A Couple Used Facebook To Help Them Decide What To Name Their Newborn Baby
One day, Dave and Lindsey Meske‘s daughter is going to come to them and ask how she got her name. And they are going to have one heck of a story to tell her.
Last fall, the couple was all set to name their unborn son Cooper. Until, of course, their doctor came to them and revealed that they were actually having a daughter. They started kicking around names, but they couldn’t decide on one together. So rather than have one of them give in to the other, they decided to take a very unique approach to naming their daughter, who was just born on January 31. They set up a Facebook page and created a poll called “Name My Child” that included the names Addilyne, Madelyn, Emily, and McKenna. And then they invited anyone who wanted to vote to visit the poll and select which name they liked best.
Yes, that is how they chose their daughter’s name. After months of voting, it was a close call, too. Dave checked the poll regularly—sometimes obsessively—and eventually, the couple decided on the name Madelyn, which beat out Emily by just 45 votes. But, their quest to name their daughter brings up an interesting question: Is nothing sacred anymore?
Years ago, parents named their children after family members or chose a name with some sort of significance to them. Choosing a child’s name was a very important decision that required a lot of thought. However, these days, parents are obviously turning to new methods, like Facebook, to make the decision. Is that really the best way to go about doing things? It seems like a child might not appreciate that method when they get older. Can you imagine being a teenager and asking your parents how you got your name and being told, “We put together a poll on Facebook”?
Then again, this is just another sign that technology is really becoming more and more important in all of our lives. And as we become more comfortable using it, we’re starting to feel more comfortable sharing different parts of our lives with other people. Maybe a little too comfortable at times. But it’ll be interesting to see if other follow in the footsteps of the Meskes. What they’ve done is definitely unique. We just hope their daughter thinks so when she finds out how she got her name.
