Warning: long and boring except to name nerds. :P And maybe even to them. Save this for bedtime reading.
We'd always "planned" on Margaret for a girl but never expected to use it. We really were surprised to have had a girl. How surprised? Well, Adam was the 20th consecutive boy born on Dion's side. Dion's grandfather had 12 brothers, no sisters. 2 sons, no daughters. 4 grandsons, no granddaughters. 1 great grandson, no great granddaughters. You can understand why I told the ultrasound technician not to bother continuing to look when she couldn't see all the baby's parts. The few baby girl dreams I had didn't nearly convince me that it was even possible that I was carrying a girl. Neither did Adam's saying 75% of the time that the baby was a girl. He might have been saying that
I am a girl.
Still, it's a little surprising that I, of all people, was caught unprepared. Names are a thing for me. I am a regular reader of more than one baby naming blog. No kidding. There are blogs for everything. Names are such a thing for me that I was nearly disappointed that we'd found the perfect names - Jonah and Margaret - so early in my pregnancy. Indeed, Margaret was a no-brainer and had been chosen when I was pregnant with Adam.
Margaret is a family name. Our Margaret Naomi is at least the 6th generation of Paterson women to wear the name. My sister, Patricia Margaret (Peggy), was the 5th. My mother, Margaret Elizabeth, was the 4th. My grandmother, Rubina Margaret (Ruby), was the 3rd. My grandmother's aunt on her paternal side was the 2nd. My grandmother's grandmother was the 1st - of which I know. There might very well be more Margarets in the line. I believe it was this paternal grandmother of my maternal grandmother who hand-made the christening gown that Adam wore and Naomi will wear soon.
No really, I'm listening. Go on, Mom.
Moreover, Margaret in and of itself is a great name. It may be at a century-low in popularity but it is due for a comeback, IMHO. Margaret is even lovely with Lew. Few girls' names are. Many perfectly nice names are ridiculous with Lew. These would all be candidates for me: Laura, Emma, Leah, and Mary - were it not for "Laura Lew," "Emma Lew," "Leah Lew," and "MARY LEW!" Anything at all sweet fails. Longer, stronger names, like Margaret, work much better.
So done, right? No no, about a month before I was due, I had to complicate things. It felt like choosing Margaret was too easy. Where's the fun in a no-brainer? Perhaps we could choose a middle name? I thought a 2- or 3-syllable name would sound best. I floated a couple of ideas and looked them up online: Rachel, Daphne, Sarah, Fiona, and Naomi. It was just a brainstorm. Just fantasy, seeing as we didn't actually need to choose a girl's name. Dion wasn't into the game. He merely said that he wouldn't veto any of those names. Neither was he inclined to suggest any. Party pooper. I even considered submitting a query "Margaret _____ Lou" to
Swistle's baby naming blog. Maybe I'd ask for a poll for Rachel, Sarah, and Naomi. But it didn't seem right to take up other people's time for a silly, unnecessary game. Oops.
Still reading? Wow. name nerd. Here's your reward: another photo of Naomi.
Yawn! Boring, Mom, boring.Well, then she was born. Margaret Lew. Should we choose a middle name? Margaret Naomi Lew flowed better than Margaret Rachel Lew or Margaret Sarah Lew, I thought. Yes, Naomi. Dion and I both liked it best. We were set with Margaret Naomi Lew and had the hospital register that name on all her forms, including her health card.
But what were we really going to call her? Margaret seemed a really grown-up name for a baby. While Dion and the baby slept, I was thinking through the many diminutives for Margaret and none worked for me. I did want a diminutive because although my mother died almost 13 years ago, calling my baby Margaret was still just a little bit sad for me.
Peggy Lew? yuck.
Maggie? My mother hated it; so, I'm biased against it.
Greta? I like it - for someone else's kid.
Meg? I like it. Meg Lew? sounds like "igloo" or "my glue."
Most other diminutives have the Marylou problem.
Just Margaret then?
Use the just recently and hastily chosen middle name?
While I waffled and Dion slept on it, he became convinced that Margaret really was a big name for a little baby. But where Dion had invested little in the name choice and could go with his gut, I had lived with "Margaret Lew" for months. I felt a little like I was giving something up to get Naomi. I love both names but Dion fell for Naomi, which made me fall for it, too.
I cannot believe you are still going on about this, Mom.We waited a day or so to "correct" what had already been announced as Margaret's arrival until my buyer's remorse wore off and until we had done our due diligence. By due diligence, I mean googling Naomi Lew to make sure there's no one infamous who goes by that name and my re-checking a few baby-naming resources to make sure Naomi isn't suddenly the flavour-of-the-month in baby-naming or that there was nothing else off-putting about the name.
Here were the results:
Google: A few Naomi Lews exist, but no one scandalous. Hey, we're fourth on the list already!
Nymbler: Naomi alone "inspires" Carmella, Nina, Miriam, Celeste, Eve, and several Japanese names. Margaret and Naomi together "inspire" Rachel, Sarah, Mary, Elizabeth, Ivy, Eve, and Rebecca. In the other order, Daphne and Laura also appeared. Nymbler reads my mind, apparently. If I didn't have an Adam, Eve would be a favourite, too.
Social Security Online - Popular Names: Over the 2000s, Margaret was the 134th most common girl's name in the US; Naomi was 148th.
Name Voyager: In the US, since the 1880's, Naomi peaked in popularity in the 1910's at around 720 Naomis per million babies at 134th most common, was lowest around 1960 at around 170 Naomis per million babies at 314th most common, and has since been rising steadily to 118th with around 690 Naomis per million babies in 2008. On the other hand,
Margaret has been falling since being 4th in the 1910s and bottoming out around 180th last year (500 Margarets per million babies.) These have very different scales. Naomi goes from 0 to 680, Margaret from 0 to 10,400.
Behind the Name: From the Hebrew name,
נָעֳמִי (Na'omiy,) meaning "pleasantness." In the Old Testament this was the name of the mother-in-law of Ruth. After the death of her husband, Naomi took the name Mara (see Ruth 1:20.) Though previously common as a Jewish name, Naomi was not typically used as an English Christian name until after the Protestant Reformation. ALSO From Japanese
直 (nao) "honest, straight" and
美 (mi) "beautiful."
Pronunciation:
nay-O-mee or nie-O-mee. I like and use both unconsciously and interchangeably. Dion says nie-O-mee consistently. Adam says NIE-o-mee most of the time but throws in NAY-o-mee now and then. Pronounce it however you like. I'm sure when she's 13, she'll correct you to the pronunciation she likes.
