Cemeteries, A First Date, and Baby Names

My husband and I have been trying to get pregnant for seven months now. We'll find out within the next few days if we got pregnant this month. Every month about this time I begin to feel excited and wonder, "Did it happen for us this month?!" and so far, every month I have been met with bitter disappointment. We'll see.

As promised, I am going to discuss our chosen baby names, and let me know what you think. But in order for you to truly understand why we've picked the names we've picked, let me tell you a little about ourselves. My husband and I are avid historians. We knew we were meant for each other when we discovered our mutual love for cemeteries. We liked them for different reasons, but we enjoy visiting them all the same. I visit them to photograph tombstones, especially tombstones of my ancestors. I am a genealogist. I am not only addicted to sewing handbags and bargain hunting, but I also spend way too much time digging up dirt on my ancestors (figuratively speaking of course.... I'm not trying to imply that I am grave robbing my great-great-great grandparents).

So anyway, there we were, chatting to each other on yahoo personals, when he mentions that his grandpa lives in my hometown. A neat coincidence. Then he says he lives by a high school but he isn't sure which one, but that he does know there's a cemetery across the street. I know exactly which high school he was talking about. He was talking about MY high school. Out of the twenty-ish high schools in the county, his grandpa lives down the street from my high school. Another neat coincidence.

Anyway, that was the first time the word "cemetery" was mentioned between us. At that point, I didn't put two and two together that he actually enjoyed going to cemeteries. Eventually the cat was let out of the bag, and then we were in love. We went cemetery hopping on our first date, and actually found my great-great-great-great grandfather, Jonathan Shoemaker's, grave in the county over. He has a book that tells the location of every cemetery in the state, and he brought it with him that night. Sweetness. We went on to be married in the tiny chapel there at that cemetery where we went that first fateful night. Just like a fairy tale, isn't it? A dark, twisted one, albeit, but a fairy tale none-the-less.





So this brings us back to our baby names. Now that you can see what an avid genealogist I really am, you will truly appreciate the fact that we absolutely have to pick names of our ancestors. I will summon up a list here of all available names to use and will bold the ones I really like:

Females: Mary Lynne, Marilyn Elaine, Josephine Marguerite, Marie Adeline, Ella Rose, Anna Margaret, Elizabeth, Florence Mae, Almira/ Almyra, Catherine Ann, Emma Katherine, Celinda, Alice Ann, Hannah, Christiana, Eva, Susanna, Magdelna, Charlotte, Nancy, Mary Jane, Isabel, Linda Sue, Emma Jane, Mary Florence, Harriet Geralda, Nettie Maude, Olive Mae, Lova Marie, Beulah Ann, Anna Margaretha, Susan Mary, Mary Ann, Judia Elizabeth, Jennie, Edith Mae, Ruth Ann, Ursula, Mattie, Nancy Caroline, Sarah Salome, Hannah Mariah, Rachel, Eliza Ann, Abigail, Angela, Wanda Lee, Mildred Mae, Grace Estelle, Arvilla Mae, Della, Martha Ann, Rebecca, Penelope Alice, Sarah, Pherbia, Bertha Elva, Minnie, Harriet Louverna, Jemima, Miriam, Amanda Jane, Perlina, Rhoda, Lucinda, Melissa, Priscilla, Evaline, Mahala, Julia Ann, Polly Ann, Thankful, Rosa, and Juliette

Males: Michael Eugene, Larry Edwin, Leslie, Robert Martin, Bert Edward, William Arthur, Noah, Frederick Pierce, William Henry, Luther Marion, James Newton, William Benjamin, Wilburn Wilson, Robert E. Lee, Pierce Granville, Andrew Jackson, James, John, Jesse, Sampson, Chester, James Hiram Thomas, Joseph, Isaiah Preston, Samuel, Pyrrhus, Finley, Frederick Lambert, Asa, Thomas, Caleb, Stephen, Hewitt, Jordan, Isaac, Richard, Solomon, Allen, Mark, George, Tobias, Patrick, Abraham, Edwin Richard, Carlton Louis, Victor Lloyd, John Wesley, Corwin Otto, Charles William, Albert Ellsworth, Joseph Martin, James Garfield, Finley, Walter Louis, Franklin Herman, Alonzo Earl, Joel, Jacob, John Adam, Edwin Garrett, Franklin Pierce, Jeremiah, Jonathan, Daniel, Levi, Christian, Alfred Loren, Emanuel, Elias, Alexander, David, Amos, Jost, and Minus

And now, the four we have picked out: Joel Michael, Pierce Alexander, Charlotte Adeline, and Almyra Grace. Our last name is so common (Robinson) that I wanted to make their given names not-so-common so that in two hundred years when future genealogists are trying to locate us, they aren't drowning in a sea of John & Mary Robinsons. I would like to somehow incorporate Rose because not only was it my great-great grandma's middle name, but it also is surname on my husband's side. I might change Charlotte Adeline to Charlotte Rose, and take out Almyra only because I think there might be too many Rs when you say "Almyra Robinson" together without the middle name. Instead of Almyra then I could use Adeline as a first name. But then what to pair it with, because I don't know if "Adeline Grace" sounds good together. "Grace Adeline" sounds good, but I really want to use Adeline as the first name, not the middle name. Ok, enough talk from me. Let me know what you think!