Logan Henry Johnson

Last Wednesday, Kirsti and I found out that we're going to be having a boy. We had decided some time ago that we wanted to find out the sex of our baby as soon as possible. My reasoning is that he starts to become a little less abstract in my mind when I can refer to him as a "he" rather than as an "it". Also, we can start preparing his room and getting the appropriate clothes for him. I don't quite understand the "Don't you want to be surprised?" question that you get from some people. After all, it's really not that much of a surprise when there are only two options. Even with that though, it's still a surprise; it just comes a little bit earlier.

We also have a name, and just in case you don't want to take the time to reread the headline of this post, his name is Logan Henry Johnson. How did we come about this name? It definitely took some time. When it came to girl names, we had a lot that we liked from which to choose. Boy names though? That was a bit tougher. We had a conversation where I listed through various characters from mythology, but that wasn't getting us anywhere. (And Heimdall is such a strong, masculine name!) We then went through the names of Shakespeare's characters, but we're not Italian enough to pull of names like Benvolio. Ultimately, we went through the names of comic book characters - or their secret identities to be more specific. For the most part, the names were a bit too plain for our tastes, but when I said the "real" name of Wolverine, Kirsti's eyes lit up and said, "I like that!" (Comics nerds will note that his real name is James Howlett, but for the longest time, he thought that his real name was Logan, and that still is what everybody calls him.)

What about Henry? I was pushing for that one as a first name, but Kirsti wasn't going for it. I just like the sound of it, and it's not too common. Also, it has a very royal sound to it (see Henry I - VIII). Lucky for me, I managed to convince her to use it as a middle name, and it's been steadily growing on her ever since. Besides, the name Logan Henry Johnson has a nice ring to it. It sounds like the name of a President or some other important person, doesn't it?

I always said that I wanted to avoid the most common names when I had a child. From what I've read, Logan is currently the 19th most popular name in the country right now. That's not too popular, and I really can't think of many Logans that I've known in my lifetime. I'm glad that we managed to avoid having a name that was in the top ten at least.

Some folks might very well be wondering if there's any sense of disappointment, as when we were trying to adopt, we specifically asked for a girl. I'll admit that I was hoping for a girl. However, the word "disappointment" isn't quite right. When we saw (and trust me, it was obvious) that he was a boy, I was more happy about the fact that I finally knew what he was than anything else. Also, with each passing day I imagine what things will be like with my pal Logan. I suppose if having a boy instead of a girl is the worst thing that ever happens to me, I will have lived a very fortunate life. I suppose that if I wanted to scar him for life, I could insist that he wear dresses while I call him "Lola".

With this new bit of information, the reality of becoming a father is starting to sink in a little more every day. That's originally what I wanted to write about, but that's going to have to be a separate entry. Maybe I'll get to it later today.