And the name is...

It's news that we've been itching to tell, but we wanted to wait until today, the 30-week mark of the pregnancy, to reveal it: we have chosen a name for the little one! I know a lot of you have been on the edges of your seats, perhaps not eating for weeks at a time, anticipating this moment. Well here it is... our little one's name is Anderson D. Beaudry.

Yes, I know it's probably a surprise to most of you (sorry, Mom). "Anderson" wasn't even one of our top choices until very recently. Jennifer and I were just going through a list of names online, and we suddenly had a gut feeling about this one. It was calling to us, like the little one was saying, "I want to be Anderson Beaudry." We're very excited about it. Sure, some may think the name's a bit unusual, but there are many reasons why "Anderson" is perfect.

First, the obvious reason - my whole connection to the "Anderson" name. For nearly four years I worked for a fine, well-groomed journalist named Anderson Cooper. He was an inspiration to me, as well as to Jennifer, who still is fascinated by his perfect silver hair. That hasn't changed since I was laid off - we still grab our bowl of popcorn and watch Anderson every night, and the 360 shrine moved with us to Park Slope.

We also liked how proper it sounded, which will help in the future, especially if he follows his mom's footsteps and gets a job on Wall Street. We came close to making "Preston" the middle name, but we decided we don't want our kid to get beaten up that much. Jennifer thinks he could go by the nickname "Andy," but I say that would just make him a conformist.

All in all, we just really like the name. It's Scottish in origin, and while our families are mostly French, German and English/Irish, we still feel a kinship with the Scots and have been longtime fans of their cultural contributions, especially their alcohol and tape. I agree that it may be an unusual name - there are not many people out there named Anderson Beaudry. But Anderson will be a one-of-a-kind kid, so why not give him a one-of-a-kind name? I'm sure our little one will be proud to be one of the few, even if he gets some bruises from the playground bullies.

Oh, and one more thing... before you make any judgements, please check the date of this post. Thanks!