Behind the Name

How we came up with his name

How do you name a baby? I mean, think about it. Naming a child is a very serious job. You just think about how you felt about your name as a child. Most kids go through that "I-Hate-My-Name" phase. I know I did. But as you get older, hopefully you grow to appreciate your name and how your folks came up with it. Of course, some people seem to want to torture their child by subjecting them to countless hours of teasing and humiliation by both children and adults alike. Remember the kids in class who got their names butchered with each new teacher? 

So when we started thinking of names, we wanted to make sure that we came up with one that was both interesting and slightly different then the Michael's, Christopher's, Jennifer's and Amy's out there. Heaven knows I have met tons of people with these names. I myself have a common enough name.

I was convinced that I was having a girl from the start. All that mother's intuition, right? Yeah, sure. And those folks at my work who told me that I looked like I was carrying a girl need to rethink their methods. Only one guy told me that he was certain that I would have a boy. So, I began picking out girl's names and left the boy names to my husband, Sean. I had the name Anastasia Nicole (me, like the name Anastasia? Who knew?) all picked out and was still trying to convince Sean that we should name her that. 

Meanwhile, he had Spenser down early. Told me that it was after the Robert B. Parker book character, who parker named after "the Faerie Queen" poet, Sir Edmund Spenser. (You know who Parker's Spenser is; Spenser for Hire.) I just nodded and said, "yeah, sure, whatever" since I was sure I would have a girl. Imagine my surprise when the ultrasound technician pointed out the little boy parts on the screen. I knew that I would have to do some serious name re-thinking.

I kicked a few other boy names around. I can't remember what they were now. Not that great a list of names, as I do recall. So, I decided that Spenser was a good name. Now, how about the middle name? Sean suggested that we give him the middle name James after Sean's best friend and my son's Godfather. Sounded okay, except that James was also my ex's middle name. Did that matter? I thought about that for a while and decided that, no, I guess it doesn't. So, we knew that he would be named Spenser James.

Now, the name Spenser in itself is not a very unusual name. In fact, I noticed that it did make it onto the top 100 hottest baby names list, somewhere in the 80's or 70's. But, if you take a gander at the spelling, you will notice that the common way to spell it is S-P-E-N-C-E-R. Everyone began sending us presents and cards saying "To Spencer". I had to correct everyone, including  my family. In the hospital, my husband was paranoid that I would spell it incorrectly on the birth certificate. He checked it twice to be sure. When the official copy came in, he checked the spelling of the name while I checked the birth stats and our info to make sure they were correct. 

So, my son may not have to endure the laughter that the "Moonbeam's",  "Honey's",  and "Bubba-Joe-Ray-Bob's" have to live with. In fact, he will probably meet another Spenser in his class. But he will forever be correcting the spelling on everything.  "Dammit, I said it was with an 'S', not a 'C'!"

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