So I'm not being sponsored by anyone but I've seen quite a few posts lately about how parents choose their kids' names and I wanted to join in. I'm not sure if it's me but I LOVE names and how people come to them. So, I'll start...
I honestly have no idea what I was reading but someone's name was Oliver and I looked over at Josh and said "What do you think about Oliver?" That was it. He and I are HUGE planners and we had Oliver's first name picked out by the time I was maybe 7 weeks pregnant? I got major anxiety thinking about our baby not having a name and worrying what if something happened to him and he was nameless? Originally we wanted to name him Jordan (my maiden name) but it just didn't fit right. He's definitely a little Oliver. I have an English degree and love really old, literary names. Aunt JCC bought Oliver a copy of Oliver Twist really early on and I just love it.
The middle names. Oh, the debate regarding his middle name. Okay, Josh's middle name is Nick. Just Nick. Not Nicholas. Nick. I have a minor peeve about people having shortened names as their real names (i.e., Bob, Mark, Nick, Beth, etc.) That might be okay for some couples but I hate it. Well, I knew from the get go that Oliver's middle name would have to be Nick because that's Josh's, his dad's and his grandfather's first name. We started doing a little family history and, lo and behold, the day Josh and I officially started dating is my GPA's birthday. Couple that with the fact that we got married on the anniversary of the day my GPA died and I begged and pleaded with Josh to let us add Hugo as a second middle name. Yay for having an easy going husband.
So, there's the story of our Oliver Hugo Nick Branham.
Yes we do have Dos's name picked out already. Seriously, I'm insane people. Once we know what we're having, I'll share it. I'm not sure if anyone cares about that stuff or not but I promise I will, if you're interested. Yep, Dos will have two middle names. Honestly, I didn't want Oliver to feel stupid or Dos to feel left out so we decided on two.
Come on, somebody else share your name stories. I would do a link up but I'm not sure how much y'all would enjoy knowing this stuff. I could be the only one out there. I absolutely love knowing where people's names come from!!! My name is the patron saint of my grandmother's birthday. Yep, another little nugget to share with y'all. I'm such a giver!
I don't have my own name story to share yet-maybe in a few years. However, I do like hearing yours. And, I do have my future children's names picked out. Noah for a boy and Lillian or Lillianna for a girl. My sister has 2 middles names...Katherine and Hope. Have a great weekend!!
ReplyDeleteI'll share our name story. We love name meanings and origins. I also loved doing our family genealogies so that our kids would know their family history. I am adopted so giving my kids their history is extra important to me. I researched our genealogies and made a whole chart that I hope to one day frame (it's really big). My husband's family (the Reeses) are from Wales so I wanted a Welsh name...but a lot of Welsh names are weird old English names. When we discovered Evan, it was perfect. I loved that he and Daddy's names started with E and that his name had a good strong masculine meaning (strong warrior). I don't want him to be a fighter unless he needs to be. His first name is James after his Daddy, his granddaddy and great-granddaddy and after my biological grandfather too. After naming him, I discovered in my genealogical research that his ninth great-grandfather's name was Reese and that was the first Reese born in America...his father brought the family here from Wales. Needless to say, I felt his name was meant to be. When we found out we were expecting another boy, we decided on Brody because it is related to the Irish (not Welsh but close enough) word for brother which is what he is. His middle name, Rowen, is after his grandmother, Rowena, and also means "little red one" because we kind of hoped for another red head. And that's the story! ;-)
ReplyDeleteDang...I edited this once. The ninth great-grandfather's name was Evan Reese (born in 1692). Of course, his last name was Reese...I am so dumb! I guess I wrote this with other things on my mind. :-(
DeleteI also love names, especially sibling names. My brothers are Nathan and Nicholas- we are the 3 N's.
ReplyDeleteMichael and I picked Spencer right after we got married. I don't know where I got it specifically, but I have always loved that name and Michael agreed. His middle name is Nicholas after my brother. It's a good thing he was a boy because we never could decide on a girl name! After Spencer was born we realized that all of our names had 7 letters. We had not done that on purpose but I became obsessed with finding a 7 letter name for our next baby so we could all match.
