When  I was pregnant with my first child, I toiled and toiled over the "perfect name".  Nothing I came up with was acceptable to my husband, and vice versa.  While many things in a marriage can be compromised, your baby's name isn't one of them.  You must both agree, and that is an undertaking to say the least.

Nine months into my pregnancy and approaching home base, we were still without a name.  I'll never forget the moment when we choose our son's name.  We were driving  up to the North Georgia mountains for our anniversary, and I was reading from a Lewis Grizzard book (how fitting.)  I'm not sure what possesed me to grab this book on the way out the door, but it must have been fate.  In one chapter he writes about the importance of names, and that there are a few names which  throughout history have a reputation for success.  The names included classics like Caroline, Anne, Sarah and so forth.  For boys, James, William, and MADISON.  Hmmm, Madison, I thought.  I liked it, it was easy to spell, easy to pronounce, can't be shortened into a weird name that he'll  forever be made fun.  So it was settled.  Madison it would be.  Now, of course you are probably thinking, "Isn't that a GIRL'S NAME?"  Well... yes, in the last decade or so, it has been on the top 50 of most popular girl's names.  As a matter of fact, I'm willing to bet my house on the fact that you probably know 2 or 3 girls named Madison.  However, this began as an English surname for Matthew.  It only became a popluar girl's name after the 1984 movie "Splash" in which a mermaid was named that after seeing the Madison Avenue sign in New York, meaning wealth and prosperity.

My son, Madison, has turned out to be a very mature and intellectual boy, but with much personality.  Kinda like the name implies.  When I hear it, I think of PRESIDENT, or CEO, or something equally impressive.  We all know in today's world, names are more and more interchangable betwen male and female.  As a parent, I believe you know you've chosen the right name when it accurately describes the personality of your child.   How will you know this before you meet your child?  Although you can't know for sure, I think you somehow inately combine the qualitites of your husband and yourself to form the name that "fits".  The same way a woman knows before her child wakes up at night, or when something is wrong.  You just know.  And I've yet to meet a parent who has regreted the name they chose for their child.

That was seven years ago, and in my son's first grade class there is a Dylan, Parker, Ashton and Taylor, and it might surprise you to know which is male and female.   He has not been made fun of, and he likes his name.  And as a side note,  if I didn't already mention, my husband's name is Casey.