Welcome baby Sage

Jen & Dave and the entire Nowakowski family are pleased to introduce Sage Nowakowski, joining us at 8:06PM on Wednesday, May 29, 2013.  She weighs 7 pounds and 8 ounces, and both Sage & mom are doing great!

Baby Name Poll

Although we do not know the gender of the impending birth (due June 9, but expected sooner), we need to start thinking about names.  With 3 boys, we are prepared (and have been) for the possibility of a girl, with a name already chosen (that will remain a surprise).  However, if we are to have a 4th boy, we have not made any final decision.  Since Brock, Reed and Trey are alphabetically named for the ease in remembering their birth order, we may need to select from the latter portion of the alphabet, leaving U, V, W, X, Y and Z.  We were leaning toward a "Z" name to ensure that child #4 would be the last in our line, but we are willing to consider other options.  Not much in the "U" department, and although we had considered Quinn when Trey was due, it seems to have morphed into as much of a girl's name as a boy's, evident by Barney's former girlfriend on "How I Met Your Mother" (and she was a stripper), so we blame Jane Seymour and her  silly open hearts ring for shifting Quinn to the feminine side with her old Dr. Quinn show.  I also liked "Wright", after seeing it as an author's name in SI or ESPN, but Jen was fearful of 2 kids named Reed and Wright (I thought it would be cool).

We have narrowed the field to four finalists, and although we reserve the right to change our minds and pick something completely different, we are presenting these four names for the poll, with plan that we will at least eliminate the low vote getter (probably).  For a little background info, we prefer mono-syllabic first names (due to the length of our last name), and Jen is a Red Sox fan, while I prefer the Yankees.  So, in alphabetical order, we present:

Vance...don't know too many, but always enjoyed Vance Gilbert, a folk artist who played at Strawberry Park.  Also, CT State Police spokesman Paul Vance has always been appreciated, and Director Vance on NCIS has gotten more tolerable.  Met a wrestler from RI last year named Vance, and when I asked him how he liked his name, he was cool with it.

Wade...One of Jen's favorite former Red Sox was Wade Boggs, and he spent some time in pinstripes as well.  A little fearful that it may become too common, with Dwayne Wade's success, or that he will be called D-Wade (for reasons unknown).  Also, even though I had almost forgotten, Wade was the first name of a recent mass shooter in Wisconsin.

Wake...The least common of our four options (not that any are in the top 100...yet).  If Jen gets to pick the team (Red Sox), I get to pick the player, and Tim Wakefield was one of my all-time favorites on the team I dislike, ranking up there with Yaz.  If we took the opposite approach, I don't think Mariano Nowakowski would go over very well.  Wake is very crisp sounding, but there is some concern about the alternate meanings of the word, for although "Wake" as in waves in the ocean or even the Demon Deacons of Wake Forest are OK, the use of wake for a funeral's calling hours may be on the mind of some.

Zeke...We like the sound, and since Jen vetoed "Zake", this is the next closest thing. Zeke was one of the three farm hands in The Wizard of Oz (along with Hickory and Hunk), as the Cowardly Lion.  Only downside is the potential for negative rhyming nicknames of Geek or Freak.  We would go simply with Zeke, as opposed to Ezekiel, of Zekeriah (I just made that one up).

If you have any other suggestions from U-Z, feel free to post a comment here or on Facebook.

Thanks for your help.