Names--take your pick!

I think picking a name for a child is an impossible task. I really wish they just came with a little name tag around their neck.

So here we are, with two kids who have names. Their names are unique. Their names aren't heard in the good ol' US of A. I can't even find the meaning of our daughter's name on Ethiopian websites. Do we keep their names, do we change them, do we just alter them a bit? What shall we do?

I harbor a bit of regret because we completely changed Ella's name. She was Margarita Georgina. Seth and I hadn't spent loads of time discussing names (see the first sentence I wrote to understand why). When the sturdy, scary Ukrainian notary asked us what we wanted to name our daughter, we were startled. We had only met her that day. We weren't sure what American names we liked, or if we should try to alter Margarita to suit us. So we balked, then quickly decided we would toss her entire name out and rename her Ella Grace. Don't ask me why we picked Ella Grace. I'll seem like a total wimp. Over the past three years I've wished that we somehow kept her first name. It was HER name. It didn't come from her birthmom, it was the name of the doctor at the hospital where she was born. Somehow that negated it's importance in our minds. We could have easily named her Margaret, Rita, Georgia...but we didn't have time to think about it! Am I making excuses? You betcha! So we are going to redeem ourselves by adding Margarita to Ella's name.

Now you understand where we are coming from in this decision. Add to the confusion the fact that Seth loves really weirdo names. To complicate it more--I'm the queen of indecision. So I'm going to try and figure out how to poll you, dear readers. I can't promise that we will heed your advice or that the names I list will even be on the list when we actually determine our children's names. But it will be fun to see what you think.

This is where we are TODAY: keep the kid's names as middle names so that they have options later on. That limits us in choosing first names, because VERY few things sound okay with the exotic name our daughter wears. Give us your opinion by voting, just click on one name for each kid ONE TIME (I'm typing that for Seth since he may try to sabotage the whole poll).