Baby names: What’s your favorite girl name?

As many of you pointed out, something I need to add to my to-do list is finding a name for the baby. At this point in my pregnancy with Alex, we had narrowed it down to three names: Christopher, Timothy or Griffin. Of course none of those became his name but at least we had some options.

So far I got nada for numero dos. Well, that’s not entirely true. I do like Charlotte, which has a lot of meaning to me. My Grandma Ruth (who was born and bred in New York) was obsessed with the south and southern culture and gave my sisters and I each a southern alter-ego. Mine was Charlotte. My grandma called herself Mrs. Peach and every summer when she’d come live with us Charlotte and Mrs. Peach would host cooking shows together. Those are some of my best memories and I think it would be a cool name for a little girl and a nice way to honor my grandma who died six years ago. But I don’t know….

Nick likes Emily and I do too but the night before he told me that, my sister, Meghan, told me she liked that name for her own little girl (someday…she isn’t married or planning to have kids any time soon). And so I guess we have to stay away from that one, huh? There is also a cool family name that I love—it’s my Grandma Adele’s maiden name—but I don’t even want to mention it because then I think I’ll chicken out since it’s a bit “out there” and I tend to be more traditional. My Grandma Del died three days before Alex was born and she and I shared a birthday and were very close so I’d really like to incorporate her name in some way. Adele could make a pretty middle name….

Bottom line: I need to do some research. This is really the first time I’ve sat down and thought about a name. And I am so bad with making decisions that I worry this baby could leave the hospital as "Baby Girl Ruddy." It’s harder to name a girl than a boy, isn’t it? Where did you guys find your girl names? What are they? (Don’t worry, I won’t steal them!)