why timber?

The short answer is "I don't know. Timber was just the right name."

And now the long answer: It was originally suggested as a nickname for the baby before we knew the sex. He/she could be called Tember because I was due in SepTEMBER. I liked the sound of it although I preferred the spelling and woodsy feel of Timber. Timber went on the list along with many many other names. I was amused at the interest that so many people took in what we were going to name our baby. I wish I would have kept track of how many name suggestions we got, but I know that there had to have been at least a couple hundred suggested by email, facebook, text, mail(!!!), or verbally.

Chris and I both liked Timber but had some reservations about the name. The obvious drawback to the name Timber is all the "timmmmmberrrrrr" comments. I assume that those will subside as people begin to associate "Timber" with Timber and not "timmmmberrrrr." ---although I fully expect to hear and use "timmmmberrrrr" often while he's learning to walk! Our other concern was that it could be a girl's name too. The few baby name books that listed the name Timber had it in either the boy name section or in both sections, so we didn't think it would be an issue. Also, Scout is most often listed as a girl's name and that didn't stop us from using it!!

Another favorite of ours was Copper. I still really like that name and Timber might have been named Copper if we hadn't decided that we wanted his middle name to be David (Chris' middle name). I just thought Copper David sounded like a weird reference to David Copperfield.

In the end, we just felt like Timber was the right name. I'm not a big fan of the name Tim, but if he doesn't want to be Timber when he's older he could always shorten it to Tim. Maybe. I might find ways to thwart his efforts to be taken more seriously. I've heard people say that you should imagine your child's name as the President of the United States (I assume people say that to deter people from choosing unusual names???) but I think the best thing for the child might be to give him a name that basically guarantees he will NEVER be the President of the United States. Do any parents REALLY wish that job upon their child? I certainly don't. I hope that Scout and Timber have fun, outside-the-box lives that live up to their names. I'm fairly certain that they will grow up to be a lot like their Daddy and I think he could definitely pull off a name like Scout or Timber. In the end, Scout is Scout and Timber is Timber and people who know them will think the names fit perfectly. And people who don't know them really shouldn't have an opinion anyway. :-)