Meredith Hammer Pregnant and Had Her Fifth

[Hisey]

2 hours ago, JemimaPuddle-Duck said:

I think there will always be moments like that when there is more than one child though.  I don’t have that many children and have fairly large gaps and at least once a day I have a for-the-love-of-all-that-is-holy-one-at-a-freaking-time!!!! moment. But I’m happy. 

I'm glad. I'm happy with my two, also.

Of course everyone has those moments. But (for me) there'd be too many of them, with 5 kids under 7.

[WhatWouldJohnCrichtonDo?]

7 hours ago, Palimpsest said:

...although Wanda makes me think of fish! 

Ah, I can see Michael Palin driving the luggage cart across the tarmac, shouting, "Revenge! Revenge for Wanda!!" 

(Apologies to anyone named Wanda who hated the movie.  )

[Milly-Molly-Mandy]

I don’t like my name either I’m joining the club. It’s bland and boring and I don’t like the nickname. 

My Mum has such an unusual name growing up & hated it so she chose common names for her own children. 

I always wanted a pretty name. I gave my daughter a pretty name. I’m sure she will end up hating it lol seems to be a family tradition. 

[Botkinetti]

My niece , who knew she was having a girl asked Google Plus as a joke what she should name her daughter. The answer - Wanda. So the family called her bump that until she gave birth. 

My parents while loving nicknames inside the family were very strict about outsiders changing our names. Think Sam but not Sammy . Susan not Suzy. We were allowed as children to tell grownups to please call us by the correct name. The only person I ever allowed to put a Y on the end of my name was my obstetrician. I thought that since he was going to deliver my children he could call me whatever he wanted.

[acheronbeach]

15 hours ago, Carm_88 said:

My name is Carmelita, I have always gone by Carm. As I have gotten older and out of a small town where people just called me Carm, I realized that people have strong opinions on my name. Mostly that I should go by my full name and not a nickname. "It's beautiful and interesting. I would just us it!" Thanks, I didn't need or ask for your opinion. 

You've gotta be a Newfie.  Yes?

[MamaJunebug]

I cannot believe my adored Ben and Erin Napier of HGTV’s Home Town named that poor innocent baby HELEN. Not in all-caps, of course, but Helen!?

It was Erin's Grandmothers name. My grandmothers were Eva and Bertha. No Q which I would’ve picked if I had been so inclined. ;-)

[Carm_88]

46 minutes ago, acheronbeach said:

You've gotta be a Newfie.  Yes?

Haha I am!  

[Pianokeeper]

17 hours ago, mango_fandango said:

Caroline is OK to me, I don’t know many. I can see why you hate it though.

My name is OK (Claudia). It’s fairly unusual. It’s not got a great meaning, though (“the lame one”). It’s after the Roman emperor Claudius, who had a limp and was rather ostracised as a result. (Sources differ on his personality, as well as what caused the limp). So, the only way I could live up to my name is to break my leg... I’m not exactly going to rush out and do so...

I LOVE the name Claudia.  If Mr Pianokeeper and I count our families even as near as 1st cousins, we have 4 languages + 1 distinct dialect as first languages. Finding names that work in all these languages isn't trivial! Anna... Maria... a few others.  Claudia works and is my favorite of the options.  TL;DR if I ever have a daughter, we're probably naming her Claudia. 

[Hane]

3 hours ago, MamaJunebug said:

I cannot believe my adored Ben and Erin Napier of HGTV’s Home Town named that poor innocent baby HELEN. Not in all-caps, of course, but Helen!?

It was Erin's Grandmothers name. My grandmothers were Eva and Bertha. No Q which I would’ve picked if I had been so inclined. ;-)

MJB, it’s funny how many perfectly good names strike members of our generation as fusty and antiquated! I used to think the same of Helen (and Douglas, and Charles, and many others), but I don’t hate most of them now.

Naming an American baby Sophie/Sophia, Isabel/Isabella, Emma, or Ella would have been considered child abuse in the ‘50s, but Joyce, Donna, Sharon, or Janet (popular amongst us 60-somethings) were A-OK!

Edited March 14, 2018 by Hane
Adding more Name History!

