No, in fact, we haven't picked a name yet...

(And thanks for not asking, because I was getting tired of the question.)

Actually, that's not true. We've all 4 picked a name. But they are all DIFFERENT names, and we cannot all completely agree on a name...

• The Daddy, who thinks it is very important to name kids after relatives, likes "Calvin" after his grandpa John Calvin (Grampy's dad). The Catholic mommy just cannot bring herself to name a baby Calvin. Even if it is really after his own great-grandpa.
• The Mommy, who thinks it is very important for kids to have a good saint or biblical name, likes "John Paul" after Grampy (John Richard), both the Daddy's grandpas (John Calvin & John Jefferson), the Daddy's grandma (Pauline, Grammy's mom), the last pope, and the NT Bible writer who has inspired her the most. The Daddy, being the only non-John male in his family, understandably doesn't want to name his son John. Even though the Mommy planned all along to call him "JP" or "Pauly" or "Paul"
• The Brother likes "Calvin" the best. But he also likes "John Paul"
• The Sister's favorite is "Benny" after the Mommy's grandpa Eldred Ben (MawMaw's dad) and his son (MawMaw's brother) Ben who died of lukemia at age 1. And she is already calling him Benny. But she also really likes both "John Paul" and "Calvin." (Her exact words about both were, "Mama, I **WUV** dat name!!!")

Since the Brother named the Sister, the Mommy thinks it is only fair that the Sister should get to name Little Brother. (But, the Mommy should probably admit that she only started thinking this once the Sister decided she liked Benny better than Calvin. At one point Mommy was outvoted on Calvin 3-1. Before that everybody but Daddy liked JP and Daddy was outvoted 3-1...) The Sister, who now understands that her Brother named her, also jumped to this logical conclusion herself. (Pretty impressive critical thinking for a 2.5 year old, if you ask me!)

If we do go with Benny, will he be Benjamin (like Mommy likes)? Or Bennett (like Daddy likes)? Or Benedict (like the uncle suggested, only he was being silly and meant the traitor, whereas we would mean the Pope)? Or just plain Ben? Then what middle name would go with it? Mommy likes Benjamin Paul, but when she suggested it to the Daddy, he said "Yeah... we could call him BP" (And pronounced it "beepy." And I bet he would, too.)

Mommy's next choice would be to name him William Ireland after the Jesuit martyr who is a great-great-...-great uncle in the (Protestant) Daddy's ancestry line. Other names the Mommy would agree to: Paul, Andrew, Joseph, Thomas, Michael, Daniel, David, Jacob. (Matthew was also high on Mommy's list, but a close friend due a few weeks after us picked that name for their little boy.)

Grandpas we could draw names from: Steven Mark, Samuel Bernard, Eldred Ben, Stanley Louis, John Richard, John Jefferson, John Calvin. We could also name him Gerald or Paul after the Daddy's grandmas Geraldine & Pauline.
Uncles & Great-Uncles we could draw names from: Scott Micheal, John Richard, Daniel, David, Tommy (both sides), Richard (both sides), Ben, Tracy

The Daddy's input is severely lacking (except for smart-alec remarks to names the Mommy really likes)...

The mommy is getting more and more stressed about not having a name...

Feel free to comment. (Sometimes commenting on other peoples' baby names can be more dangerous than commenting on politics, but I would like to hear what some of you have to say...)