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Choosing Maxwell's Name


Picking Maxwell's name came down in the end to a printed spreadsheet that I carried around in my pocket that summarized the desultory discussions that Katie and I had on how to name our son (click for a larger image):
The spreadsheet idea was inspired by the process by which Liz and Jeff chose their son's name. They got into a heated secret ballot after discussing their spreadsheet with lots of pros and cons for each name. My list includes the one statistic of rank within the top 1000 on the US Social Security rolls. (I wanted a name that was not in the top 100.) Then I tried to list people that the names might remind us or other people of, based on Google searches.

In the end, I picked my top names that had not been vetoed (in order: Arthur, Griffin, Vincent, Maxwell, Darwin, Franklin, Abraham, Harrison, Chester) and Katie picked hers (not in order: Henry, Vincent, George, Maxwell, Otto). The intersection had just two names (Vincent, Maxwell), and in the end (when the baby was four days old) we finally picked Maxwell.

Maxes that I know:

Missy and Tina's cat:


Matt and Hannah's son:


Minnie's brother:


Lisa's boyfriend:


Famous Maxwells:

James Clerk Maxwell (of Maxwell's Equations):


Maxwell House:



Maxwell (R&B recording artist):


John Maxwell (motivational speaker):


Max (protagonist from Where the Wild Things Are):

Comments

  1. Anonymous2:29 PM

    I did a similar thing while naming Julian, only with index cards. I kept a stack rubber-banded in my bag, and periodically I played a kind of "baby name war" with the cards to help order them. It was hard to select a third good boy name -- it was important to me (among other things) that Baby #3 *not* get a "second best" name from one of the previous naming rounds.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Tina7:41 AM

    Max wanted me to tell you guys that he's honored that you named your firstborn son after him. I believe his exact words were "meow".

    ReplyDelete
  3. J-W Maessen8:24 AM

    What, no references to the famous Maxwell Smart? Or, of course, James Clerk since you are straying dangerously close to last names used as first names...

    ReplyDelete
  4. J. Michael Andresen11:05 PM

    R- Index cards would have been fun! I can see the appeal of making each name extra special. (We're not quite there yet, but maybe someday!)

    T- Maxwell responds: Meow, mew, mew, purr.

    J- Maxwell Smart! A good point. Too obscure to come up in the first few pages of Google searching, though.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Unknown11:37 PM

    What about Maxwell Shattfield from the Nanny? I can't believe you forgot about him!

    ReplyDelete
  6. J. Michael Andresen11:46 PM

    Now we're getting ridiculously obscure!

    ReplyDelete

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