How to choose a name for your child?

When Jordan was born, I always said that if we ever had another boy, I would be in trouble because I wouldn't know what name to give him. When I started expecting again, I guessed almost immediately that this is a boy too. This was not due to any maternal instinct, but I based the assumption on my symptoms.

The very first and most important criterion is that the name is rare, at least in Finland. So I don't want it to be a trending name - if the name was on the top 100 list of the most popular names, it's not for us. This only applies to the first name, I don't mind giving a popular name as a second name. I like the fact that my name is rare, although in English-speaking countries it can be found in many slightly different versions, such as Cece, CC, Cissy and so on. Jordan is also rare in Finland, but not in a few countries abroad and that's fine for me. Perhaps surprisingly, Eerikki is also very rare as a first name in Finland, even rarer than Sissi!

Secondly, I want a name that is easy to pronounce in English, but it must also be pronounceable in Finnish. It doesn't have to be a Finnish name or word, but it has to be pronounceable in Finnish. This has always been really important to me. Even when I lived abroad and dated foreigners, it was always clear that my child's name has to work in Finnish too. Finland is my mother tongue and my home country and it should be reflected in my child's name. There are a lot of lovely names that I have to reject because of this, they need to be pronounced in English. That's why the name Jordan is so lovely, it's a river (although for us the inspiration came from Michael Jordan) and it can be said in Finnish, as we like to do. I never mind if someone pronounces it in English, it's beautiful that way too.

Another trend I'm not excited about - if the first one is trending names - is grandpa and grandma names. After all, both trends are quite eternal, there are always some names that are very fashionable, and the names of your own grandparents' generation are interesting when the names of your own parents' generation are still too close. I myself am not enthusiastic about these granny and grandpa names, although I have heard a few beautiful granny names. Now that I'm writing this, I realize that maybe that's not quite true. I have one grandpa name that I like, it's just too common for me to give it. One of my "almost relatives" was called Olavi and I have really nice memories of him and the name itself is beautiful. Also, when I was waiting for Jordan, I had the opportunity, somewhat unexpectedly, to get to know the history of my paternal family which comes from Sweden, and I noticed that a Swedish "grandpa name" was given to several of my relatives. We were considering this name as a middle name for Jordan and I think we will consider it for Minimini as well, so I won't reveal it here yet.

It's not important to me that the child's name starts with the same letter as mine or Eerikki's, or that the children's names start with the same letter. I actually rather avoid it because it easily leads to confusion, Jordan's cousin is called Josua and even I mix up the names sometimes. I also like that the difference between the children's (and parents') personalities is reflected on the non-matching names, especially since I like to buy matching clothes for the children and the whole family.

Finally, I want the name to be short. I always feel bad for people who have a nice long name but are called by some abbreviation of it, so I want the name to be short enough that it's easy to say and doesn't have to be nicknamed. Of course, I can't influence whether a child gets a nickname from his friends, but with a long name it's almost unavoidable that he won't be called by his actual name.

Eerikki doesn't seem to be very interested in coming up with name suggestions and I accepted that already back when I was expecting Jordan. His only suggestion is Roger, but I don't think he's serious. Of course, it is possible to say Roger in Finnish, but the assumption is not that you would pronounce it that way, so it's too foreign for my taste. It's not a beautiful name either in my opinion. I don't think Eerikki thinks it's pretty either. He suggests it because his favorite player's name is Roger, Federer, of course. I admire him as a person and a player and he would be an amazing and classy role model for any child, but the name just doesn't work. So our naming method is that I suggest names and Eerikki rejects the ones that he doesn't like. The final name will be eventually chosen from the ones that are left.

I got a tip to check out German and French names, so I've been doing that now. I could name like ten girls, I don't know why it's so difficult to come up with a boy's name, so all suggestions are welcome!

Ps. If you're looking for a reason I choose these pictures, I chose pictures where Jordan is wearing some clothing/accessory that bears his name ☺️.