There's a lot of perks being the youngest of four. (I am the youngest by about 10 years.)
My parents were more relaxed with me when it came to pretty much everything.
My kids have a TON of hand-me-downs.
I was able to watch the mistakes my older siblings made and learn from them. (I decided early on that I did not want to be yelled and screamed at by my dad - like my sister was - so I was SO good - it makes me sick thinking about it.)
However, there is one major thing I don't like about being the youngest of four.
I was the last one to have kids and therefore had less of a selection of names to choose from. You might think, "Oh there's so many names, really?" yes. really. First, my sister had her son when I was 13 or so and named him James. I always loved the name James - then married a man with James as his middle name. Would have been perfect for our first born, right? Then, my brother had his son about a year before Quinn was born. And named him Henry. Another name I always loved. We wouldn't have used Henry for our first born, but our second, it probably would have happened had the name not already been used. As a matter of fact, we briefly discussed naming Liam "Henry", but calling him Hank. That and after Quinn we tried really hard to find a name that was in a song for Liam. (As it stands we sing "Quinn the Eskimo" to Quinn at least once a week if not more.) We thought and we thought and we thought and couldn't agree on a name that was also in a song worthy of being sung to our boy. Except for "I'm Henry the eighth I am..." So - have any of your "favorite" names been taken by someone close to you and your family? What did you do? What about a friend? If a friend of yours names their son/daughter a name that you had always hoped to use what would you do?
(Oh and the few other things that stink about being the youngest? 1. I was always there to babysit for my brothers and sisters - but now that I have kids of my own - they're too busy with their own kids to babysit mine. 2. I have SO many hand-me-downs. Yes it's a benefit, but also, take a look at my house, it's a bit overwhelming. And what do I do with it all? 3. Even at 31 I sometimes feel like the "baby" of the family.)
What's your birth order? What role does it cause you to play in your family? (Oh - and do you know any songs with "Liam" in them?)
Quinn
Liam
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8 comments:
I was an only child until I was 17 so my sister, while I love her, really doesn't count.
I always knew if I ever had a son (and that chance was very slim, given my "I will never have kids" attitude for most of life), he would be named Sam. And luckily, I had no older siblings to rob me of that name. Neither did my husband. So Sam it was.
My very favorite name, for my very favorite boy.
(P.S. Love all the names you liked, but the ones you ended up with are best.)
Ok, well I'm the first born, so is the husband, and you can't miss the fact that we are. And technically, Cathy is a first born as well, since there are 10 years or more between her and her closest sibling.
I didn't have any problem with names, because my brother chose weird names, oh I mean uncommon names, for his kids :)
I had more of a problem agreeing with my husband on names. And the 2 we chose, were the only one's we could agree on :)
I'm an only with no cousins so this wasn't an issue for me. My husband has a sister but I had kids first. But mine are boys and hers are girls and so there's no problem.
But your names are great! I was singing that song before you mentioned it in your post. No Liam songs though. Just googled it. Sorry.
The order in my family goes my older sister, me, my younger brother, my younger sister. I consider myself the "true" middle child because my brother has the special distinction of being the only boy.
I hear ya with the name thing. My sisters had five kids between them before I had Henry so any use of my father's or grandfather's first and last names would have been repetitive.
Now, how I would react if my friend named her kid the same name I wanted would depend on how close of friends we were. (This has me thinking of the one Sex and the City episode in which the girls go to a baby shower in the 'burbs and Charlotte learns their old friend has stolen the name she chose for her future baby years before.)
Anyway, if I was set on the name and could not even imagine naming my baby anything else, I would probably go ahead and use the name. Depending on how close I was to my friend, I might meet her for coffee and explain the reasons I, too, was going to use the name.
Why? Who's pregnant? :)
I guess we're lucky, our kids are the only KIDS. We didn't have to fight anyone for names.
Of course, working in a school meant that some of my favorite names lost their luster. I used to love Nicholas until I had a very unpleasant Nicholas. And Noelle, too. She was a rotten girl so I couldn't use that name anymore!
Hm. Technically Dan is a 2nd child but the oldest. His older brother, EJ, died shortly after being born, and Doug came along when Dan was 3? My mother adopted my sister, had a miscarriage, and then I came along when my sister was 5. Dan and I have always felt like kindred spirits because we were joyful surprised following devastating losses. Enough about that.
Doug hasn't had kids yet & my sister named her firstborn "Logan," a name her and Tom like that also happened to run in Tom's family.
I have several friends who gave their kids great names, and the only one that I thought I might use someday was Allyson, after my best friend of 25 years. My other girlfriend, April, named her firstborn Allyson, after a cherished family friend of her husband. Would I still consider Allyson? No. Now, little Allyson is April's little Allyson. It would be weird to have another little Allyson.
On another note, I totally empathize with you on watching your older sister get yelled at. I did too, and in turn also became the "good" kid. Don't wanna rock the boat!
Interesting...
bejewell - you and your sister remind me of me and mine - she was 14 when I was born. I wish we were closer in age. Sam was another favorite name of mine. Actually, we called Liam both Sam and Liam for the first 24 hours of his life!
Amy - I actually consider myself more of an only child, except for that whole part of watching them get in trouble.
Melissa - Yeah, we tried google. No luck.
Christie - NOBODY in this house is pregnant! =)
Jennifer - oh yeah. "Zach, Matthew, Luke, and Cody" are all names I could never use!
Leah - what a neat connection you and Dan have. I never knew (or did I forget?) about EJ.
Sometimes I wonder how much fun I could have had in high school had I not tried so hard to be good.
"Liam on me
When you're not strong
I'll be your friend
I'll help you CAR-ry on!"
How's that?
This is SO INTERESTING about name-using! We've had FIVE kids (using up TEN names, including four family names) and our siblings haven't had ANY kids yet.
I told my brother to PLEASE reuse any names he feels like using (his wife is expecting), because I don't mind one bit if cousins have the same name and in fact I think it's cool. But I know if I were him, it wouldn't be the same. I'd want to use the name FIRST.
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