I hate popular baby names. I felt that if I named my baby girl Madison, Ava, Emma or Brianna, she would feel like just “another one” and not a unique person. I knew several girls at school with my popular generational name. I didn’t want to do that to my child.
On the other hand, I did not want to name her something made-up sounding and hard to spell or pronounce. Names like that limit a family’s ability to find personalized items. They must spell and respell the name for life. I didn’t want to saddle her with those hassles.
Our last name is a noun, so we had to avoid names that sound like they modify the last name, like Stormy. I also carefully considered if her initials would spell anything and if any strange nicknames could result.
We finally settled on Lydia. We liked that it is a name of Biblical origin. The Lydia in the Bible was a business woman and helped the Apostles. Lydia was well-used in our grandparents’ generation (both of these are popular trends). Lydia is also an uncommon name currently. Everywhere we go, people comment on how lovely her name is. We agree!
Submitted by DJ
