The origins of a name.

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a child in the womb must be in want of a name.

Ben and I really only have one rule when it comes to naming our children. All names must be agreed upon. This one rule is really all it took for us to come up with such gems as Connor and Sophia. The spelling of agreed upon names has no such rules. However, it is a battle that I typically choose not to fight.

Very early on in this pregnancy, I was reading Sense and Sensibility. Note: by reading, I actually mean watching the BBC version that came out a few years ago on television, but reading makes me sound smarter. Additional note: I have, however, read Sense and Sensibility before...and I mean the book. While watching the movie I realized how wonderful all the daughter's names are in that book. I promptly paused the show and went to make a grand declaration to Ben.

I told him that if this child was a girl, I would only agree to one of the following names, Elinor, Marianne, or Margaret. He agreed that they were all lovely named, but that he most preferred Elinor. As we both agreed on this name, and because we all know that Elinor Dashwood is a very sensible and lovely girl, this child's name was set.

Then came the spelling part. I wanted to spell the name as Jane Austin does, Elinor. Ben however, felt like the name seemed incomplete like that and wanted Elinore. I offered several reasons why it should be spelled without the last 'e'. They are as follows: 1. That is how Jane Austin spelled it and she probably knew what she was doing, 2. Spell check thinks Elinor is a perfectly fine, but thinks Elinore is misspelled, 3. I wanted Sophia to be named Sophie and he wanted Sophia. He won.

After a few days I realized that like many spelling battles, I wasn't going to win this one. The problem was this - Ben took debate in high school and I didn't. It is that simple. Honestly the problem is this - Ben doesn't care if we don't sort out how to spell this name until the day this child is born. I, on the other hand, feel a compulsive need to know right now how we are going to spell her name so that when she is born I don't have to think about it.

So, I have already given up on this one and have firmly wrapped my mind around this daughter of ours being named Elinore. Plus, the little 'e' at the end does add a little flair.