Naming a child is perhaps the most important decision we as soon-to-be-parents had to make. Few other decisions will last a lifetime. A name will help to shape our daughters identity. A good name exudes a valuable positive first impression and an important sense of uniqueness. On the other hand a bad name may lead to teasing by children or have an unwanted meaning that may someday come to light.

The challenge we faced was to find a name that we all would like in a month, a year, ten years (Shaani's requirements) while also finding the meaning of the names that will represent a couple of the hopes and dreams we have for our daughter while paying homage to our ancestral homelands (Steve's requirement).

Shaani was the driving force in the effort to find the perfect name. Constant questions from friends and family about the name added further anxiety to our quest. Once we determined our baby would be a girl it seemed as if almost everyone we knew felt we should have already picked a name. Although Shaani expressed her desire to finalize a name Steve compared the search to the NBA basketball season - All that matters is which name is hot at the end.

We also agreed before we knew our baby's sex that the final decision on the name would belong to Shaani if we had a son or it would belong to Steve if fortunes granted us a daughter. Ha Ha - deep down Steve always knew that all final decisions belong to Shaani, the goal was to hold steady and hope to have some input when the final decision was made.

Shaani had one other request, she wished to find a cute masculine name that could also be used for a girl. Early choices such as Mackenzie, Parker and Hunter all looked like likely names. Other names such as Rachel, Jordan and Nicole were all discussed. Names were put on our mental list.

However, as the magical date approached it started to become clear that we both liked the name Hailey.

With only a couple of weeks to go before the scheduled delivery date Steve sat at his computer searching for meanings to names. Many websites were found that offered names and corresponding meanings along with lists of most popular names and "hot" names. Steve spent many hours reviewing lists, checking and verifying meanings from one website to the next.

Finally, only days before the scheduled delivery Steve presented Shaani with the "list" of about 30 names that seemed to meet all or most of the previously stated wishes. Other possible names included Berit, Cora, Dylan and Samantha.

Still a name was difficult to finalize and we decided to wait until she was born, until we had a chance to hold her, look into her eyes and experience her temperament before we made the important decision.

A day after her birth we knew her first name would be Hailey, that seemed the obvious choice, the hot name at the finish line and a name we both liked. Using a little poetic license the name Hailey met with Steve's requirements by being a Scandinavian name (Steve is 1/4 Danish and 1/4 Norwegian) meaning "Hero" (usual spelling Haley). Her middle name proved to be a little more difficult to pick at the end. Shaani seemed to be leaning toward Nicole, while Steve lobbied for Berit or Dylan. As the time arrived for us to make the final decision Dylan won out. Dylan is a masculine name that is also one of the "hot" male names for girls, the meaning of the name illustrates a love that Steve hopes Hailey will have (sea), and the name has ancestral roots since Shaani is Irish and Dylan is a Welsh name.... ok it is not exact but close enough for us. Additionally a couple of the great poets of recent history were named Dylan (Bob Dylan and Dylan Thomas), and it did not hurt that the Grandma's seemed to think it was not the best choice. We guess we never completely grew out of the rebel stages from our youth.

But most importantly - Hailey Dylan sounds smooth and melodic rolling off the tongue. We like her name. We hope she grows up to like it as well.

To find out a little more about the name click HERE.

   
   
   
   

 

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- This page was last updated 12/19/02