What's in a name?

Since we divulged Brogan's initials, lots of you have been trying to guess what his name would be. (If anyone claims to have guessed it, that person is a filthy liar.) Understandably, many have tried to come up with a first name containing a "y." Obviously, we didn't go that route, saving that letter for the middle name this time around. Ayden's name was chosen very easily and quickly. Brogan's? That's a different story.

For a couple months after finding out we were having another boy, we didn't have a name. We had a girl name prepped and ready, the same one we would've used the first time around if we had needed it. A baby girl would've been named after me and had my initials. We originally had no plans to do either with a baby boy. Once we knew we needed another boy's name, it wasn't even brought up for quite a while.

Because Ayden's name came without much debate, we didn't have any leftover alternatives we had been fond of. Instead, we had to start from scratch. To Allison's credit, she came up with a lot of ideas. She was really working hard to find something, but I vetoed each one. On several occasions, we were both on the internet scouring baby name sites and tossing out names left and right in an effort to stumble across something we both liked.

Note 1: According to Ayden, Brogan's name is "Broboo," or maybe sometimes even "Boboo."

I know she was getting frustrated with me because, aside from those sessions, I was shooting down her suggestions without offering any of my own. What she didn't know (and I think still doesn't, at least until she reads this) was I had been working on compiling a very short list for a number of weeks. "Brogan" was one of the three or four names that made the list. When I gave her the list, that's the name she liked the best. How did I come up with "Brogan," you ask? It was a very scientific process, I assure you. Allow me to explain.

Okay, Dad. I'm listening. Tell me about my name.

My first name is a variant of the Irish name "Brian." "Ayden" is also a variant of an Irish name ("Aedan," or "Aodhan"). Since I had nothing else to go on as a starting point, I figured I'd try to keep the Irish theme going.

Note 2: I have no idea if my family history is at all Irish. I'm guessing my parents didn't pick my name because it's Irish, but instead liked it because of its meaning.

So, off I went in search of male Irish names. I had a decent sized list of names making the first cut. Eventually, I had eliminated all but a couple. I didn't think I had enough options to present to Allison.

Note 3: This was one of the primary sites I used. I liked it because it had good descriptions and audio files with the pronunciations. You'll notice one name is conspicuously absent from that list. You'll understand why soon.

I found other sites with Irish baby names, but I wasn't able to further expand my list. Then I stumbled across this site. Not only did it have a good list of Irish first names, it also had one of Irish surnames.

Note 4: Or, as we American folk call them, last names.

For each surname, there was a version presented that could be used as a first name. According to this website, converting Irish surnames into first names has become quite popular.

Note 5: It's on the Internet, so it must be true.

This is really interesting. I can't wait to see how it turns out.

If you look at the last name beginning with "b," you'll see "O Brogain" is an Irish surname. The corresponding first name is "Brogan." And we had a winner!

Note 6: What's it mean, you ask? Heck if I know, I say. Depending on the site, it could mean "shoe," "sturdy shoe," "little shoe," "badger," or "?, but certainly not shoe." Clearly, then, we didn't choose this name because of its meaning. We just liked it the best.

Once the first name was set, we had to figure out what we were going to pair it with. I started searching for names beginning with "l," thus readopting the idea of having initials identical to mine. Now, my middle name is Lloyd. Not the most modern of names, to be sure, but I don't mind it. It's a family name, as that was my maternal grandfather's first name. It's the English version of a Welsh name.

Note 7: The Welsh spelling is "Llwyd." Weird, right?

If you look through a list of traditional Welsh names, you'll quickly discover the people of Wales are very fond of "ll." At any rate, the options for Welsh names beginning with the letter "l" were not very appealing to Allison. Back I went to the land of leprechauns and shamrocks, looking for inspiration a second time. I came up empty, so I expanded my search and trudged through an entire list of "l" names on a site like this one.

Note 8: It's a good thing we aren't having a more children. If we ended up with a third boy, I'd be inclined to just call him "Bob" and be done with it.

I tossed out names I thought might work to Allison. After several were eliminated because they just didn't work with "Brogan," we settled on "Lyle." It appears to be an anglicized version of a French surname. Essentially, it means "the island."

Note 9: Not surprising, considering and alternate spelling is "Lisle." I kinda liked this spelling, but it stuck a tad too feminine looking. Plus, it didn't have the "y."

And there you have it. The undoubtedly interesting (and unnecessarily drawn out) history of how Brogan got his name.

Note 10: In 2010, "Brogan" was the 850th most popular baby boy name in the United States, according to the Social Security Administration. Prior to 2008, it doesn't even show up on the list because it wasn't in the top 1000 names. By way of comparison, "Ayden" was 79th in 2010 and has risen steadily from a 1999 rank of 964th, the first year it made the top 1000. The more common spelling, "Aiden," was 9th in 2010.

Wow. This got really boring really fast. Probably had something to do with all the "Notes." What is this, anyways? Some type of scientific paper?