Why we chose unusual baby names...

Our 3 children are called Alabama, Sutherland and Harrison. These names get plenty of reactions! Usually younger people think the names are fairly cool, my parents age pretend politely to like them, and older people don't hold back from saying what they think, including "that's not a name!" (Alabama) and "yes but what's his first name?" (Sutherland).

Our desire to choose unique and interesting names has definitely left us open for judgement. Here below is some explanation of our choices. Please share your baby names and reasons below. Thanks for reading :-)

Alabama Vivien
We chose 'Alabama' just because we liked it, and it was the only girl's name we both agreed on. It is unique and yet it sounds like a girls name. We figured she can always call herself 'Allie' if she wants. So far we havent shortened the name at all.

We chose 'Vivien' after a lovely friend of ours who has led an inspiration life. Viv is an active member of the Baha'i Faith community and helped Mark to figure out what he believed.

Sutherland Razavi
My husband and I went on a visit to the Baha'i holy places in Haifa, Israel whilst I was pregnant. We had no idea about names, but whilst we were there we heard a story about the Canadian architect William Sutherland Maxwell who designed the golden domed Shrine of the Bab. When I heard the name I knew that 'Sutherland' was this baby's name. We both considered many other names but kept coming back to this one.

His middle name is after the surname of a family we have found to be inspirational. Described by one friend as a 'dynasty' the Razavi family have people in countries across the world, but some lived near to me growing up and helped me through difficult times. We decided to go with the theme of giving our children middle names after inspirational Baha'is. (For more info on the Baha'i Faith please visit www.bahai.org)

Harrison Anis
This was the hardest name to choose! We were sure we were having a girl, so were left shell-shocked after the second scan :-) 'Harrison' was one of the names we considered for our second child and we just kept coming back to it. We do love it, but know there are loads of 'Harry's' out there at the moment!

Anis (prounced A-nees) is the name of a young man who lived in Persia around 160 years ago. He was martyred for his religious beliefs and is also buried in the Shrine of the Bab.

So there you go! I'd love to read all about your baby names...