KATE JACQUELINE SKOUSEN

Jen and I have decided to name our newest little girl KATE JACQUELINE SKOUSEN. The name bears some explanation. It commemorates Kathy, my mom, and Jacqueline, Jen's mom. Jen and I are always amazed by our mothers. Both are tremendously hard working. They are endlessly attentive and concerned for our wellbeing. They gush love with everything they do. And both seem bulletproof - to me, anyway. I don't know what could possibly shake either of them. Well, maybe there's one thing: telling my mom I was, at 18, going into the Army seemed to get her attention. But only for a moment. I had to resort to that because jokingly telling her I was gay didn't do anything. She just laughed it off. "Rats, foiled again!" Maybe the Dr. Laura fiasco bugged Jackie but you wouldn't know it because, like I said, she's bulletproof. (If you don't know about it, ask her because I won't tell you - I'm still healing from the embarrassment I caused myself. Ah, good times.) Our mothers are amazing women and we hope Kate Jacqueline will live up to their example.

So as to avoid confusing the baby with Kathy, we decided to use Kate, a variant of Kathy. Her middle name, Jacqueline, will be spelled exactly like the original. You might ask why we didn't put Jacqueline first and Kathy second. Inevitably, a Jacqueline is called Jackie - Jen's mom is a case on point. So our baby and Jen's mom would end up both being called Jackie - confusing. Other variants wouldn't clear up the confusion because Jacqueline goes by all sorts of nicknames: Jack, Jackie, and others. Those nicknames also perk Jackson's ears and mine. That would mean confusion within the extended family and at home! Also, other variants didn't solve the problem of her name being something like "Jackie Kathy"; too much alliteration if you ask us.

By naming her as we have, we're balancing both the practicality of the name and the tribute that the names pay. The first and commonly used name is a distinct variant while the second and less commonly used name is exactly as the original.

And you thought we were just going to throw darts at a baby name book.

We expect friends and family might use Katie or even Katie-J, which is fine by us. Hopefully it's fine by her - you'll have to ask. Whatever she is called, her personality will fill out her name's meaning. We're excited to get to know that personality and for it to tell us what her name means.