I'm only about half-way through the first season, so I hope this is okay ^^;;
The adoption papers come through and Mitchell breaks out the baby-name book with great fervor. Armed with his red pen and a moderately impressive stash of sticky notes incongruously lifted from the office, he’d sat down and meticulously written notes on the pros and cons of names that caught his fancy, striking out Bianca for sounding just a little too snobby and Xanthe for being too, well, weird. When he proudly presents the book to Cam so they can go through the remaining candidates and pick the perfect name together, his boyfriend’s dismissive reaction is more than a little hurtful.
“I worked on this for ages, Cam! I’ve taken everything into consideration, from name-meanings to any associated famous namesakes with less-than-spotless records she might be unwittingly linked to. Look, I even figured out all the different permutations of nicknames just in case there were any that might lend themselves to the usual playground bullying situations, and I’ve factored in the current baby-naming trends because the last thing she’ll want is to feel a loss of individualism by being one of fifteen Emma’s in the classroom!” He huffs in annoyance, arms crossed over his chest to emphasize just how cranky he’s feeling about this whole thing.
“Oh hogwash,” Cameron says breezily (who even uses the word “hogwash” nowadays?) and flips through a catalogue of baby furniture, “We can’t possibly pick a name yet, don’t be silly.”
Mitchell throws his arms up in the air in full what-is-the-world-coming-to fashion. “Right, because trying to decide between antique rose blush and lemon custard yellow as the room’s theme colour clearly takes priority over picking a name for our child!”
“That’s not what I’m saying at all,” Cameron replies mildly in that very patient-but-put-upon way of his. He turns the catalogue at an angle and squints, “Ooh, what do you think of this diaper-changing station? I luh-ove the little rocking-horse motif, it’s so charming!”
“Are you even listening to me? She’s going to be stuck with this name for the rest of her life! What if she hates it? What if she hates us for sticking her with the name that she hates?”
Well that makes Cam pause.
“Mitchell,” he says soothingly, finally dropping the catalogue and patting the seat next to him, “Remember Shel Turtlestein? Fliesaminelli? I bet you didn’t have to spend weeks in advance coming up with those names before you brought them home.”
“Actually, I did.”
“Forget I brought it up. The point is, the way you’re approaching this… well it’s ruining the romance of the whole baby-naming process. Don’t you want to step into that room, take one look at our beautiful baby girl, and just know what her name is going to be? We can’t do that from thousands of miles away! And no—“ he raises a finger as Mitchell opens his mouth to speak, “A picture is not a suitable substitute for that.”
Mitchell thinks, “Oh god we’re going to get there and then she’ll end up nameless for a month.”
Mitchell says, “Fine, whatever. You keep up with this romantic ideal of the perfect baby name materializing out of thin air. I’m going to construct a short-list as our contingency plan.”
1/2 - Modern Family - Mitchell/Cameron - Two Approaches to Baby-Naming
I'm only about half-way through the first season, so I hope this is okay ^^;;
The adoption papers come through and Mitchell breaks out the baby-name book with great fervor. Armed with his red pen and a moderately impressive stash of sticky notes incongruously lifted from the office, he’d sat down and meticulously written notes on the pros and cons of names that caught his fancy, striking out Bianca for sounding just a little too snobby and Xanthe for being too, well, weird. When he proudly presents the book to Cam so they can go through the remaining candidates and pick the perfect name together, his boyfriend’s dismissive reaction is more than a little hurtful.
“I worked on this for ages, Cam! I’ve taken everything into consideration, from name-meanings to any associated famous namesakes with less-than-spotless records she might be unwittingly linked to. Look, I even figured out all the different permutations of nicknames just in case there were any that might lend themselves to the usual playground bullying situations, and I’ve factored in the current baby-naming trends because the last thing she’ll want is to feel a loss of individualism by being one of fifteen Emma’s in the classroom!” He huffs in annoyance, arms crossed over his chest to emphasize just how cranky he’s feeling about this whole thing.
“Oh hogwash,” Cameron says breezily (who even uses the word “hogwash” nowadays?) and flips through a catalogue of baby furniture, “We can’t possibly pick a name yet, don’t be silly.”
Mitchell throws his arms up in the air in full what-is-the-world-coming-to fashion. “Right, because trying to decide between antique rose blush and lemon custard yellow as the room’s theme colour clearly takes priority over picking a name for our child!”
“That’s not what I’m saying at all,” Cameron replies mildly in that very patient-but-put-upon way of his. He turns the catalogue at an angle and squints, “Ooh, what do you think of this diaper-changing station? I luh-ove the little rocking-horse motif, it’s so charming!”
“Are you even listening to me? She’s going to be stuck with this name for the rest of her life! What if she hates it? What if she hates us for sticking her with the name that she hates?”
Well that makes Cam pause.
“Mitchell,” he says soothingly, finally dropping the catalogue and patting the seat next to him, “Remember Shel Turtlestein? Fliesaminelli? I bet you didn’t have to spend weeks in advance coming up with those names before you brought them home.”
“Actually, I did.”
“Forget I brought it up. The point is, the way you’re approaching this… well it’s ruining the romance of the whole baby-naming process. Don’t you want to step into that room, take one look at our beautiful baby girl, and just know what her name is going to be? We can’t do that from thousands of miles away! And no—“ he raises a finger as Mitchell opens his mouth to speak, “A picture is not a suitable substitute for that.”
Mitchell thinks, “Oh god we’re going to get there and then she’ll end up nameless for a month.”
Mitchell says, “Fine, whatever. You keep up with this romantic ideal of the perfect baby name materializing out of thin air. I’m going to construct a short-list as our contingency plan.”