You've Come a Long Way, Baby (Name)

Our nurse wrote two names on a white board in the delivery room on the day our baby was born.

Charlotte Grace

Eloise Mae

It seems strange now, but there was a time when we weren't sure what name we wanted for our child.

Of course the name had to be one we liked, but another factor in the decision process was that the name couldn't remind one of us of a student who was difficult to work with. Daphne and I had a combined total of 30 years of teaching experience at the time. That's about 9000 students. Some members of our family offered suggestions, but their names didn't make the cut.

The two names on the white board were the finalists in our "Name That Baby" contest. I think we both knew which name we preferred, but we wanted to meet our daughter first before we made decision.

Daphne was holding our newborn when I said, "I think we have a Charlotte." Daphne nodded and placed her cheek on Charlotte's head.

The nurse wiped away the second name on the leader board and wrote Charlotte's length and weight in its place.

Charlotte Grace

7 lb 11oz/ 21"

Both Daphne and I have Charlottes and Graces in our family tree, so her name is a natural fit. As a bonus, neither of us had ever had a Charlotte in our classroom. 

That makes sense. The Social Security website ranks the 200 most popular baby names by year and decade. During the 2000s, the name Charlotte was ranked 136, and it didn't even make the top 200 in the 90's when I started teaching.

Pretty soon that won't be the case. The name Charlotte is going to be on a lot of class rosters.

When Char was born in 2010, her name was ranked 38th. Parents have chosen that name 89,043 times since then, and now the name has jumped to 6th place.

So? Why do I care? Well, it's hard to describe, but it's fun to overhear a parent in a parking lot or a grocery store say something like, "Charlotte! Come over here!" or "Come on, Charlotte. We have to go." I immediately feel a connection with that parent. I want to say, "Hey! I have a Charlotte, too! Let's compare notes!" I don't, because that would be weird, but it does make me smile.

I also like finding personalized items for sale with Char's name on it. When I was a kid I rarely found anything marked BRENT at a souvenir shop. The same goes for Daphne.

Daphne stopped when she saw the name of an artist selling her work at the Iowa State Fair. She approached the artist and said, "Excuse me, are you Daphne?" When the woman said yes, Daphne continued, "I just wanted to say, Hi. I'm a Daphne too, and there aren't too many of us!" The two shook hands and had a brief, but happy conversation.

I have heard Daphne's name mispronounced so many times. She almost always has to spell it out when she gives her name to a stranger. I imagine it's even worse for her sister Phaedra.

During Char's first week, my mom called us at least four different times just to ask how to spell Charlotte's name, "Every time I write it out it doesn't look right." I thought, Oh no, she will have to deal with this her entire life. 

But that's not true. There are a lot of Charlottes out there now. One is even a princess. I bet there are more to come, and I bet most of them will spell their name the same way.

Addendum (October 3)

Char showed me her latest classroom project. I had to laugh.