A Confession - Brent's name

Since March is a month of confessions I thought I would start with this one.

I love my son to death. (No, that's not my confession...just wait!) His laugh is infectious. His smile and temperament is a joy to every one. I love to be sitting in my office early in the morning and listen to him wake up. He doesn't scream or fuss like many other babies. But, you can hear him begin to stir and once he's awake he starts spitting. For an entire 10 minutes that's all I hear out of his crib.

But, I must confess, I don't like his name. Brent. For three months I had identified with my unborn child as Brenner. This was the name that had come to me like a lightening bolt, so I knew it was the right one. Kevin and I had talked about names and the discussion had stopped at this one and he didn't give me an answer whether he liked it or not. Since he didn't give a specific reason why didn't like it, I took that to mean he was okay with it.

Then, the night before my due date with my parents scheduled to return home in a couple of days and there being no signs of a baby, yet, just as I'm getting myself into bed after a long, but fun and exhausting day...my husband comes up to bed and announces, "His name is Brent." When I questioned and he insisted on it, I burst into hormone-induced tears.

Since I was no longer in any mood to sleep, I continued mulling over the name and the reasons for the name change.

Everyone I had mentioned "Brenner" to as the name we were going with, had said it was a strong name. There weren't any really embarrassing or potentially embarrassing short forms of it, so I thought it was safe. It was actually the name of the hero in one of the books I'm writing.

Brent is my husband's middle name. I certainly wasn't going to name my son Kevin, since in my experience the name Kevin is a license for mischief and trouble. (I have had several Kevin's back me up on this observation.)

Brent means "hill". Brenner didn't really have a meaning, but I had hoped for something with a little more "pizzazz" I suppose. There's nothing deep or inspirational about "Brent".

But I suppose as with all babies, Brent will at the "pizzazz" himself...but I don't think I'll ever like the name as much as I love the baby.