What's in a name?

“What's your name,' Coraline asked the cat. 'Look, I'm Coraline. Okay?'
'Cats don't have names,' it said.
'No?' said Coraline.
'No,' said the cat. 'Now you people have names. That's because you don't know who you are. We know who we are, so we don't need names.”  ― Neil Gaiman, Coraline

“I’m not my name. My name is something I wear, like a shirt. It gets worn. I outgrow it, I change it.”

― Jerry Spinelli

“A name can't begin to encompass the sum of all her parts. But that's the magic of names, isn't it? That the complex, contradictory individuals we are can be called up complete and whole in another mind through the simple sorcery of a name.”  ― Charles de Lint

Operation: Name for P-Nut is in full swing!  I don't know about you, but I feel that picking out the name for your child comes with a great deal of pressure.  You don't want to scar the kid for life by giving them a crazy name or worse yet, a name they will hate.  Plus I feel that we give the child a name but they are the ones that truly give their name character and individuality.  

There is so much to consider when naming a child.  How does it sound with the last name?  Will you name them after a relative?  Will you go traditional or branch out a bit?  What about the middle name?  Will they have one?  Will they have two?  Does the name go nicely with Little C's?  "These are my kids 'C' and ___."  It has to have a nice ring to it!

For baby girl P-Nut I want to find something that is feminine but not to wimpy, cute and spunky, isn't too popular but isn't ridiculous either.  All of my grandmothers, including the great's, have a family member named after them so that leaves my mom, mother-in-law and Hubby's grandmother.  All with equally lovely names.  We have our work cut out for us!   

Yesterday I compiled a pretty descent list of names and gave one copy to Hubs and I kept one.  I told him to highlight the names he for sure liked and to cross out the names he for sure didn't.  I said, "now you might want to take your time and really think about each name..."  Before I had even finished that sentence he had completed his "task"!!!  Apparently he is pretty decisive when it comes to this stuff. 

We've narrowed our long list down a bit and have a few front runners but nothing that has made us scream "that's the one!"  We're still searching...  she's out there.

How important do you feel the name of your child is?  Did you go the family route?  Any heated back and forth with your spouse?   Any brilliant ideas you want to add to P-Nut's list?