geekosystem

My wife is pregnant with our first child, a daughter, and she’s due any day now. Every time my phone rings I assume it’s her calling to tell me she’s gone into labor, but so far it hasn’t happened. We talked a lot about names, and because I’m a nerd I pitched the idea of naming our daughter after a lot of different female characters from books, movies, television, and games. I’m writing this in advance, with the plan for this to go up when I have to leave when the baby comes. If you’re reading this, I am panicking.

It shouldn’t surprise anyone that knows me that I wanted to name my daughter after any of the characters on this list, I am after all, a huge nerd. My wife is a pretty big nerd as well, so I really thought a lot of these would have gone over better than they did, but at least I tried. Most of the names I suggested got shot down immediately by my wife, but we finally settled on one we both like from the following list.

(The cover image is an ultrasound picture of my daughter. Thanks, science.)

1. No. 1 | Zelda

   

   I've thought about it, and there is no other woman that I have spent more time pursuing than Princess Zelda. I haven't played every Legend of Zelda game, but I've spent countless hours of my life rescuing Zelda and keeping her out of harm's way. I don't expect Gannon to come after my daughter, but I'll be ready for him if he does. This name gets bonus points because it's shared by F. Scott Fitzgerald's wife, and Robin Williams' daughter. (image via Chris Fritz)

2. No. 2 | Robin

   

   One of the reasons I'm excited about being a father is that it's like getting a sidekick. What better name for a sidekick than Robin?

3. No. 3 | Leia

   

   Princesses like Zelda and Peach are great, but they always need saving. Princess Leia did just as much to rescue herself from the Empire as Luke or Han. If my daughter is going to be my little princess, I'd at least like her to be one who knows her way around a blaster.

4. No. 4 | DeLorean

   

   I know cars aren't technically female, but it's not uncommon for people to use female pronouns when talking about their car. I'm not really much of a car guy, but I do love Back to the Future, and "DeLorean" sounds a lot nicer than "Flux Capacitor." (Image via JD Hancock.)

5. No. 5 | Amelia

   

   The Doctor has had many companions over the years, but if I had to pick a favorite it would be Amy Pond. She saved The Doctor as many times as he saved her, and she's embodied for me the recurring Steven Moffat moral that if you just love someone hard enough, everything will be fine. (Image via The BBC.)

6. No. 6 | Petunia

   

   I pitched a lot of nerdy names for this baby, but Petunia actually came from my wife. We have a mutual love of The Adventures of Pete and Pete. Sure, we could have picked Ellen or Mom as a name, but they're not as exotic as Petunia. I'd also like my daughter to have hypnotic powers.

7. No. 7 | Scout

   

   I love To Kill a Mockingbird. It represents the kind of childhood a lot of people had, or wish they had, but it also teaches us that doing the right thing isn't always easy, but it's still right. This one's purely selfish, because I don't really want to name my daughter Scout. I just want her to call me Atticus.

8. No. 8 | Mary Sue

   

   I knew which female characters I would want to name a baby girl after, but I was curious about what some fellow geeks thought. Who better to ask about female pop culture characters than the ladies of The Mary Sue? So I checked in with my friends Jill Pantozzi and Susana Polo and asked them to fill in any names I may have missed.

9. No. 9 | Rose

   

   Susana suggested Rose, which I thought about when I listed Amy Pond. The usual reaction I get from people when I tell them Amy is my favorite companion is "What about Rose Tyler?" Rose is fine, but I just prefer Amy. When Susana suggested the name Rose she mentioned not only Doctor Who's Rose, but also Rose from Bone. If I were to name my daughter after a Rose, it would be Rose from Bone.

10. No. 10 | Mariel

    

    Susana made a number of suggestions I didn't know. One of them was the title character of the book Mariel of Redwall. I'm not familiar with it, but I liked the way Mariel sounds, so I looked it up and read the synopsis on Wikipedia. It sounds interesting. While I might not name my daughter Mariel, I might borrow the book from Susana.

11. No. 11 | Willow

    

    I haven't watched all of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but I caught most of the first few seasons when it originally aired. I don't consider myself a huge fan of the show, but when Jill Pantozzi recommended Willow as a name, I started thinking about the portion of the series I have seen. Willow is probably my favorite character, and if I had to pick a character from the show to name my daughter, it would be her. I'd like my daughter to know that it's okay to be different, regardless of what that difference is. It would also be pretty cool if my daughter got cool super powers after a few seasons. Or maybe Jill was talking about Warwick Davis. (Image via andyaldridge)

12. No. 12 | Arya

    

    Jill also suggested Arya as a name. Of all the storylines in Game of Thrones, the one I'm most interested in is Arya's. I think it's because she still has the potential to not turn into the type of awful person she's surrounded by. The real world is only slightly less dangerous, violent, and petty than Westeroth, and I'd like to think my daughter will be able to overcome that and not grow up to be a monster.

We kept the name under wraps until it was official, and now it is. Baby Amelia was born at 4:05 on February 10th weighing in at 7 pounds, 5 ounces.

Come along, Pond.

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