Sunday, August 15, 2010

We Named Our Son Jennifer

When I was in junior high, it seems all of my friends were named Jennifer.  In addition to having a bff/cousin Jennie, my friends at school were Jen A. and Jen S., and in high school, Jen H and a few more Jens, Jennys, and Jennifers.  Point being, I knew a lot of Jennifers and they were generally wonderful people, but it could get a little confusing.

When Nick and I were expecting, we considered the popularity of a name.  Because our last name is Johnson, we figured we needed an unpopular name so there wouldn't be two "Jennifer Johnson" kids in a kindergarten class.  So, we went old school.  We went for a name that I had never met someone under fifty using.  Neither of us went to school with a Henry.  We had no friends or relatives named Henry.  It was ranked in the 80's on the social security list, between some names I'd never heard people use.  The only Henry I knew the first few months of our baby's life was the octogenarian Henry in my camera club.  I thought his generation's "Jennifer" was going to be William or Aidan.

What I didn't realize, and perhaps couldn't see coming, is that we were using a name that was on an up-swing.  After he was born, we would meet people that would say "My niece just named her baby Henry last week." I've met other Henry's at the playground, the zoo, and the grocery store.  A friend recently posted pictures on facebook of her son (who has the same name as Dallas's youngest that I thought would be really uncommon) with her nephew-that's right- Henry.

By trying to go just slightly off the beaten path, we've ending up in the middle of a herd of people just like us, who all have boys with the name equivalent of Jennifer.

PS- To my Jen friends, it is a great name, and you're great too.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

We did the same thing with our boys. Joshua usually had at least one Joshua in his class. We did ok with Byron but poor Alex had both boys and girls named Alex in school with him. You never know.

Wendy said...

He's by FAR the CUTEST Henry I know!

sarah said...

He's the only Henry I know, but we have similar Jennifer feelings towards Grace.

Kara said...

After writing this post Sunday morning, I went to church. After introducing myself and Henry to a lady, she said "I'm going to name my son Henry."
See. It's everywhere.

Holly said...

And if my sis-in-law hadn't just named her son Henry I would have named Lucas Henry. I love that name! :)

Brey, Hillary, Leila & Lydia said...

we have yet to be in a ward where there isn't an Avery as a first name. I guess Leila could use her last name as a nickname and some would never know. (but in our current ward there is a baby Lyla) They are seperated by 2 years but they could be in the same classroom as time goes on)