picking a name for baby #3

Choosing a name for Oli was really easy - especially when we found out he was a boy. We just picked the boy name we didn't use when we found out Lily was a girl! So we didn't have to really think about it, though with baby #3 we have had a really hard time.

See, I always have had two lists of names. A boys list and a girls list. And in recent years, Lily and Olivier were both on those lists, though they took turns at the #1 spot (Lily was almost Ava and Oli was almost Max!). Now that we have one of each, the third baby's name isn't as easy to decide upon since our top two names are used up.

Here's things we consider when choosing a name for our kids:

1. Far and above the most important characteristic of a name is that it's bilingual.
   I used to be really drawn to Scottish boy names like Ian, Cameron, or Aiden but none of those work well in Quebecois French. Sure, you can add a French accent to any name, but we're here for the long haul and want our kids to fit in with their classmates in all-French school. Just ask my husband, Brad, how hard it's been with such an English name!
2. Next, is obvious - do we agree on a name?
   Brad and I have THE HARDEST time agreeing on names. I love old fashioned girls names, dubbed "Old Lady Names" by him. He's not on the same page as me :(
3. Personally, I like shorter names.
   I tend to be a fan of names with 2 syllables or less. Not a hard and fast rule, but in most of the names I like, that's the case: Lily, Oli, Max, Ava are all good examples.
4. Middle names are reserved to honour family.
   We thought Oli was our last biological child, and thus the last child we would get to name, so we gave him both of Brad's brother's names. Brad already carries his father's name as a middle name, so we figured that was fair. If we have a second boy he will likely have my dad's name as his middle name. Lily's middle name is Catherine after my mom and if we have a second girl her middle name will definitely be Rose, after Brad's mom. 
5. We also choose names that we like together for siblings.
   I'm not sure why this matters, since you rarely say all of your kids name's at once, but Once we chose the name Lily for our daughter, we had to find a name for our son that meshed well with it. For instance, Since our first two are named Lily and Oli, it would be unlikely that we'd choose a longer name (Isabelle or Charlotte for example are two names I love but wouldn't
   fit" with Lily and Oli) or a name that sounded differently. Hard to exactly describe what I mean here, but I think you get it. 
6. Though people often assume since Brad is a pastor and we are followers of Jesus that we would choose Bible names, we have never been big on them.
   Maybe because every person in the Bible is so flawed (except Jesus!) so it wouldn't seem right naming our child after them, or just because most of the names are so darn hard to pronounce. Plus most of our families aren't Christians so the names would seem odd to them. (We seriously considered Levi long ago when I was pregnant with Lily and that was the vibe we got).

So what names are we considering for baby #3?? Wouldn't you like to know!! I'm not going to share the top two names we've narrowed it down to for each gender, but I'll let you know of some we very seriously thought about but took off the list recently.

GIRLS:
Sophie (we LOVED but then met good friends with a daughter with this name and now it seems like their name)
Mai (May in French; was always more a name I liked and was convincing Brad)
Sola (a little too exotic)
Annick (a Quebecois name that we both love but doesn't fit in with "Lily" and "Oli")
Esme (that was short-lived),
Lucie (I loved but Brad thought it was "too old fashioned")

BOYS:
Max (I still do love this name, but Brad and I are both more excited about the other two)
Felix (I love this name and it's common in French but it never tipped the scales. Can you tell I like names with Xs?)
Cyril (this is a French name but didn't sound right with "Lily" and "Oli"

So four names remain. 2 boys names and 2 girls names. We probably won't decide for a long time, but when we do, I'll let you know the name that didn't make the cut. But the real name will have to wait until baby's birthday!

How do you choose names?