www.taryn.com

Can you believe that's a real website? Dedicated entirely to people named Taryn!

Okay, to be honest, Taryn wasn't my first choice in baby names. I had my heart set on Isabella, but my cousin named her second daughter that, and I didn't want my baby to grow up being "the other Isabella." It just seemed so perfect that P's mom's name is Isabel...

But one day, about a year before I got pregnant, I was thinking how to name my child after family members. I was considering "Paris" for a boy, after my dad, and something-lynn after my mom. And when I made up Terrynn I felt like a supergenius! It sounded so pretty, and unique, and had the emotional connection to her lineage that I was looking for.

Then a girl in one of my psych classes was talking about her sister with the same name, but spelled Tarynn, and I kind of figured that it would be pkay to deviate from the spelling of my mom's name for the kid's sake. So it was Tarynn for a while, because that just looked prettier.

And you know when you're in middle school and you have a crush on someone and you write their name over and over in different handwritings? Or when you open your first checking account and realize your signature looks like a second graders, and you practice signing your own name until it has that unique, yet still pretty, and grown-up look to it? Well yeah, I started doing that to Taryn's name, and I realized my cursive looks like chicken scratch with two n's in a row.

So I ditched one and decided on Taryn Isabella. And I knew that would be my daughter's name, though I was counting on having a boy first so I didn't think much of it until the ultrasound rolled around and the tech said "See those three dots? That's a typical girl for you."

So I had already decided on her name, but P didn't really like it too much, and he said it kind of weird, more like TAR-reign, and I figured it was the accent, so I told him how I wanted it to sound and had him practice and it just wasn't working out.... We shopped around for names more, but I just loved the name Taryn, and though I tried out different names, none compared to hers. But we didn't officially "name" her until the day after she was born.

That's not exactly true. When my babyshower was coming up, and we still hadn't agreed on a name, so I decided to tell everyone the name I picked out. I figured seeing it in writing would make it more real, and hopefully P would agree. We compromised that he could pick the boys' names if I could have this one, and though he said he'd think about it, he never really consented.

So after she was born, they took her from me to NICU, and the subject of her name didn't really come up. P left to get some food, since I hadn't eaten in almost 24 hours, and my brother was in the NICU watching her. I didn't get ahold of my dad right away, and my mom didn't ask, even though she was with me, and of course when we finally got her back from the nurse it was late, and I just had time to nurse her before visiting hours were over and everyone had to leave. P passed out on the chair/bed like he was the one that he'd been in labor for the last 12 hours so it was just me and my baby. I called her Love, Duckie, SweetPea, but never any given name.

So when the nurse came the next day with the birth certificate forms, P and I had a quick discussion.

"So her name's Taryn, right?"

"Sure."

"T-A-R-Y-N?"

"I don't know. Whatever you want."

"Okay, Taryn Isabella sounds nice. What do you think?"

"Sure."

"One L or two?"

"I like Bella (bey-a), it means beautiful, you know? So two."

"Beautiful. Taryn Isabella Caballero."

And that was that.