What's in a Name?

Once again, folks, it's embarrassing story time. 

First of all, a confession. 

I am a closet Glee fan.

Gulp.

I know. I know.

It's so dumb. 

And completely morally bankrupt.

And I know I shouldn't like it. 

But I do. 

I really do. 

The singing.
The dancing. 

...Fine. I'll say it. 

I'm a whore for musicals. And I don't care who knows it.

There.

Anyway, you needed to know that because I just heard about Cory Monteith's untimely death.

 May he rest in peace.

And being sad for Finn got me to thinking about my own little handsome Finn. 

So I think it's time to share the story of how Finn became Finn!

...no, you perv. Not THAT story.

I meant how we chose his name. 

Yeesh.

 (Fun flashback: check out how Carter got her name here, just in case you are still wondering what the he** I was thinking with that one.) 

Ooh! Intrigue!

 So far as I have declared Finn's name to family and friends, thankfully (sorry, but all of the head-tilting, eyebrow-raising, you-are-a-cruel-and-terrible-parent commenting from family and strangers alike really do take their toll after you name a girl Carter) I have only heard "Cool!"s and "Love it!"s. 

And a whole lot of, "Oh! Like the Finn on Glee?" 

Nope, sorry. Not that Finn.

Or, "Oh! There's a Finn on Adventuretime!" 

Umm what time is Adventuretime, exactly? And is that AM or PM?

And then there's always, "Oh! Because you're Irish, right?"

What? Who, me? Or K? 

Either way, no. 

Nor is he named after the brother of Ferb or Phineas Nigellus (although that IS what I plan to call him when I am cross with him because I am what they call a NERD). 

Here is the cold, hard truth about the name Finn. It also comes from a rather embarrassing place.

A book. 

And not even a cool or trendy or particularly meaningful book. 

It comes from a girlie book. 

A teenaged girlie book.

Noooo!!! Please, don't let it be Twilight.

In the winter of 2009 I read a book by Shannon Hale called Enna Burning, the sequel to a book I love and own called The Goose Girl. The plot of this book is not important (nor is it terribly interesting), but while reading I first found and fell in love with the name Finn, who in the book is, "A Forest boy who secretly loves Enna. He is quiet and gentle; although, forced by war, to fight to protect his friends and home, with grim determination." (Wikipedia)

Gripping, right? 

 A little mysterious. 

A little sexy (what IS a forest boy, anyway? I'm sorry, but all I can picture is this...)

If Iiiii were the Kiiiiing of the Forreeeeest!

 All forest boys aside, I wrote down the name and have hung on to it ever since. 

If Carter had been a boy (man this sentence is starting out like a gender-confused teen's girlfriend's distraught diary entry..."maybe he/she would love me! LOL OMG ETC"), she might be named for this quiet, gentle and grim (also known as the life of the party) forest boy. 

So, yeah.
There's the truth.

...But forget that. I can't tell strangers that when they ask.

Strangers would never understand about Forest Boys. 

So this is what I am telling people (also the truth, but not really). 

"Oh! That's a neat name! How did you land on that?"

"Well, kind-but-nosey-stranger, my husband's favorite book growing up was Huckleberry Finn (true)! And so we fell in love with the name! Huzzah for English-Teacher-Approved, non-embarrassing-to-reference Literature!" 

Now, Wikipedia says of our fictitiously fictitious namesake; "Huck [FINN!] is an archetypal innocent, able to discover the "right" thing to do despite the prevailing theology and prejudiced mentality of the South of that era."

Score! I'll take innocence and integrity for 500, Alex! What a role model!!

...wait...

"The author... names him 'the juvenile pariah of the village' and describes Huck as 'idle, and lawless, and vulgar, and bad,' qualities for which he was admired by all the children in the village, although their mothers 'cordially hated and dreaded' him."

Gulp.

Well, hide your kids and your wife. My Finn is coming to a village near you. 

Still coming soon- Finn's NICU Story.