Baby Names {2011}

So in less than a week we are scheduled to have our Ultrasound. First and foremost I want to make sure he or she is healthy, but also that is when we will hopefully (fingers crossed) be able to find out the sex. There have been several people that have asked us if we are going to find out and yes, we are and then the follow-up question is do you have names picked out? Yes, we also have names picked out as well.We've had the girls name picked out since practically our first date and we had a boys name picked out but when we actually got pregnant we decided we didn't like it 100% and started from scratch.

Wayne swears it's a girl, he said he just had a feeling from our very first ultrasound, when the baby was just 2cm and measuring 8 weeks, 3 days.

Here is our girl name:

Hailey Jo

origin: English

 meaning: From the Hay Clearing

With many variations of this name on the most popular list, your little Hailey is going to be spelling it out for people no matter which version you pick. Hailey’s currently the most popular version, but it first appeared in the ’60s as Hayley, thanks to the star of The Parent Trap. It wasn’t commonly used until the ’80s though, and since then has been steadily climbing the charts. (Even though it’s gone down a little bit from its peak position, all the multiple spellings make it hard to tell whether it’s really shifted in popularity.) The original spelling comes from an Old English place name meaning “hay clearing,” which sounds more beautiful when you consider it a lovely and idyllic meadow opening.

current U.S. popularity rank: 2010: 25

We have always really liked the name Hailey and like I said above had that name picked out since we first started dating (I knew early on I was going to marry Wayne and we would one day have children). Hailey has no connection to our family and is not taken from anyone that we know of. On the other hand, the middle name "Jo" is my Mother's middle name and my little sister's middle name.

Mother: Karla Jo
Sister: Amie Jo

I've had a feeling thus far it's a boy. I don't know why, but I just do. As we get closer to the Ultrasound day though, I feel less and less certain it's a boy. I don't know if it's all the old wives takes that are making me second guess myself or what, but this is our boys name:

Carter James

origin: English

 meaning: Driver of a Cart

Part of the last-name-as-a-first-name trend, Carter’s risen rapidly over the last decade and is still well on its way up. It’s also yet another one of those popular profession last names…yes, this literally means “someone who carts.” As in, schlepping stuff around. While it’s a fine sounding name, we like it even more when there’s a little history (perhaps a lost maiden name somewhere along the family lines) to make it relevant.

current U.S. popularity rank: 2010: 65

As with the girl name, Carter has no connection to our family and is not taken from anyone, we just really like the name. "James" is taken from Wayne's great uncle Edward James Peck or Uncle Oddie as he was called by most people. He was always like a Father figure to Wayne growing up. When we first were playing around with the name, we didn't know that Oddie's middle name was James. Then one day I asked Green Grandma and when she said James, I said to myself...yup, that's it.

I know picking out names for some couples can be hard, but for us it was easy...at least this first time around. If we have a second child, it might be a lot more difficult. But we will cross that bridge when we get to it.

Another thing that we have heard is to have a back-up name in case the name we choose doesn't fit the baby and it doesn't look like a Hailey or a Carter upon arrival. To us that just doesn't make sense. What does a Hailey or a Carter really look like? Something to think about I guess.

Stay tuned for my eventual post about whether we have a little Hailey or a little Carter!