What's in a name?

Did you know that for many men it is REALLY important for them to name their first born after themselves? I am currently dealing with this situation.

With my first born, although we did not find out, I just had a feeling I was going to have a girl so I did not discuss a boy's name much with my husband. This time, however, I wanted to know what I was having because I felt there was going to be a problem with naming this child if it was a boy. Well in my belly is a large baby boy, weeks from delivery, and well... I just don't like the names we have "chosen".

My husband loves the fact that he was named after his father. He loves his father so much, looks up to him the such respect, in today's society it really is a wonderful thing to see. Because of this, Don feels that we should name our boy Donald Lee H. The third. Don't you think that is a bit much? We aren't regal, we don't live in an area where that is popular, I just don't know that I can have a Donald Lee the third.

We have discussed that if he wants to keep the first name as a family tradition I think that I could do that as long as we had a middle name that I liked and then we could call the boy by his middle name. My cousin's family has done this. My uncle's father was John, my uncle is John B. (they call him John), my cousin is John Anthony (Tony), and then his son is John William. I can deal with this. HOWEVER... My husband wants the middle name to be MacIntyre. Another family name on his side. His mother was a MacIntyre and once his mother's family has gone there will no longer be any MacIntyre's, as his uncle has never had children. How do I call my little bundle of joy Donald MacIntyre? Is it horrible... No! But I just can't see calling my baby "Mac".

Crazy things cross my mind when thinking of this name... My husband and I are not small people. I'm 6'1 and once this baby is born I could afford to still lose a few pounds. My husband is 6'7 and use to be super skinny but has put on the sympathy 25 during this pregnancy. I'm worried that I am lending to name calling long before it is necessary. I can see it now... "Hey Big Mac"... "Here comes the Mac Truck". The possibility of this child having red hair is greater then not and if you invert the name he could end up Mac Donald, I foresee more teasing. How dare I do that to my child? You know as a parent I just want to protect my child from any undue stress and sadness. I don't want my child to come to me at the age of 9 asking me, "What were you thinking when you named me?"

On the other hand, could this be a good thing? What if he should end up being 7'2, play basketball, (hopefully for the Illini and can play under the basket unlike the 7'2 player they had this year who thought he was a guard and shot 3 pointers... But I digress) and McDonald's would hear about my child's name? How could they pass that up? Should I pass that up.

I don't know... I never thought naming a child could be so hard. The good thing to know is in 7 weeks I won't have to worry about this anymore and I will have a name for this big baby boy. In the meantime, does anyone know where I might find a painter to create this mural on the baby's room?