Avoiding “Blinky, Pinky, Inky, And Clyde” Vibes

My husband is a “Junior”, named after his dad. When we had our first child, a boy, we gave my father-in-law a great deal of teasing about what his name would be, but we ultimately agreed that our boy would be named “[Father-In-Law] III”. It suits him well.

A couple of years later, we had twin girls. My father-in-law suggested “Iris” and “Lily” for the names, and we particularly liked those. They worked well with our last name and were relatively easy to spell. The family name is a little difficult, so we wanted to make at least part of it easy.

I’m now on pregnancy number three. We’re having a girl, but only one this time.

Father-In-Law: “I like Violet. That’s a nice name.”

Husband: “That does sound nice. Violet [Surname].”

Me: “NO!”

Husband & Father-In-Law: “What?”

Me: “We will not be that family!”

Father-In-Law: “What does that mean?”

Me: *Sigh* “Did you ever meet a family who had kids named Dave, Dale, Darrell, Dean, and Joe?”

Father-In-Law: “Oh. But Iris, Lily, [Son], and Violet don’t sound anything alike.”

Me: “IRIS. LILY. VIOLET. Notice a pattern?”

Husband: “Ooooh. Nope, not doing that.”

We settled on Vivian. It suits her well!