{"id":6266,"date":"2012-02-17T11:42:00","date_gmt":"2012-02-17T15:42:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/2012\/02\/17\/baby-boy-kemp-ideally-incorporating-texas-am\/"},"modified":"2012-02-17T11:42:00","modified_gmt":"2012-02-17T15:42:00","slug":"baby-boy-kemp-ideally-incorporating-texas-am","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/2012\/02\/17\/baby-boy-kemp-ideally-incorporating-texas-am\/","title":{"rendered":"Baby Boy Kemp, Ideally Incorporating Texas A&M"},"content":{"rendered":"

Natalie writes:<\/p>\n

My husband, Micah, and I are expecting our first baby in April. Our last name is Kemp. We can’t seem to land on a great first name. We’d like to stay away from any of the rhymes with -ayden names that are so popular. We like more traditional names. I work in a school setting which makes naming even more difficult. Many names have a negative connotation for me! I’d like to stay away from a name with a \/h\/ because we have many cousins in the family with H names (Harper, Hudson, Hunter…)<\/p>\n

We have some nominations for the middle name, but nothing is set in stone. Here are some of our top picks for middle names:
-Oliver (Micah likes, I feel like its more fitting for a puppy)
-Sullivan
-Dean
-Jack (Micah doesn’t like because there is a politician named Jack Kemp)
-Noah (Micah doesn’t like)
-Henry<\/p>\n

I can’t decide about naming him something with a \/k\/ sound. If we end up thinking that \/k\/ sound is okay here’s some contenders:
-Connor
-Carson (my mother’s favorite!)
-Collin<\/p>\n

Also we are Aggies, and would like to incorporate A&M into the name. We are one of the last ones in our group to have a child so that leaves not too many choices. Sullivan does have an Aggie connotation. Our friends have already used Reed and Kyle.<\/p>\n

Thanks for your help!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

There! I just spent a good long time learning about<\/a> Texas A&M<\/a> and getting kind of choked up about the 12th Man and the official school yells and the Century Tree and the Aggie Muster and addressing the mascot dog as “Miss Reveille, ma’am.” Where were we? Oh, yes, naming a baby.<\/p>\n

I think your middle-name idea of Sullivan would be a great choice for the first name (after former A&M president Lawrence Sullivan Ross<\/a>, for those of you who haven’t clicked the links and are getting more and more lost), and I also think Ross would be a good one. Or Lawrence, especially as a middle name. Sullivan Dean Kemp, or Sullivan Ross Kemp for a much stronger tie-in. But maybe that’s overkill, especially if that name might be awkward if he attends there himself one day.<\/p>\n

James Earl Rudder (the A&M president who made Texas A&M co-ed AND desegregated it) would be a good namesake as well. James is not as distinctive a reference as Lawrence or Sullivan or Ross, but is worth keeping in mind to perhaps pair with one of the more distinctive names. Sullivan James Kemp, maybe, or James Sullivan Kemp.<\/p>\n

Or E. C. Jonas designed the school ring, and the ring sounds like it’s a pretty big deal. Jonas Kemp.<\/p>\n

Or while I’m still a little teary-eyed about the 12th Man story, Gill might make a very nice middle name. Jonas Gill Kemp.<\/p>\n

Another possibility is to use first and middle initials “A.M.” August Micah. Austin Micah to Texas it up a notch. [Edited to add: the comments section is pointing out that Austin is a rival of Texas A&M, so never mind.] Andrew Micah. Arlo Micah. Anderson Micah. Archer Micah. Asher Micah. Aaron Micah.<\/p>\n

If you’re not sure about using a name with a hard-C\/K sound in the first name slot, it might be a good middle-name option. Dean Carson Kemp. Henry Carson Kemp. Sullivan Connor Kemp.<\/p>\n

If you like the sound of Carson but decide against the hard-C, I wonder if you’d like names such as Lawson and Mason and Wilson. Wilson Dean Kemp, Wilson Jonas Kemp, Wilson Ross Kemp.<\/p>\n

I’ve been very keen on the name George recently. Geordie is a cute nickname. George Kemp, Geordie Kemp. Maybe George Sullivan Kemp.<\/p>\n

Or Charles is nice. Charles Kemp, Charlie Kemp. Charles Sullivan Kemp.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Natalie writes: My husband, Micah, and I are expecting our first baby in April. Our last name is Kemp. We can’t seem to land on a great first name. We’d like to stay away from any of the rhymes with -ayden names that are so popular. We like more traditional names. I work in a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6266","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3iyiG-1D4","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6266","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6266"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6266\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6266"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6266"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6266"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}