What's her name?

Delphine (Della):

Very early on in our relationship Carl and I started playing the "let's name our future children" game. At this point, I still wouldn't let him see me without makeup and he still wouldn't pass gas in front of me, but we were adamant about naming all ten of the children we were destined to have. By the way, I'm working on finding a way to go back in time, so that I can throw past-me over my knee and give past-me a well-deserved spanking for being so dumb. Obviously I didn't realize back then that ten kids meant ten pregnancies and ten people to wiggle out of one very sensitive area down below.

For two years, whenever one of us thought of a name we would say something like, "what do you think of Lallulah-StormTrooper?" And of course, the other would then throw-up in his/her mouth. We could never agree. One day, we went over to Carl's 90 year old grandparents’ house so I could interview them for a Women's History paper I was writing for class. His grandpa brought out a picture of his mother from the 1900’s. She looked so polished and striking, like she could be in a James Cameron directed period piece about an epic romance and a ship. In the picture she was tightly corseted into this gorgeous dress and wearing a titanic sized hat loaded with feathers. She was a very beautiful, exotic looking woman with dark, piercing features. Carl's grandpa told us her name was Della. We both looked at each other in that moment and said "Della" simultaneously. We had a mind-conference, and telepathically agreed Della was our future baby's name. Then we found out Della was a nickname and her given name was actually Delphine. We loved both names, and there was no question from then on, that was what we would name a girl if we had one.

Plum:

I was given complete middle-naming rights, it was considered my “push present” seeing as I was the one with stretch marks plastered on my mid-section and a baby traveling through my body. Personally, I think middle names are silly. They are like cheese graters, everyone has one, but no one knows why. (You can buy cheese already shredded you know.) Middle names are not really good for anything except as insulation between the first and last name. So, I wanted to have a little fun with it, since it’s basically just a conversation piece anyway.

I loved the names Rose, Grace, Mae, Rae, etc. and they all would’ve worked wonderfully as a middle name, but I wanted something a little crazier than that.  I started coming up with non-name names, like, Winter, January, Snow, Snowflake, Snowman, Shovel….if you can’t tell it was the middle of winter. Carl just sat in the corner and shook his head in shame.

I tossed around some nature names like, Lake, Rice, Wren, Bird, Sun, but what I was really sold on was the name Blue. Later, I found out John Travolta’s kid is named Ella Blu, so I really couldn’t have a Della Blue, that would look like we copied them. We don’t run in the same social circles as the Travolta’s, but how awkward would that be if we bumped into each other one day and had to introduce our Della Blue to their Ella Blu? Oy.

After Blue was out, I kept thinking along the lines of color. My favorite color is purple or plum. I liked the sound of Plum, it wasn’t as hippie-ish as Strawberry and a little less shocking than Apple. I looked Plum up and it is an actual (sorta) name, used over in Europe. The name Prune (the equivalent to Plum in French) is becoming quite the popular name there. There is also an author/vogue editor from England nicknamed Plum Skyes. And since she is from England, and they’re used to the U.S. stealing all their television programming ideas from them anyway, I didn’t think she would mind if I used Plum as a middle name for my daughter.

And there you have it Delphine (Della) Plum.

 

Some people love the name, some hate it. Some say, aren’t you worried she won’t be able to get hired for a job with a name like that? I say, REALLY? First of all, I have never worked at a job where sharing my middle name was a requirement. Nor do I know the middle names of any of my co-workers. Second, the CEO where I work, his middle name is Nutmann. I only know this because he loves it and openly shares it with others. Thirdly, Barack Hussein Obama also has a unique name, and he got hired.

Others say with an uncommon name she will grow up thinking she is too special and entitled. I say again, REALLY? A few people around my office have different and unique names, and some are hardworking, and successfully moving up the corporate ladder. Some are playing angry birds. I don't think it has anything to do with their name, but how the people who named them raised them.

Others are concerned about her getting teased….umm, as long as there are other kids out there being named Brodini and Sycauphony, I think she’ll be alright.

  

Comments

[Kelli]

Love the pic! Great post Jamie. Nice to know where her name came from. And it's cool that she will have a story to tell when she is asked where her name came from instead of "my parents liked it".

[Lindsey]

I love it! And you know, those that question it need to acknowledge that you didn't just pluck the name from mid-air.. it has meaning, history, and love. That is all that a name needs.

And, a lot better than naming a child after your favorite celebrity.. ahem.. Rucker after Darius Rucker. Just heard this one the other day. Head shaking ensued.

Charlie is a family name for us. Adam has red hair. I could only imagine us having a red head named Chucky and him killing me in my sleep. Thus, Charlie wasn't picked. However, Connor does share the same initials as my father. I acutally didn't tell anyone the meaning until about 6 weeks after Connor was born and my mom finally noticed!

[Jess]

I hate when people comment on names. It's the reason we told NO ONE the names we had chosen for our girls. Which, in fact, were boys names because I was absolutely positive and determined that we were going to have boys. Oops. Either way, we wanted no comments of anyone disliking names, or letting their opinions known. It was our child, our choice, no one else's.

I think Della Plum is a perfect name, though. For a perfect little girl!