Odin Luke

Our son officially has an American name!! We will also keep his given name as a second middle name. I cannot possibly leave that out....it is who he is and he should not be denied the heritage and culture behind his Taiwanese name.

As you can imagine, The Great Name Debate of 2005-2006-2007 caused quite a stir around our house. I began to think about names when....well when I was about 9 years old, frankly. Don't all little girls do that? My husband, on the other hand, was reluctant to discuss names. At least he didn't want to discuss names like I did. Every day. For the past 3 years. The thing is, I'm sort of picky about the whole thing. I refuse to name our son the same name of a person I know. Even if I like them, it would just be weird. Also, I didn't want him named a name that would instantly remind the general public of someone famous, whether it be in entertainment or an historical figure. I am quite against any popular baby name trends. I may like the name a LOT, but if I know of more than 1 other kid with that name, forget it. C didn't want our son to be named after him, he just feels like The Boy needs his own identity and I'm not going to argue with that.

Generally, our conversations would go like this:

C: How about Nicholas?
Me: I love it, but it's too popular.
C: Do you like Harrison?
Me: I like it, but I'd always be thinking Indiana Jones.

Me: Finn, how about Finn?
C: As in Huckleberry? You've gotta be kidding.
Me: I love Brighton...it's so unique!
C: That's a sissy name. I'm not naming my boy a sissy name.

Really, that's how it went. For about 3 years now.

Our best friends (N&D!) gave me a baby name book when we announced that we were going to adopt. That was around Christmas 2006. Within the first week, I had found "Odin" in the book and LOVED it. C liked it but was completely unwilling to commit. He insisted that he HAD to see the baby's face to decide. For months I was calling our baby Odin. Once we went on the waiting list, I really went into full Pick A Baby Name Mode, even going so far as to solicit ideas from all our friends and family.

(I should pause here to mention my Utterly Amazing Mother who took up this cause with a vengeance and actually came up with 50+ names for us and although we ultimately didn't pick one of hers, I am touched beyond words that she did it. She put a lot of thought into it and I will keep that list as long as I live. It also taught me something I never would've believed....my Mom LOVES unusual/strange/weird names. Good thing, since we just named her grandson Odin!)

Anywho....after calling our then-imaginary son Odin for several months, I started compiling a list and every so often I could actually talk C into discussing it with me. Odin was always in the top 3 names. Once we had our picture, we just kept saying each name over and over while looking at his face and it was obvious. He is definitely an Odin. I still like the other names we had picked out and they are just as unique as Odin is; I've never met anyone with either name, although one is a famous guy (famous COOL guy!) and one is a fictional literary hero. Maybe one of these days we'll have need of those names, but our son is Odin, no doubt about it!