Alexander ?!?!? Howell

In case you didn't know, it can be a bit intimidating naming an unborn child. For instance, if you name your kid "Orangejello" or "Female"* the teenage years are going to be a problem, and odds are that you will be paying a lot for bail or therapy (or, likely, both). Thankfully, Stef and I have had a wonderful boy's name picked out for a few years now: "Alexander," which friends naming their own children have avoided on the chance that we have a boy. Thanks people!!! Naming the Monster "Alexander" is more than just nod to our favorite male TV character from the bestest TV show ever, it is a traditional way to honor both of our maternal grandfathers, Albert and Anthony.

Nevertheless, we remain in a quandry as to the Monster's middle name. See, the middle name doesn't really get used in today's society unless you're filling out a government form or getting yelled at, but you still want it to be cool. If for some reason the Monster doesn't like "Alexander" or any of its derivatives one would hope he chooses to be known by his given middle name. Which leads us naturally to this blog's second round of polls.

Because democracy is awesome, and so are sports-type brackets, we're going to have a fast a furious couple of week-long polls wherein you get to help name our child. This is not to say that we will actually choose the name you pick by popular vote. Just look at how badly you performed at the last poll; we can't trust your input at all! However, your votes will be a jumping off point for our internal discussions, and therefore your votes may very well sway us to pick a name in the end. So go ahead and vote early and often for your favorite middle name. For those of you who use RSS readers, I'll remind you each week when a new poll goes up.

* Actual names of people with horrible, horrible parents.