Why is it that I could easily, at this very moment, come up with half a dozen viable names for baby girls - even ones that Jeremy and I would agree on - but we can hardly scrape up ONE such name for a boy, let alone two?
To be fair, Jeremy and I haven't even had The Name Talk yet. Instead, we have a Google Doc entitled "a judgement-free zone to share name possibilities." Over the past few months, we've each contributed a few names to the list, but in keeping with the "judgement-free" theme, we have yet to get together to talk about them and really hammer out some possibilities.
I've invested in the newest edition of The Baby Name Wizard's book. I've exhausted the name-generating capabilities of Nymbler. I've asked my Emirati students (and a Kuwaiti co-worker) for name ideas. And yet. This child remains unnamed.
It occurs to me that perhaps we are asking too much of the universe. We want a name that works well in Arabic and English (either as a word or as a name). Either in that name or in the middle name, we would like to continue our tradition of some kind of geographical/cultural tribute, as with Damascus and Sonora (the girls' middle names). There is also a handed-down middle name from Jeremy's side of the family that needs to be considered.
And yes, there are plenty of names that work in English and Arabic, but honestly, I don't like most of them, or I am tired of them because they are commonly used by Arabs and Westerners around here who move between both worlds.
And yes, it seems like it should be easy to find a geographical tribute name that is awesome - just look at a map, right? But, the thing is, have you looked at a map of this region? There's really not much to go on. I have imposed a rule (that perhaps I need to relax) that any such name must be completely pronounceable in English, which rules out the obvious picks like Khalifa because it would drive me batty to hear it pronounced with a hard "k" all the time.
Oh, also, it can't start with an M. We did not purposely choose two M names for our girls, but if we chose an M name for this boy, that would be on purpose, by default, no matter what.
Yeah, gee, we're not asking for much, are we?
Does anyone have some words of wisdom to share? Or, dare I say it, suggestions??