With all the talk and anguish we've been having about our new baby girl's first name (and no, there hasn't been a whole lot of progress in the last several weeks since we announced the Top Eight Contenders; what progress there has been will be the subject of a separate post), it's been easy to kind of forget that we intend to give this girl a middle name, too. And there's one name that has emerged as a clear-cut front-runner for the middle name: Kyrie.

That's Kyrie, pronounced "KEER-ee-ay." It's a Greek word, transliterated into Latin, meaning "Lord." It's featured in a particular portion of Christian liturgy, particularly Catholic masses. The complete text of the Kyrie is: "Kyrie eleison, Christe eleison, Kyrie eleison," meaning "Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy, Lord have mercy." (I've also heard "eleison" translated as "save us.") People who are familiar with either liturgical Catholicism or good solid classical music may recognize it (there are plenty of great classical Kyries - if we go with this name, one of them might have to be this girl's song, just as Ellie and Annie each have a song about them, written by Beethoven and John Denver, respectively). Also, for the lower-brow set, recall that Mr. Mister had that song in the '80s with the words you didn't understand: "Kyrie eleison down the road that I must travel..."

Why is this the front-runner for our daughter's middle name? Well, we've been stewing about it ever since we were thinking about Ellie's name. Although I was familiar with the Kyrie in the liturgy, the first (and frankly, only) time I'd heard it used as a name was a girl in our ward in Cambridge whose parents were both professional musicians. Shelly and I both thought it was a daring and insightful name, though we agreed it was a little too much for a first name. After all, most people, upon seeing it in the context of a girl's name, would pronounce it wrong (probably "KIE-ree"), and that violates one of the fundamental rules of naming. Conversely, upon hearing it spoken, it's not obvious how to spell it. Kyrie is also not clearly and obviously a female name (after all, it's a title for a male person), thus violating another one of the fundamental rules.

But the fundamental rules don't apply to middle names. No one is actually going to call our girl "Kyrie," so we don't have a problem with giving her such an unusual and, frankly, esoteric name. People who are cool enough (or Catholic enough, I guess) to have heard of the Kyrie will manifest themselves* and those who aren't will just pass it off as an odd name. Which it is.

But I think Shelly and I really like it because of what it means. Who better to name your child after than Jesus Christ, the Lord himself? In fact, I'm really taken with the notion of naming this kid Mary Kyrie Astle (if she's born on Christmas Day, I just might insist on it) - it's a very religious, reverent name, in my opinion. Whereas Ellie's name looks forward and Annie's name looks backward, a girl named Kyrie - especially Mary Kyrie - would look upward.**

It's not a done deal yet, of course. The middle name depends heavily on the first name, so that rhythm and sound matching can be taken care of. But don't be surprised if our daughter comes with a middle name you can't pronounce.

* It's a lot like my friends who named their son Thelonius. One reason for doing so is that they wanted to see who was smart enough to know who Thelonious Monk was. They misspelled his name (or did Monk misspell his?), but the same principle is in place. Oh, and lest you think the poor child is doomed to a life of a crazy name, he goes by Theo.

** Does that mean that a fourth daughter would need a name that looks downward? Gaia Terra Astle, anyone? Nah.