And the winner is…

Kaitlyn! Fifty percent of the votes went to Kaitlyn, followed by 26 percent for Katelyn and 23 percent for Kaitlin. We have decided to go with the popular vote and spell her name Kaitlyn.

And now for the backstory. At my baby shower, someone asked how we were going to spell it, and I realized that we hadn’t discussed the spelling except to decide that it should start with a K. (Ernie had strong feelings that it must start with a K.) After I got home, we started talking about it and realized that we both liked a different spelling, and neither of us was very willing to budge. I wanted Katelyn, and Ernie wanted Kaitlyn. (Kaitlin was a choice in the poll because at the time I set it up, I couldn’t remember which way Ernie liked it best, so I put both.)

We had a few people suggest writing both on our whiteboard and just getting used to looking at the different spellings, to see if the other grew on us. Maybe we just needed a visual to get over our impasse. Then I came up with the *brilliant* idea to put it up for a vote on the blog.

I was distressed to find out that so many people were choosing Ernie’s spelling. (I hate to lose!) Then I found out that Kaitlyn was the most popular spelling for 2008, according to the Social Security Administration. And then, the nail in the coffin came at BabiesRUs, when Sophia found personalized sippy cups and the only spelling I could find was Kaitlyn.

Ernie and I grew up with unusual names. Our childhoods were somewhat tarnished by never having personalized stickers/pencils/coffee mugs/etc like all of our friends had. We determined that when we had kids we would choose more popular names, names that you would find on stickers and pencils. So when I found the sippy cup, I knew that was the spelling we should use.

So, Kaitlyn it is. And you know what, the more I look at it, the more I like it. I guess those people were right.