We are talking baby names today … and you know what?!?!  With less than 5 weeks until her due date, the husband and I have yet to decide upon a “real” name for our little Jellybean.  Friends, family, coworkers and even strangers ask about the baby’s name, to which we respond “not sure yet”.  There are folks who think we are fibbing and others who just want us to decide so they can call her something other than Jellybean.  While we do have about 5 names on the list of possibilities, a front runner just hasn’t revealed itself yet.

In fact, I actually have serious reservations about picking a name prior to meeting our little girl.  My fear is this: we decide to name her Ashley … tell everyone … meet her and she doesn’t look at all like an Ashley, but like a Charlotte instead.  Then we have to tell everyone we are switching her name to Charlotte.  While the rational side of me knows things like this happen ALL the time and it’s not a big deal the other side gets nervous just thinking about it.  Picking a name is a HUGE decision.  I mean our baby girl is going to have this name literally for her entire life (well unless she opts to change it).

I have some friends who named their child super early in their pregnancy.  They shared the name with everyone or in some cases just a select group of family and close friends.  A part of me envies their ability to make a decision, stick with it and not have “buyers remorse” {so to speak} on the name they selected.  Often I find people will announce their baby’s name on Facebook after making a selection.  Other friends keep it a secret from everyone and only share once their baby’s name once s/he has arrived.

The husband and I have kind of split the difference between keeping the names we like a total secret and sharing them with everyone.  We decided to share the name possibilities with immediate family only.  For us that includes both sets of parents, our sisters and brother-in-law … actually as I write this I think my sister’s boyfriend knows the names as well, but he is the only exception to the “rule”.  He kind of gets an honorary place with the immediate family due to his BF status.  Anyways … prior to sharing the names we made our family agree to two things: 1) they will NOT share the names with ANYONE 2) they can’t comment on the names.  While I think (and hope) they abiding by rule #1 there have been a few slip-ups with rule #2, which is fine.

The husband and I have tired a variety of methods when picking out baby names.  We have gone to baby naming websites, the social security office website and reviewed family names.  A lot of the names we liked initially have been in the top 100 baby names for the last couple of years, like Riley and Peyton.  We were easily able to find two family names that would be meaningful to both sides of the family, Jean and Patricia, though we weren’t immediately drawn to those names.  It was suggested we pick a name stating with J – because of her nickname Jellybean – however none of the J names have spoken to us.

So what will Jellybean’s real name be?  I have no idea.  Maybe it will be one on the short list or possibly it will be one we haven’t even discussed yet.  Honestly I am just not sure, but for now we are “OK” with the big day arriving and not having a specific name picked out for JB.  Else, to everyone’s surprise, we will just go ahead and name her Jelly. =)

How far along were you when you decided on your baby’s name?  Did you keep it a secret or share with friends/family?  Any baby naming book or website recommendations??

**Disclaimer … any names included in this post are NOT on our short list of names for Jellybean.  Let let guessing begin!**

If you enjoyed this post, please add your tidbit by commenting below.  Don’t forget you can follow us on Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.