[hoipolloi]

3 hours ago, MamaJunebug said:

I cannot believe my adored Ben and Erin Napier of HGTV’s Home Town named that poor innocent baby HELEN. Not in all-caps, of course, but Helen!?

This is a family name in our case and had we been blessed with a daughter, she would have been named Helen, but we planned to call her Nell so as to distinguish her from her older relatives.

If anyone is interested, the Social Security Administration has a great website for browsing all things pertaining to baby names & first names. 

[JermajestyDuggar]

1 hour ago, Hane said:

MJB, it’s funny how many perfectly good names strike members of our generation as fusty and antiquated! I used to think the same of Helen (and Douglas, and Charles, and many others), but I don’t hate most of them now.

Naming an American baby Sophie/Sophia, Isabel/Isabella, Emma, or Ella would have been considered child abuse in the ‘50s, but Joyce, Donna, Sharon, or Janet (popular amongst us 60-somethings) were A-OK!

That's how it always works! Names often go in cycles. When my children are having kids, I'm sure Linda, Sharon, and Donna will be popular again. There's a hilarious episode of Kimmy Schmidt about the name Linda. 

[catlady]

@hoipolloi, the SSA website *is* interesting!  I looked up my name in both the 60s and the 70s (I was born in the first half of 1970, so my parents were probably influenced by late 60s trends), and it’s firmly ensconced in the top ten for both decades. 725,656 baby girls were given the same name over 20 years. One of the multiple reasons I never liked it as a kid was that I always knew several other girls with it. There was at least one in every. single. class. in every grade until I got to a study hall in grade 10 where I was the only one. For a full decade, I wasn’t (FirstName); I was (FirstName-LastInitial).  I hated that. 

[Hane]

@hoipolloi, a little Helen nicknamed Nell sounds just adorable!

[hoipolloi]

4 minutes ago, catlady said:

One of the multiple reasons I never liked it as a kid was that I always knew several other girls with it.

Born in the 50s, I was in one school class with 6-7 Cindys and another with 8 Debbies -- talk about trends! It was one I evaded since my grandmother had wanted me to be named Cynthia for her own grandmother. Fortunately, that did not happen. My own name was much less common then though it has since become popular. 

[catlady]

During my second year of college in 1989, I lived in a very small dorm. Out of 100 girls, there were 5 Heathers, 6 Jennifers, and 6 Lisas. 5 of the Lisas lived on the same floor. The Heathers and Jennifers were scattered, but on one floor, Heather and Jennifer lived next door to Jennifer and Heather. 

[Hane]

42 minutes ago, catlady said:

During my second year of college in 1989, I lived in a very small dorm. Out of 100 girls, there were 5 Heathers, 6 Jennifers, and 6 Lisas. 5 of the Lisas lived on the same floor. The Heathers and Jennifers were scattered, but on one floor, Heather and Jennifer lived next door to Jennifer and Heather. 

My daughter was born in 1978. As I hobbled through the hospital corridor in labor, a new mom wheeled her newborn to the nursery. I immediately thought, “Bet the baby’s named Jennifer!” I was right. When my daughter was in high school, we had to refer to the four Jennifers in her friend circle with their last names. About 20 years ago, someone wrote a book called “Jennifer Fever,” about older men’s attraction to younger women. 

Amy turned out to be another enormous trend around here at the time. My mom, not realizing its popularity, suggested it to me. It’s a perfectly lovely name, but I’m glad I didn’t choose it.

 

[Queen Of Hearts]

On 3/13/2018 at 4:52 PM, dramallama said:

 

And people will never not think they're cute and clever when they hear my name and start singing Sweet Caroline.  I hate that song. 

Noooooooooooo! As a huge Neil Diamond fan it is taking all my best efforts at restraint not to down vote that comment!

[feministxtian]

13 hours ago, catlady said:

During my second year of college in 1989, I lived in a very small dorm. Out of 100 girls, there were 5 Heathers, 6 Jennifers, and 6 Lisas. 5 of the Lisas lived on the same floor. The Heathers and Jennifers were scattered, but on one floor, Heather and Jennifer lived next door to Jennifer and Heather. 

