Name the baby

Since I have proclaimed myself "Namer of the the new baby", I've been tossing around names that I'd consider acceptable for my new great nephew. Finding just the right name is indeed a difficult task so the other day I decided to recruit some helpers. I asked my class of 5th graders to write down their favorite boy name on an index card. I explained that my niece was having a baby and that it was going to be a boy. I told them that I was trying to help them find the perfect name for the new baby, so tell me what names they liked for boys. Now the girls really got into this activity and wanted to write more than one name as they have 5 or 6 favorites. I relented and allowed them to write as many as they like. The boys, however, mostly only had one name on their cards....their own name. Talk about thinking outside the box.

Anyway, I collected the cards and was reviewing the names they had suggested. Since there is a large population of hispanics in my area, there were a lot of hispanic names that were suggested. And I could immediately tell who each girl liked in the classroom based on the names they wrote on the card. Let me just say that Nick and Joshua are popular boys in my classroom!

While their suggestions were nice, there weren't really any names that popped out at me. Except for one. And believe it or not, it was suggested by a boy. The boy that suggested it is what we call NES...a non english speaker. He does speak and understand some English, but it is very limited. When I asked for a name for the baby, he was very excited about participating and eager to fill out and return his card to me. When I read it, I immediately saw the potential in the name.

What was the name he suggested? It was ROVER! Personally, I like it. There are not a lot of Rovers around...at least not ones that walk on two legs. Rover May. I can see it. I like it! If that ends up being the name chosen, I'm buying that kid a pizza!