-in they’d enjoy. For example, Paul is very keen on famous scientists. When I thought of a name I wanted to use for one of our sons, and it happened to be the name of a famous scientist, I presented the name to Paul in that light—rather than saying the truth, which was “There’s someone with this name on the TV show I’m watching.”

Another idea along these same lines is to find a movie or TV show with a really cool/cute female character named Louisa, and have your husband watch it. Don’t remark on the name; just let it sink in over a number of episodes. Then bring up the name again while watching the show, ideally when the character is being particularly cool/cute: “Louisa really is a great name. Are you sure you wouldn’t consider it?”

If he continues to veto it, the quest begins afresh. I recommend not comparing each new candidate to the name Louisa: if Louisa is your top favorite, the quest for a name you like as much as Louisa could be a frustrating or even impossible one. Instead, take the name Louisa out of the picture and see if you can find your new top favorite from the pool of names that remain.

To introduce your husband to names that are both more and less contemporary than the ones on his list, it might be helpful to point out similarities in sound. I’m looking at the Social Security Administration’s list of top names for 1985, and I think Kimberly and Stephanie and Ashley could be compared to Rosalie from your list. Melissa and Alyssa and Ashley could be compared to Alice. Christina could be compared to to Sabrina. Melissa and Amanda could be compared to Matilda. And so on. You could refer to a name as “the current equivalent of Jessica,” for example, or you could say things such as, “Like Sarah and Laura, except the current versions are Clara and Nora.”

Sometimes men who have lists of that sort appreciate a feminine name with a boyish nickname, so you might have luck approaching it from that direction: Alice/Al, Joanna/Jo, Louisa/Lou.

Or sometimes it works to show someone the Social Security name lists so they can see for themselves how things have changed. Point out that names such as Jessica and Ashley are now the Mom Names; have him picture names from your parents’ generation on people your age to give him a feeling for how names can shift with each generation.

A name similar to Louisa is Lucia. It can be pronounced loo-SEE-ah, loo-CHEE-ah, or LOO-sha; in this case, I’m thinking of loo-SEE-ah. Eliza and Lucia. You could still use the nicknames Lu and Lulu, and also Lucy.

Or Lydia; Eliza and Lydia. I like the nickname Liddy/Lyddie.

Josephine doesn’t end in -a, but I still like it with the sibling name and with the surname. Eliza and Josephine. Nicknames Josie, Jo, Phina, Fee.

Or Naomi. Eliza and Naomi.

Or Claudia. Eliza and Claudia.

Name update!

hi swistle! thanks for all the reader’s advice. i just couldn’t give up on louisa…and i’m glad i didn’t. i managed to convince my husband that it’s pretty much a perfect name. we ended up having a baby girl about a month early – louisa anne. she’s beautiful and perfect and we’re over the moon!

thanks again!
brianne

Name Updates!

Baby Girl, Sister to Cole and Payton: Caroline or Vivienne?

38 Replies

Nicole writes:

We are on our Third Baby (yikes) and having a precious baby girl. We are between Caroline and Vivienne? I love both names and am caught in a pickle:). Caroline is classic but Vivienne is fresh and has a great nickname Vivi. Our boy (4) is name Cole Brian and daughter (2) is name Payton Charlotte. Would LOVE any help/suggestions!!!! Thanks SO much!!!

Both choices seem at odds to me with the style of your first two children’s names. Cole and Payton are both contemporary surname names; Vivienne and Caroline are both first names of long standing. Vivienne and Caroline are both currently exclusively feminine, while your first daughter’s name is unisex (in 2012, the name Payton was given to 2918 new baby girls and 587 new baby boys; the spelling Peyton was given to 4447 new baby girls and 2065 new baby boys). These aren’t the sorts of things that MATTER-matter, but it’s something to take into account if you’d like the sibling names to coordinate; your first two children’s names coordinate very well.

