Before our son was born we had already picked out his name, but I made sure that my wife and I had a girl's name at the ready. I was having recurring dreams that we would be expecting a Connor, but getting a Connie. I guess I just didn't trust the doctors when they said we were having a boy. My inner doubting Thomas showing.

At least we have a girl's name ready if that's what we are having this time around. Still no clue on a boy's name.

We are in a similar situation in that most of our friends and family our age had kids long before we did, so we've got to cross check so many different ways that a lot of what we probably would have used was eliminated.

Now on to the younger daughter. We had thought about Julie, but were also considering Janet and Nancy. We tossed all three names into a hat and Janet was born. No middle name. She has yet to forgive us for pulling her name out of a hat and for having her birthday on April 1.

We were positive that number three was going to be a girl. So Joanne Patricia it was. Until it wasn't. Lo and behold…it's a boy! We had decided on David Henry, III, as the boy's name for the first two, but it didn't see to work this time. My parents went on vacation just after this birth and come home to find that their grandson's name was John David. (Heck, I got everything monogramed the first time and just kept passing things down). It got sticky when I arrived home with little brother and was asked “So, where's Joanne?”

Please keep in mind…this was the 1970's. You never knew what you were getting until you got it.

For the 1st 2 kids, we did the typical name list and narrowing. For the 3rd, we had more difficulties, because I had too many name associations with children/clients/students. That list was much shorter!