Saturday, May 16, 2009

What's in a Name?

Stephanie over at Bike, Book, Bread did a post on how she and her husband came up with the names for their children. I think naming a baby is one of the hardest decisions to make.


I thought Stephanie's post was interesting and thought it would be fun if we all did a post on that topic.... or if you do not have children why your parents named you what they named you.


When I was pregnant I checked out a book from the library called Beyond Jennifer and Jason.

There is a revised version out Beyond Jennifer and Jason, Madison and Montana.

By: Linda Rosenkrantz and Pamela Redmon Satran.






This book is a great read for expectant parents. The writers categorize names and also delve in to how names are perceived. They really make you think about names in a totally different light. They have chapters on what names are popular in different countries around the world, also names that were made popular by TV stars/shows/famous people. The classic names are discussed and whether you want a truly feminine or masculine name or an androgynous name.
I can't say enough good things about this book.

It's just not an alphabetical book of the top 100 baby names of the last century. It is much more.

Now, back to my girls and their names....


Paige Victoria is our oldest. We did not name either of our girls after family members. We just did not feel led in that direction. We both loved the name Paige and wanted to call her Paige. We love the beautiful name Victoria. So there you have it.


We made sure we named our girls with the first name that we would be calling them. Not make it their middle name. Buster and I both use our middle names and it is hard to always tell the nurse in the doctor's office that belts out your first name in a loud, booming voice ....

"I'm sorry, I go by my middle name Joy." or Keith in my husband's case.


We also knew we wanted their first names to be short one or two syllables because our last name is kind of long and we didn't want them to spend all day in Kindergarten trying to figure out how to fit their entire name on the top of their paper.



Leah Grace is next. We literally went up to the last few weeks of my pregnancy deciding on her name. For the longest time we were going to name her Emma Grace. Big sister was convinced that should be her name. As much as we adored the name, we started having second thoughts about "Emma" so we began thinking about using Grace as the first name. Then we had to figure out a middle name... We also decided we liked the name Leah, but for some reason just never connected the two names until my mom said one day "Why don't you name her Leah Grace." Bingo! Leah Grace was her name-O. [sorry, I just had to say it] I also like that Leah's name is a Biblical name.


So that is the story of how we came to name the two children we brought into this world.

How about you? What is your child's name and why did you decide on that particular name?
My inquiring mind wants to know....





16 comments:

Tracy P. said...

Fun post! I will have to see what I can do this week.

Berni said...

I will have to cast my mind back a ways to think about that. Pretty names for your daughters

Betsy Banks Adams said...

Beautiful names, Joy.... Since I'm MUCH older, I did want to name my kids after family members. My 'ex' was a Junior--so our first son is a III... He calls himself Tre.

Middle son is named Mark Edgar.. Mark is what we picked out and what he is called. Edgar is my Dad's name.

Third son is Jeffrey Bruce. We picked Jeffrey (Jeff) and Bruce is a family name on my side and on my 'ex's' side...

Love the names of your girls. You did GREAT.
Hugs,
Betsy

C. JoyBell C. said...

Oh! Oh I like this post! I like it! I like it!

I agree. Names aren't just things that sound good. To me, the meaning is of utmost importance. It really makes or breaks a person.

I read that Cameron means "she with a crooked nose" and do you know how many times Cameron Diaz has broken her nose??? It's just like that. And some names, like Sabine, are really names of diseases. Who would want to name their child after a disease? Apparently, a lot! Or they just don't look into the meanings first!

I was supposed to be named Agape Joy. Agape being the Greek of Charity. Then later on, my parents thought that it was too intense, so they named me the ancient English form of the word Agape, which is Charity. Of course, they decided upon the name meaning from the verse in the Bible "For now abides Faith, Hope, and Charity, but the greatest of these is Charity." (ahem) hee hee...

For my son, I wanted a very strong name. Gilead means "strong, rocky, and rough" and it also means "mountain of testimony" it also represents healing in "the balm of Gilead." And Israel means "prince of God.

:)

So there ya have it!

Did I mention I like this post a lot?? :)

Julie said...

Eli was named after my husband's middle name, that was easy... and Eli's middle name is Oscar and I basically told Zach he could choose whatever middle name he wanted, I didn't care. He choose Oscar because when he was in his mommy's tummy his parents kept calling him "Oscar" and they didn't know if he was a boy or girl until delivery and so it is a cute story.

Jasper Zachery is named after my favorite author(Jasper Fforde) that is smart, quirky and fun. We also wanted a British name, and Jasper is Welsh. So, close enough. We had no idea about a middle name and seriously as we were putting his name down on the official paper I blurted out "just put down Zachery" and we did. So, he has Zach's name as a middle name.

Well, that is for us :)

Givinya De Elba said...

You've got me thinking now. I know I picked great names, and I know why. Now I need to sxplain. And I didn't know who Nick Vujicic was, but my husband did. Hope you enjoy his visit, he sounds like a really interesting speaker.

Allison said...

Let's see...I have no kids, but we did have a similar "process" for coming up with our puppy's name :)

I searched for German baby girl names online and came up with a list of about 5 that I liked. Paul narrowed it down to 3, and then I picked Addie from that list :)

Keeper of the Skies Wife said...

They have beautiful names indeed!!!

Meg, full name Megan Britt'any, her first name came from a movie I watched. I can't even remember the movie. Her middle name I changed up to be different then the name britney....you pronounce it Britt-a-nee.

Tori, full name Victoria Danielle, her first name I loved when I babysat a girl with this name. Her middle name was supposed to be mine before my parents changed mine when my mom's sister died. Whew...hope that makes sense!

We call both our girls by their nicknames.

Brenda said...

Your daughters have beautiful names, I will have to do a post about this one day :)

Ronnica said...

I love the name "Leah!" I have ideas on names that I like, but I'm not one of those girls who plans out their children's names ahead of time. Okay, I was, but I don't think I like any of the names I picked out in middle school anymore...

SmilingSally said...

I'm boring. My children's names are Debra Jean and Allen John.

Thanks for visiting my blog.

Robynn's Ravings said...

Wow! Interesting post about how your kids got their names and I think that's a FUN idea for a post!

Just browsin' around checkin' out new blogs.

I'm a SAHM, too, but my kids are both teens now. Blessings! :)

stephanie j. said...

Oh, I'm so glad I started this trend! It has been wonderful reading everyone's though processes and reasons. Thanks for "copycatting", Joy :)

Ingrid, my oldest, has come up with a name for her "big brother" -- that does not exist, nor will he ever save a miracle...ha ha!!!-- Peter Edmund. I guess she likes Chron. of Narnia!

Deb said...

great post...we gave our son his name because we wanted it to be different and manly...my daughters name was after a girl we saw on a movie...she was girly and tomboyish... I have schnauzers too... and live in Texas

The Farmer Files said...

Now if I shared their real names commonly on my blog then I could share at least 2 really good stories with you...sigh....

Tricia said...

Great post! We used family names on all of our kids. That was not our plan, but that is what happened. Our youngest's middle name is named after a street my husband grew up on. I am sorry I can not share their names, but that is what my husband wants.