You Named Her What?

If you read this blog, you're probably well acquainted with the fact that I named my daughter Sheriff July.  Yes, her name is Sheriff.  Spelt exactly the same way as an officer of the law.

I'll admit there were some moments within the first few weeks of her life where I started to second guess my love of the name Sheriff.  It starts to wear down your name confidence when every single person seems to need to ask again what her name is, ask how it's spelt, and then proceeds to stand there awkwardly and tell you that's a cool name when they've obviously just been stunned.  Fortunately I got over it.

Last week the province released their official "Baby Names of 2014" list.  A lot of news and media outlets hopped on it as a means of quick and entertaining news, and I don't blame them, I love hearing about names.  And Sheriff got her very first little bit of publicity.

Apparently she's the only "Sheriff" in Alberta.

She made the list of 50 most unique girl names in Alberta.

She was then hand picked from that list by a Calgary DJ with Virgin Radio (probably not because he liked it...)

I'll admit I felt pride in having named my kid something unique.  Hopefully she'll feel the same way as she grows up.  Another fun part of having a kid be on these "lists" is seeing the comments people have.  Thankfully I've reached a point where I don't care what people think about her name, so I found most of these comments quite entertaining.

I may be a self-indulgent "parent," but coming up with Sheriff's name has always felt right.

And so, I leave you with how in the world I picked the name Sheriff July for my daughter.

Once upon a time, I was a young girl of only 18 years of age living in Edmonton.  One Friday afternoon a friend and I explored Whyte Ave where I found a book store.  Although I was a poor college student, I splurged on a book called "The Complete Works of O. Henry."

I remembered reading some of his work in grade seven and having really liked it and the book looked old and vintage-y, so I couldn't resist.  (I guarantee you're familiar with at least one of his short stories, such as "Gift of the Magi" or "The Last Leaf."  One of my personal favourites is "The Cop and the Anthem")

Anyways, while gobbling up his complete works, I came across a western-type short story of O. Henry's that had a character that was none other than.... wait for it.... a sheriff.  I remember stopping where I was in the story and repeating the word over and over in my head.  It sounded right, like it was meant to be a girl's name and I was so surprised I hadn't heard of a girl named Sheriff before.  So I jotted it down on this little slip of paper that I had been keeping names on (admit it, what girl doesn't have one of these lists going?).  That was 7 years ago.  And that name never ever left my list once.  In fact, it has always been at the top.  And now it's the name of my first born.

Where did her middle name come from you ask?  Well, when the reality of actually having a daughter named Sheriff started to blossom, I began to toy with the idea of giving her a middle name inspired by a fictional sheriff.  It didn't take long to remember my most favourite western I've ever watched/read (and probably the only one at that): Lonesome Dove.  Oh how I love Lonesome Dove.  The name of the sheriff in this particular western is July Johnson.  And he is an admirable character at that.  And July is probably my favourite month of the year.  So it all made sense.  And it rolled off the tongue nicely too.

So there you have it, the story of where the heck I got the name Sheriff from and the fact that I'm okay if you don't like it.  In fact, I'd prefer you to not name your kid Sheriff, that way she stays more unique ;)