I don’t know about you, but these updates fill me with a real sense of satisfaction. Not just for the obvious self-satisfied reasons, but because these kids have names! They change from being ideas to being people! I also get begged for updates all the time, so please, keep them coming, I don’t care how ‘overdue’ you think they are—you’ve been busy! Thanks for letting us know!

This one makes me happiest of all, I think…

Hi Duana,

Just wanted to follow up to thank you for responding to my message!  As a reminder, we were the crazy ones contemplating naming our daughter Sesame. Well, happy to report, we took your advice. I was completely surprised that you didn't hate it and loved your advice. Our baby girl has arrived and her name is Beatrix Sesame June. We went with a double middle name which is a bit silly but it is the original name we were always drawn to and we gave her a great first name that she can take on the world with. Thanks again for your advice!

Yes. See? A name can be exactly what you want it to be, as long as you’re sure about exactly why. I can’t wait to hear about her telling this story someday.

In fact, sometimes the baby name becomes clear even as you’re wondering about it, as in the case of ‘I Must Have Tried A Thousand Times’:

Duana,

Thank you SO much for your insights!!! I was so excited when I saw your post helping us. Here's what happened: I had a really hard labor- our baby was in a really tough position and my epidural didn't work on my pelvic floor (yeah I'm pretty sure that's the most important place for them to work- if they are going to fail can they please fail on the legs or something??) so I had an unexpectedly painful time and had to push for over two hours. My mom was with my husband and I (she's a nurse) and she was incredible. Our baby also had to go to the NICU, where she still is. She should be fine long term but is awaiting surgery and it's been tough. All this to say that my mother has been incredible during a really hard time, which made choosing Rory as our baby's name easy. My mom going through this with us after we went through the loss of my sister made naming our daughter after her seem perfect. For the middle name I insisted I wanted a more traditional Gaelic name since my husband always rejected them, but Saoirse didn't flow well with Rory, so we settled on Rory Ailís. She has been doing really well under tough circumstances and we love her and her name! Thank you again for your help!!!

I’m really sorry that it’s been such a rough road so far but I’m so glad her name feels good and that she brought you even closer to your mom…and I love Ailís. Nicely done.

Then there was the time I decided to hand out one of my very favourite names, and, well…here’s what happened:

Hi Duana
You helped me deal with my baby name last year - reconciling my own romantic, flowery names with my husband's 80s Swedish nonsense. You recommended Daphne - I didn't go for it, he rolled his eyes so I did in the end go for the name I had always wanted, bargaining on epic labour pains with an ability to get my own way. Anyway, Fleur Louise is now a beautiful, stroppy little 9 month old who has a face like a flower and suits her name. It sounds a lot better when my French best friend Emilie pronounces it, but I couldn't be happier. And her Daddy, who was desperate to call her Lisa or Hannah now admits that she is her name and her name is her. There was a moment when I nearly switched and called her after the midwife (Delphine) but sometimes, you just know, you know? But thanks for the help - I'll secretly hold on to Daphne for any future baby. Pity I'm too bloody old.:-)

And finally, here’s what happens when we avoid Kanye, and learn that I’m in the ballpark but not quite on the board…

Thanks for responding to our letter! By total coincidence, your reply was posted on our little girl's birthday, so we had met her and pretty much settled on a name for her before we read the reply. We ended up going with a late addition to the list - Sloane. We did end up using the long "o" you noticed we liked. The advice was spot on - I loved Enzo for a boy but my husband thinks we're not Italian enough. Had she been a boy, we would have gone with Hugo (another late addition to the list).

Thanks again :)

So there you go. I’ll run another round of updates, the all-boy edition, sometime soon, and love all the notes you send about names you’ve heard around, your kids’ classmates, even weird name stories out in the world (like, you heard the one about Kylie vs. Kylie?).  Keep me posted!