Too funny! My twin stepdaughters are Heather and Jennifer...born in 1986

[louisa05]

During my second year of college in 1989, I lived in a very small dorm. Out of 100 girls, there were 5 Heathers, 6 Jennifers, and 6 Lisas. 5 of the Lisas lived on the same floor. The Heathers and Jennifers were scattered, but on one floor, Heather and Jennifer lived next door to Jennifer and Heather. 

Where were the Amys and Stacey’s?

The JV cheer squad at my high school in 1986 was Stacy, Stacey, Stacey, Jenny, Jenny, Jen, Amy, Amy, Aimee, and Suzanne. Lucky Suzanne.

One of those is my first name, though I was not on the squad. And I’m not Suzanne. There were four of us with the same first name on the small wing of my dorm floor. Back in the days of communal hall phones. And people would call for one without knowing the last name. Fun times.

When I was first teaching the common name was Sarah. I had three in one section in a small school.

Now the thing is boy names ending in “n”. I had a first grade class several days last year with every boy but one with a name ending in “an” or “on”.

[catlady]

18 minutes ago, louisa05 said:

Where were the Amys and Stacey’s?

 

I recall a couple of Amy’s, but no Stacey’s.    

You mean your name *isn’t* Louisa?!?!?

And we had the same issue with the hall phones—what’s her last name?  Room number?  Major?  Hair color?  And the last resort shouted in the hall:  which Lisa knows John Smith from Middlebury?

[louisa05]

10 minutes ago, catlady said:

I recall a couple of Amy’s, but no Stacey’s.    

You mean your name *isn’t* Louisa?!?!?

And we had the same issue with the hall phones—what’s her last name?  Room number?  Major?  Hair color?  And the last resort shouted in the hall:  which Lisa knows John Smith from Middlebury?

It's my middle name. Which makes me a little unique in the land of many, many people with my first name. Like someone else in the thread, I was "First name, last initial" for most of my childhood. There were five of us in my graduating class.  As a teacher, I always tried not to do the "Sarah G" and "Sarah H" thing. I had four Sarahs in a show once and when I needed to differentiate, we went with character names as middle names--so I'd say "Sarah Character Name". After 2.5 months of rehearsals, those became their names in my classroom as well which confused their classmates, but the Sarahs were all on board as they had long since tired of last initials, too. 

 

[Anonymousguest]

16 hours ago, Hane said:

My daughter was born in 1978. As I hobbled through the hospital corridor in labor, a new mom wheeled her newborn to the nursery. I immediately thought, “Bet the baby’s named Jennifer!” I was right. When my daughter was in high school, we had to refer to the four Jennifers in her friend circle with their last names. About 20 years ago, someone wrote a book called “Jennifer Fever,” about older men’s attraction to younger women. 

Amy turned out to be another enormous trend around here at the time. My mom, not realizing its popularity, suggested it to me. It’s a perfectly lovely name, but I’m glad I didn’t choose it.

 

Yep, i was born early 70s and the top two names of my Facebook friends are Jennifer (or some form) and Amy. 

I have an unusual first name. I hated it when I was little because I was very shy and I hated having to correct people when they mispronounced or misspelled it. My kids all have common easy to spell names. 

[FeministShrew]

I also hate my name. I'm pretty sure I've told my name story before. My older sister *8 yo) was allowed to name me, & chose the name of a Spanish lady in some obscure 60s TV Western (I've never figured it out, & she says she doesn't remember). Middle name Lynn for Loretta Lynn. I hate my name & all the nicknames. It just doesn't fit me. But, as I've said before, at least my paternal grandma didn't get her way: Verline. A combo of my mom's & aunt's names. Imagine living 50 years with that.

[Red Hair, Black Dress]

On 3/13/2018 at 6:35 PM, Palimpsest said:

I'd hate to think of her being left a divorcee or widow with all those kids.

Calling it now -- divorcee.  Stephen strikes me as the type to decide uneducated Meredith and all those children don't fit his image and will trade her in for a young college grad with a career and no kids.  Someone driven and ambitious like he is.

[JermajestyDuggar]

19 minutes ago, Red Hair, Black Dress said:

Calling it now -- divorcee.  Stephen strikes me as the type to decide uneducated Meredith and all those children don't fit his image and will trade her in for a young college grad with a career and no kids.  Someone driven and ambitious like he is.

No way. He will just cheat on her all the time while she stays the perfect political wife and cares for their huge litter.