Since Payton’s middle name Charlotte coordinates in style with Vivienne and Caroline, I’d be more inclined to put those on the list of middle-name contenders, and look for something else for the first name. Without a surname it’s difficult to suggest possibilities, but this is the sort of style I’d be looking at:

Avery Caroline; Cole, Payton, and Avery
Bailey Vivienne; Cole, Payton, and Bailey
Brooklyn Josephine; Cole, Payton, and Brooklyn
Ellery Vivienne; Cole, Payton, and Ellery
Hadley Caroline; Cole, Payton, and Hadley
Kinley Margaret; Cole, Payton, and Kinley
Morgan Violet; Cole, Payton, and Morgan
Rowan Abigail; Cole, Payton, and Rowan
Ryleigh Vivienne; Cole, Payton, and Ryleigh
Sydney Caroline; Cole, Payton, and Sydney
Taylor Vivienne; Cole, Payton, and Taylor

If I were choosing between Caroline and Vivienne, I’d be more likely to choose Vivienne: its current usage feels recent, and more compatible in style with Payton and Cole; Payton and Vivi seem more like sisters to me than Payton and Caroline do. It also catches my attention that Cole and Caroline have a lot of letters in common.

I might also suggest Vienne or Vienna instead of Vivienne: it seems less frilly, and you could still use the nickname Vivi. Cole, Payton, and Vienne.

Baby Boy Hammond, Brother to Everett Paschal and Callum George

24 Replies

B. writes:

I am at an impasse when it comes to naming my 3rd son, due in April. I think I’ve narrowed it down to two names but I just cannot decide.

Our last name is Hammond. Sons are Everett Paschal and Callum George. Both boys’ middle names are family names. I cannot decide on a good middle name for this baby yet either.

I think I’ve narrowed down first name possibilities to Finnian or Lachlan.

Here’s what I like about each. Finnian: has double consonant like the boys, has a common nickname like the boys (Ev and Cal) with a less common full name, an Irish name whereas the boys have germanic and Scottish, my ancestry is Finnish so neat little play on words there. Dislike that it seems very trendy thanks to Glee. Lachlan: much less common in the US, also the connection to Scandinavian culture.

My older son is very partial to Finnian (he’s obsessed with Phineas and Ferb J) and my husband likes Lachlan better (because of popularity). I can’t decide! Is there some other perfect name that I just haven’t considered?

Other names I had considered but crossed off the list: Rory, Sebastian, Archer, Griffin, Fletcher, August, Thaddeus, Finnegan. Girl name would have been Romilly Wynn.

Thank you!!

Name update! B. writes:

I so appreciate all the comments trying to help me decide on baby 3.0’s name. In the end, I just felt like Finnian was off. Something about the sound of it didn’t sit perfectly with me. So, we know have a lovely little, almost one month old, Lachlan William. His middle name is after my father, my husband’s uncle, and various other relatives. :) He already has many nicknames but most often is called Lachie.
Thanks again!

Baby Boy $harpe or McDermott, Brother to Malcolm

32 Replies

Ursula writes:

I’m pregnant with my second son, due in May, and my husband and I are struggling to agree on a second boy’s name. Our first is named Malcolm, and his last name is $harpe, which we will likely use for the second boy as well (though I am open to using my last name if it is best for aesthetics–it sounds like McDermott). If $harpe is the last name, the middle name will likely be “McDermott.”

For our second, my list of favorites includes:

Simon
Arthur
Julian
Jules
Jude
Solomon
Eamon
Lucian
Evander
Everett
Hugo
Quentin
Errol
Clement
Claude
Lawrence
Peter
Ellis
Walter
Alonso

He has suggested Oliver, August, and Leander, all of which I like. However, I dislike the popularity of Oliver, August is a little bit of a tongue-twister with either last name, and Leander just doesn’t stand out to either of us as “the one.”

Negotiating, we have arrived at the following list that we both have some interest in:

Quentin $harpe
August McDermott, August $harpe
Oliver $harpe
Clement $harpe
Errol $harpe
Claude McDermott, Claude $harpe
Eamon $harpe
Everett $harpe
Lawrence McDermott
Leander $harpe

I think I’m struggling with having lost some of my favorites off the initial list in the negotiation process. It’s hard for me to feel like any of the negotiated list are “the one”—even those I initially suggested. Right now, Quentin and Oliver are rising to the top. I’m curious about your opinion on the options but also whether you have any other ideas that we haven’t considered.

Thanks so much!

Name update! Ursula writes:

We had lots of great responses from readers about our name list for our second baby boy, a brother for our son Malcolm. They gave us a lot to think about. In the end, we went with the one that my husband and I agreed on most solidly: Quentin McT@gg@rt $harpe was born May 6, 2014. He was 7 pounds 7 ounces and nearly 2 weeks early. We love him and his name!