On family and names

Pirate Lego captain via

So I might have mentioned that my little sister is knocked up. Naturally, we've spent lots of time discussing what the child will be called. Most of this involves suggestions like "Beaufort" and "Lurleen" and - my suggestion - "Megatron." The Kid and Brian have a few names for each gender (they are planning to find out, but can't for a few more weeks), but won't narrow it down too far until much closer to the due date. This means we refer to the fetus as "the fetus" or, lately, "Megatron." Do you all do this? I feel like it's not terribly unusual to nickname the thing.

There's a fun situation developing regarding grandparent names, too. My mom's mom died before I was born, but had expressed a wish to be called "Nana" by her eventual grandchildren. As such, it was sort of assumed my mom would end up being Nana in her stead. And I've always called my dad "Pop," so Andy and I at least figured our not-yet-existent kids would call him that too. The Kid and I were discussing names, and she decided she liked these options. She told Brian's parents this. Brian's mom insisted that she and her husband be called Nana and Papa, "because that's the Italian thing." The Kid, who is very stubborn, insisted that a) it wasn't, and b) the Polish names would mean just as much, since his family is 50/50.

Brian, who is quite diplomatic, suggested the baby could have a set called Nana and Pop and a set called Nana and Papa. This was vetoed by his mother, who thought it would be too confusing. At this point Brian's dad (who is, besides Brian, as close as it gets to sane in his family) chimed in and said he'd rather be called "The Captain." We approve of this. So it's looking like the baby might end up with Nana/Pop and Nana/The Captain.

Nothing like arguing about something that won't be relevant for years, until the kid starts talking, at which point it will make up new names anyway. Right??