the name game

This post is for those of you who inquired about Twain's name.

First, it was Gus. Like waaaay back when I first got pregnant and was haphazardly throwing around names. And personally, I still really do like the name. And it helped that I knew a trim, tall, handsome Gus in college. However, I was not sure how my child would fare in grade school...and the rest of life. 

Would they call him Gus-Gus like the mouse on Cinderella? 

or Fussy Gussy?

What kind of image does Gus portray? Is it rolly polly?

These were the questions plaguing my brain. So as much as I liked the name, I just did not love the name, so I was reluctant to actually pull the trigger. 

So I kept looking.

and  looking.

Then came Hansel.

Yes, as in Hansel and Gretel.

I do like the name and interestingly enough, the name means John.

Perfect right?

Well, the problem is that some accused the name Hansel as being too feminine. Boo. I thought it would look cute on a shaggy-haired boy. But I could see where they were coming from.

Back to the drawing board.

The whole name game was driving me crazy. There was one night I stayed up til midnight searching through all of Mark Twain's literature for a fun character name. 

The name Twain stood out to me and so I did a google search on "baby names and Twain", to see what popped up. Here is what I found.

"The boy's name Twain \t-wain\ is ofMiddle English origin, and its meaning is "divided in two". Made famous byAmerican writer Mark Twain, who got his name from the calls of river boatmen. His original name was Samuel Clemens.

Twain is a very rare male first name and a very rare surname (source: 1990 U.S. Census). "

I was pleased to see that the name was acknowledged as an actual first name(though rare) and not just a surname.

I was definitely interested. I liked the way it went with my other boys' names. So I emailed myself the name, so I would still remember it in the morning(keep in mind it was late and there have been numerous times where I came up with a name and drove myself crazy because I forgot it).

That night I also came across the name Orion, who was Twain's brother. I know, I'm a nut. But I just couldn't resist a name that starts with the "O" sound.

Over the next few days I mulled it over.

Gus Orion 

or 

Twain Orion

I ran the name "Twain" by the peanut gallery and did not get any "yucks" or "ews".

As the days went on, the name Twain increasingly grew on me. I could just envision his stuff with the name embroidered on it. So fun.

Tweetle Beetle Twain.

I think it suits our little bug perfectly.

Twain here. Sorry for hogging the blog lately. My mommy just can't help herself because I'm her last baby. She keeps muttering something about how spoiled I am going to be, but I have no idea what she is talking about.