Photo by All4my3boys

When one of my friends was deciding on names, she knew if the baby was a girl she would have a nature-inspired name, but if it was a boy he would be named after a musician. 

She ended up having a girl and named her Summer. But Cash, after Johnny Cash, was the front-runner if she had a boy.

I wanted to "steal" the name for my boy, but my husband had other ideas.

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This one is for my mom. She loves the name Caroline. She asked me to name my daughter Caroline and when I told her I already had a name, she then asked my sister.

I agree with her -- it's a beautiful name. Classic and elegant.

And there's a song by Old Crow Medicine Show called Caroline that I love. Here are the lyrics...

Photo by Nicole080984

I am 95 percent certain of what I am going to name my twins. I'm just not ready to announce it yet in case I change my mind.

I know, it's funny -- I'll talk about my cankles, hemorrhoids and throwing up, and missing my vagina, but baby names seem so much more personal.

There are some unusual names out there, but for me, I consider unusual to be a name like Vegetable or Callus -- you know, names that no one really names their kids. At least I don't think there is anyone named Vegetable or Callus. But I found this post where moms are talking about unusual names of kids they know. Not celebrity names.  

Photo by pictureperfect,

mom of this cutie named Jace

The name Jace can be for a girl or a boy and there are different ways to pronounce it. Some moms go with the one syllable Jace, rhymes with Chase, while others go with two syllables -- so it sounds like Jay-see.

The pronounciation Jay-see is mostly heard for girls.

There are quite a few ways to spell the name.

My beautiful niece Tennessee

When my sister, Jen, was pregnant with her first baby, she loved the name Sophia. They found out the baby was a girl and Sophia became the name we all cooed into her belly.

For her baby shower, I made cupcakes in ice cream cones and spelled out the name Sophia -- a letter on six cupcakes all in a row.

We all couldn't wait until Sophia was born. But Sophia turned into Tennessee.

Photo by SydneysMommy7

There's a song by Tom Waits called Waltzing Matilda that I love. It's actually part of a very old song written by a poet in the 1800s and it's also the unofficial anthem for Australia.

Michelle Williams and the late Heath Ledger (who was Australian) named their daughter Matilda.

Photo by spookyriggs,

mom to a super cute boy named Holden

When I think of the boy's name Holden, I think of a smart kid who is rather handsome, sort of shy and very sweet. You know how names give different people different feelings?

I don't know anyone named Holden unless we count Holden Caulfield, the main character in J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye. And if I went by that Holden's personality, it doesn't exactly match my thoughts when thinking of the name.

Photo by Nicole080984

I like unusual baby names. With the exception of something cruel like Vagina or Adolf Hitler. Though if you like the name Adolf that's fine. Just don't middle name him Hitler.

But at the same time, who I am to tell anyone what to name their child?

Yet people like to snicker and even say things in a weird tone like "Oh that's different" and the problem there is that it makes the mom feel bad.

So what do we do here?

Photo by manhattanmomof2

I was chatting with Cafe MicheleZ about possible baby names for her twins the other day.

Though she and Mr. Cafe MicheleZ are still deciding, they've come up with some beautiful ideas.

And, because everyone likes to read about baby names, here are some baby name links I love:

Photo by Cris1128

I'm having such a tough time with baby names for my boy/girl twins. My hubs and I have a list that is getting smaller, but we're finding it hard to agree.

He has an uncommon name -- Hans. You can imagine how hard that was for a kid who was born in Louisiana and grew up mostly in Georgia. Not a lot of boys named Hans around.

I've got one of the most popular names of the 70s -- Michele. Yes, my parents did the whole one "L" instead of two thing, but the pronunciation is the same. I hated having the same name as dozens of others when I was in school.

So I want an uncommon name and Hans wants something, well, not so different.