We decided on Jillian for a girl and Elliott for a boy. Jillian was a contestant on Project Runway and I just loved the name. I actually got Elliott from a blog that I read, but changed the spelling to make it 7 letters. Elliott's middle name is Stephen, which is my grandfather's name, my dad's real first name (he goes by his middle name, Larry) and my brother's middle name.
So there you have it!
Oh, I also wanted to mention that we seriously considered Cooper or Oliver for Elliott. I like the way that "er" names sound together- having the same ending instead of the same first letter. In the end we didn't do it because I couldn't handle those names only having 6 letters. I'm insane, I know.
ReplyDeleteHello...I am Natalie’s best friend and have been reading your blog since you two "meet". Can't remember if I have introduced myself yet but, I promise I won't do it every time I comment. The part Natalie didn't tell you is kept Spencer's name a secret until the day he was born...wouldn’t even tell her best friend…very tricky…to much waiting for me! Lucky for us Spencer wanted to know what the baby's name was at the ultra sound so they shared Elliott's name. Natalie and I talk names all the time, possibly every day. It doesn’t even matter if either of us is pregnant. We talk about names for our kids, our fantasy kids, other peoples name choices, you name it we discuss it. We have many “rules” about what’s okay in our world. Before she was pregnant with Elliott we were talking about how my friend named her daughter Jill, not Jillian, Jill. I felt like it was a "shortened" name and I like you have a serious problem with that. We were discussing this and Natalie made the comment that she REALLY liked that name. I knew at that moment that that was her girls name if she had baby #2. Being a good best friend I didn’t let on that I knew because she likes to keep names secret. She also being a good best friend knew that I knew. Because we have been best friends for nearly 28 years I knew, that she knew, that I knew. We kept up the charade but it was, looking back, a bit hilarious.
ReplyDeleteOkay so naming my daughter. My siblings and I are Megan (before Megan was common), Ryan, Gracie, and Conor (before Conor was common). I was the only Megan in my class so I didn’t grow up as Megan K. which I really liked. I hated when we had three or four kids in class with the same name. So I wanted something unique but not made up. I also love old names. So my top choices were Eleanor (My Grandmothers name) Grace and Henry James. My husband said no way it wasn’t the 1920’s. He liked Danielle and Samantha. No way for me it also isn’t 1980. We both agreed on Ellie but I wasn’t willing to use a “short” name I wanted Eleanor and he wouldn’t budge. We talked names a lot and couldn’t really agree on much. We both liked Finley James for a boy and then we found out it was a girl. Our short list was Sophia, Olivia, and Fiona. Sophia and Olivia were like 2 and 4 in popularity the year our daughter was born so even though I love the names they were out. Scott was clear that he didn’t want our baby named for anyone but I talked him into letting me use a middle name for someone. So it seemed like Fiona Lynn (Scott’s Sisters name is Lynn as is his mother’s middle name and various nieces) it would be. Unique, Irish, Scott liked, and it meet my requirements. Then a friend told us the name Hadley. I didn’t like it at first but Scott really liked it. He hadn’t REALLY liked any names yet. To me it sounded too made up but I told him I would think about it. Then I saw a street sign while driving that said Hadley. As I thought I realized I liked Hadley Grace but not Hadley Lynn. I was unsure about using Grace since my sister Gracie had passed away as a baby. In the end we chose Hadley Grace and the name couldn’t fit her any better. She has two Sophia’s and two Olivia’s in her dance class. I am so glad she is not Sophia S. or Olivia S.
Can’t wait to hear what you plan to name Dos.
Thank you SO much for stopping by!!!! I'm so thrilled to have you come by and visit.
DeleteGreat minds must think alike because I absolutely LOVE Eleanor and Henry. Henry James, actually. BUT, I'm an English nerd and was worried that people would automatically think of that Henry James if they heard his whole name.
Thank you again for stopping by. I'm so excited to "meet" you!
Oh the great baby name debate. Ethan was almost Deacon ( my pick) Blaze ( courtesy of my husband) I couldn't curse my child with the middle name blaze, so I had to give up Deacon. But when and if we have another little boy, its back on the table for sure ( and hopefully my husband forgets all about Blaze) ;)
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