Chicken, Possum, Stinky, Chubba wubba, Froglet and many others are not actually our wee girls names, she is in fact called Eilidh Margaret Green.
When we found out I was pregnant we didn't think about names until after our 12 week scan, didn't want to jinx it and all. From then on, it was open season on name suggestions, and Andrew and I played the name game much like Ross and Rachel in Friends:
Rachel: How about Dayton?
Ross: Veto. Stewart?
Rachel: Veto. Sawyer?
Ross: Veto. Helen?
Rachel: Veto.
Phoebe: Is it me, or is "Veto" starting to sound really good?
The biggest issue I had was that I could only think of boys names I didn't care either way if our Chicken was a boy or a girl, I just couldn't think of girls names! That, and the fact that Andrew is a planner (to put it mildly), were why we decided to find out what we were expecting. Fast-forward to the 20 week scan, the sonographer went through all the checks and then asked the magic question, "so do you want to find out the sex of the baby?" We said yes please and he had a closer look. Being the private person that she is, Chicken never liked any of the scans (at least 6 in the end) and decided to be camera shy, so all the sonographer could say was, "well, I think its probably a girl". And with that, the dozen or so boys names we'd discussed and shortlisted were shelved till the next time and a new list was created, slowly I might add.
The first thing we agreed on was Chicken's middle name. Margaret is my mum's name and Andrew decided that our girl should have a name from my side of the family since she was getting his last name. Then it was down the her first name.
Andrew suggested Stephanie and Alexandra which didn't tickle my fancy. One of the reasons I wasn't keen was nicknames. My full name is Jessica but I go by Jess, Andrew is an Andrew and corrects anyone who calls him otherwise. I could see myself using Stephie or Alex but what if in ten years time, she said no, its blah blah? So, veto.
The other reason it took us so long to find a name was our (rather differing) sets of rules about names, Andrew's were: no flowers, no colours (both due to Green as a surname, can you imagine a Holly Green, or a Scarlett Green (which I suggested while standing on the platform at the station on the way home from the scan-blame it on the excitement!) He also said; no proper nouns, e.g. India, Skye or Mercedes, and all names had to be spelt properly, not phonetically. My list was shorter; not super popular in either the UK or NZ. So there you had it, more and more names that were off the list. My biggest faux pas was when I suggested Olive, a little Olive Green, can you believe it, probably only Teresa could be worse!
Finally we settled on four names Zoe, Hannah, Penny and Eilidh. Zoe was the first to be dropped, followed by Hannah. So then it was two, Penny and Eildih. Both are lovely names, and both a little unusual. My father believes that when you choose a name for a child, if you know a person with the name you like they should be a good person. I know a Penny and we both know an Eilidh, and both are good people.
Eilidh is a Gaelic name from the highlands of Scotland. It means 'light' and is pronounced Ailee. When we first moved to the UK we lived in Strathcarron and I worked with an Eilidh at the local pub. While no one in England has heard of it, its actually in the top twenty names of 2009 in Scotland. We also found out-completely by accident and after we'd chosen it-that it's from the same family as Eileen (Andrew's Grandmother)
It was quite a hard choice giving our child an unusual name that most people think is pronounced "eyelid". We could have changed the spelling, but that would be breaking the rules! My surname is hard to spell and its never bothered me! I also asked my friend Leilia how she felt as a child having a different name. She did say it was at times a pain, but now as an adult, she loves it! So there you have it, why we chose Eilidh.
And now I wouldn't have it any other way!
