What's in a name?

Well, the cat is out of the bag. I knew it wouldn't be long before someone spilled the beans or let it slip to certain people. So I'll go ahead and cop to the fact that - Jack was right! - we are having a girl.

The next challenge for us is agreeing on a name. Violet was the early front-runner, but I have since reconsidered for a variety of reasons. My current favorite is Clara, but unfortunately Jack is absolutely stuck on Violet. I think it was this name that got him so excited to have a girl in the first place. Tom fluctuates between the two, so he's no help at all.

Here are my pros and cons for both names. I like that both names are distinctive but not weird. I've never personally known someone named Violet, and I've only ever met one person named Clara. (According to baby name surveys, Clara is currently a little less common/popular than Violet.) They are both easy to spell and pronounce. Both are somewhat related to family names. Tom's mom and my favorite aunt have names that start with "Vi." Sinclair is a family name on Tom's side, but I like Clara better than Claire.

The one main con for me for Clara is that the only person I've ever known with that name was constantly called "Claire," and she hated it. I could see that being irksome. Also, maybe people would sometimes spell it with a K. As someone whose name is constantly misspelled, I want to spare my kids that annoyance.

I have more cons for Violet. First, I hate the nickname "Vi," and I can totally see people calling her that. Also, I think it's a pretty name for a little girl and even an older lady, but I don't know how well I think it will fit a grown woman. I don't like the connotations of a shy or shrinking Violet. Finally, someone reminded me relatively recently that in the movie "The Incredibles" there is both a Jack-Jack and a Violet. Ugh.

All that being said, I'm tending toward Clara, but Jack is so set on Violet. He actively argues with me about it. The other day, I asked him to say hi to Clara, and he said, "No Clara! Don't call my baby Clara!" Sometimes I can trick him into calling her Clara, but he almost always corrects himself. "Actually, it's Violet," he says. When I tell him we can name her Clara Violet, he says, "We can name her Violet Clara." When I tell him he can call her Violet and we'll call her Clara, he insists that no one can call her Clara because her name is Violet.

Now, there is a big part of me that thinks, ok, enough of this foolishness. I'm the mom, he's the little boy, I absolutely get my way. But at the same time, there's another part that loves how excited he is to meet his little sister and how invested he is in so many aspects of her arrival into the world. That he has such a strong and strongly expressed preference is both exasperating and very sweet.

(I suppose I should count my blessings that Violet is actually a viable alternative. Jack had also proposed at different points in time that we name his little sister Tinker Bell, Pooh Bear, Jack, and Daddy.)

So for the time being at least, I think we are going with Clara Violet. But if she comes out looking completely like a Violet, we may just go with that. And she can blame her big brother for a lifetime of purple.

What do you all think? Clara or Violet? Feel free to vote in the poll on the top right.