naming right

naming a child must be one of the most daunting, challenging tasks a parent is faced with right at the outset of their parenting "career". i believe that your name defines you, it becomes a part of you and who you are, that it reflects who you are to become, or perhaps who you are already - if that makes any sense at all. for this reason, i do not take the naming of my children lightly at all.

and so, as you may imagine, i am in a flat spin, losing sleep, that i am 6 months pregnant and the name of our daughter has not been decided yet. yes, there have been options, and yes, the list has been pretty much narrowed down to what are most likely to be her names... but i have so many doubts, and i'm not sure why... i love the meanings of the names we have come up with. but i guess having gone through this once before i am much more cautious in my approach.
will people be able to pronounce her name correctly? i have struggled with this all my life, and always will. is her name too unique? i love unique names, probably because i have one, but let's face it people do not "get" names they haven't heard before - something my son will have to deal with because of his unique name... will the name suit her? will she love it? is it pretty enough for a girl's name, without boxing her into a stereotype for the rest of her life? are there any acceptable shortenings of the name? ah yes, there are many questions.
i am almost tempted to outsource the whole thing, all that stops me is that this is such a personal thing. not all names are meant for all families, and so we will just have to do this. there is a rapidly approaching end - if not before the birth, at or after the birth of our precious new addition to the family. i really hope, no, i know that we will choose the right name.

if you have any suggestions on how to make this an easier task, or would just like to share how you named your child(ren), please do so in the comments!