What's in a Name

My nephew Jake Carter Stewart was born on Friday morning at 5:22am. He was supposed to be a scheduled C-section today (Elaine had problems w/ Sami that resulted in an emergency C-Section). But apparently Jake didn't want to wait till Monday :-)

We are all very excited to have Jake esp b/c he will carry on the family name.

I unfortunately have mixed feelings, not about my nephew, but about his name. For both children my brother and sister-in-law chose not to find out if it was a boy or girl. They also didn't tell anyone the names they were thinking of choosing b/c that way no one could say something that might make them think negatively for one of thier choices (like "Oh I knew a ____ but she was a B*^ch").

I on the other hand love to tell people about the names I am thinking about using. For example . . . . My grandmother's madien name was Carter and she always dreamed of naming a boy Carter so she didn't loose her maiden name. But alas she had 3 girls. Of of the 3 girls one had no children. The second had one boy but named him after her husbands side of the family. The third (my mom) had a son and named him after my dad's side of the family. Had her third child (me) been a boy I would have been named Kevin Carter and called KC. But I was a girl.

I like telling that story and ending it with how when I have a boy I want to name him Carter or put Carter in his name b/c it meant alot to my grandmother and would have been my name. Anyone see where my problem w/ my nephews name is? I told my brother that I wanted to use the name Carter before they had Sami. My SIL told my mom they tried to figure out how to use Carter as a first name but couldn't make it work with Stewart so since they used it as a middle name I was welcome to still use it.

Thanks!!! I'm so glad I have thier permission to use the name I have wanted since I was 13 to name my son, if I'm lucky enough to have one, because they couldn't make it work themselves. I know you can't call dibs on a name but still I would hope that when you tell a family member how a name means alot to you they wouldn't turn around and use it just b/c they had a boy/girl first.

Yes I really can use it and I might but I don't know. I have already heard my mom on the phone w/ all our family telling them how Carter is her mom's maiden name. Kinda takes the fun out of me telling the story in a few years b/c everyone will already know where Carter came from. Obviously I have some time to decide but I'm kinda cranky about it right now.

Ok enough venting right now time for bed.