Maisie Lucille. When people ask me what Daniel and I named our baby and I say “Maisie Lucille,” many times we are met with “Oh, that’s interesting. How did you come up with that name?” They aren’t saying it to be mean, I think they are more saying it because they haven’t ever met a Maisie or heard that name used often.

Before we got pregnant whenever I heard a name I liked I wrote it down in my phone. I have Zooey, Heidi, Leighton and Willow, among some other boy names. I really leaned toward Willow, however Daniel wasn’t was into it. We kept discussing names and when we for sure found out she was going to be a girl, Daniel suggested Maisie. One of his grandmothers was known as Grand Maizy and the other was Byrdie Lucille. As much as I love Byrdie, I am sure my kid would have killed me had we settled on that. So when he suggested Maisie Lucille, I fell in love with it. It’s quirky without being too crazy and means something to our family.

Now, how were we going to spell it. There are several ways to spell it – Maisie, Maizy, Maizie, Maisy, and the list could go on. We discovered the British spelling – Maisie – and it felt right to us. No other reason other than it looked and sounded nice. It is the same spelling as Maisie Williams, Arya Stark, on Game of Thrones, but I promise you we didn’t pick it because we are big Game of Thrones fans. We also found out that there is a children’s cartoon named Maisy Mouse! How perfect for her to enjoy as she gets older.

We didn't really tell anyone outside immediate family what we were going to name her, because everyone always has an opinion. Most people aren't going to tell you to your face they hate the name but you can read people's faces. I never wanted to second guess her name once we picked it out and someone's adverse reaction could have made me second guess it. It's harder to hate on a name when it's attached to a cute little baby.

Here’s the lowdown on Maisie:

Maisie, a hundred-year-old favorite, meaning pearl or child of light. Spelled Maisy in a popular children's book series, Maisie is rising in tandem with cousin Daisy. While Maisie might be short for Margaret, Mary, or even a name like Melissa or Marissa, it stands perfectly well on its own.

In literature, Maisie is the name of the precocious young title character in the Henry James novel What Maisie Knew, and is also the main female character in Rudyard Kipling's The Light That Failed. And to bring things up to date, Maisie is a half-blood character in the Harry Potter series.

Maisie re-entered the US Top 1000 in 2014 at 658, making it one of the fastest rising names of the year; she's still got a way to competing with her English counterparts - in the UK, Maisie is in the Top 50.

I can’t wait to see how she grows into the name and makes it her own.

Oh, and it’s not May-C, it’s May-Z.