Naming your child after a street

Willow has the same name as the street we live on. The name came first (I chose it over ten years ago) and we just happened to buy a house on a street with the same name. When we saw the house, I commented to Mark that this was the name I wanted to use for a girl. Then the girl came along and we used it.

Our street is well-known in our community, so many people assume the street came first, and that we named her after the street. It’s noticeable even by people who aren’t from the area, if I recite her name and address and the same word appears twice.

One pregnant friend said that inspired her to consider street names for her daughter-to-be. Though she settled on another name, she did seriously consider her street name, Darrah.

“It’s a new source of names that people don’t really think of,” she said. “Why not look to streets for inspiration?”

I wonder whether Willow will find this special or annoying. I wonder whether River will be disappointed that there aren’t any streets nearby with his name. If nothing else, hopefully Willow won’t have trouble telling people where she lives should she ever get lost. Or perhaps, she’ll be remembered as the girl with the same name as her street, and someone can lead her home.

Finding help with baby names

A couple of months ago I posted looking for a site to get feedback on baby names we were considering. I ended up finding one at babycenter.com, where they have a create a baby name poll feature.

I used a random number generator to determine the order I presented the four names under consideration. We didn’t send the poll to friends/family, but instead left it open for voting by the general public. I wanted to get the reaction of neutral, uninvolved people before requesting feedback from some friends/family.

It was helpful and the winner (which is the name we used) also won among an informal survey given to a discussion list I belong to.

baby name voting sites?

We need help. Mark and I are in agreement on the first name for number two (yay! River wasn’t named until several days after his birth and several visits by a person who said we must decide on a name before leaving the hospital). But we disagree on the middle name and need some feedback.

I’ve heard there are websites where you submit names and people vote on them. Does anyone know which ones are good?