Choosing a Baby Name: Naming Poppy

Naming a baby is hard…unless you had a name earmarked since you were in 6th grade.  And even if you did have a name selected, did you have three names picked for the same gender?

We wanted a name for our daughter that held some meaning for us.  We wanted a name that would allow her the opportunity to be a college professor or an artist.  We wanted a name that fit us as a family.

Dive into our decision making process:

The Golden Poppy is the California state flower.  Georgia and Harper (her big sisters) have names that sound very American, but this time we went a little more local and paid homage to our home state.  

Georgia, 6, realized we all have repeated letters in our names (two e's, for example).  So the name we chose needed double letters also.  Poppy wins with the triple "p".   

Poppy shares initials with her grandmother, my husband's mom.  She also shares her middle name June.   We like that Poppy has a unique name with sweet ties to her family.  

My dad chose to be called "Pop" rather than "Grandpa" as a tribute to his own grandfather.  I love my dad, but wasn't going to name my daughter Basil-ina.  This was as close as I could get.     

When selecting Poppy as our baby's name, I knew we'd meet some resistance.  I wasn't mistaken.  That's going to happen.  To all of you in the process of baby naming, I advise you ignore it all.  Find similarly minded individuals whose taste you appreciate and ask their opinion, if you feel like you need a sounding board.  Otherwise, do what feels best for you.

Babies grow into their names, and Poppy is no different.  It already fits her sweet smile and love for the outdoors.  Can't wait to see who she becomes!