Being 37 weeks pregnant, I have lots on my mind, but one of those things that I thought would be fun to discuss today is:BABY NAMES
My husband and I have a system for naming our babies, and I like how it works. Of course, some of my kids have names that I really ADORE, and then there are a few names that I wish I had given more thought to. In fact, my baby number five got his name changed at 5 months old, because we simply could not get the name we had chosen before he was born to stick! We learned our lesson, and now keep our minds and options open until we see and get to know the new baby and his or her personality.
We decided, soon after we named baby number one, that we need a "theme." Mostly, because I am one of the most indecisive people on the planet (it's really true... I think...), and narrowing down the list of names I like helps me make up my mind.
The "theme" we chose came about partially because of our ancestral heritage, but also because we think these kinds of names are pretty cool. So, we keep our list to Gaelic/Celtic names for the first name, and family-associated names for the middle names. (*Two exceptions to this are two of our daughters who were born in December. They have Christmas-type middle names.) We don't include British/English names in that category, because that broadens our choices too much. (I try to push the envelope on that, from time to time, but Russell's good at holding me to "our rules"!) Who knew when we started, that these kinds of names would become so popular? So much for being "original!" ;-)
Just as a point of interest, I thought I'd share our kids' names here:
- Morganne Natalia* (daughter)-- Welsh, "born on Christmas" (She was born two days after Christmas.)
- Brennan Geoffrey (son)-- Welsh, name of Russell's older brother who passed away shortly after birth.
- Lliam Donal (son)-- Irish, named after my two grandfathers, William and Don
- Bonny Dianne (daughter)-- Scottish, named after my mother-in-law
- Gavin Xavier (son)-- Welsh, ancestral name (His name, for the first five months of his life, had been "Logan"-- just doesn't fit him!)
- Dierdre Marie (daughter)-- Irish, middle name of a great-grandmother, a grandmother, and two sisters
- Ronan Wainwright (son)-- Irish, play on family name (Wayne) belonging to a great-grandpa, grandpa, and dad's middle name
- MacKenna Elyse (daughter)-- Scottish, play on ancestral name of "Elizabeth"
- Grayse Dawn (daughter)-- Manx spelling (Yeah, we kinda cheated on this one, but it had been a very difficult pregnancy, and we felt the name was the right one!), Granna's middle name
- Avalon Noelle* (daughter)-- Celtic Aurthurian legend reference, "Christmas" (She was born at the beginning of December.)
So, this time, it's my husband's turn to choose, and I've been trying to be as helpful as possible, following him around with a list of name "ideas" I have. ;-) We pretty much agree on a middle name for a boy, and have a few ideas in that direction, but as for little girl names, I'm stuck. But, my husband has had a knack for choosing names, and I think he'll come up with the perfect one, once we see WHO is arriving.
How do you name your babies? Do you stick with a system? Do you pre-choose the name, or do you wait a while? I'd love to hear your thoughts on this matter.
Aren't babies wonderful? *sigh*
With my first I knew what I was suppose to name her before I had found out I was pregnant. I had the overwhelming feeling I was going to find out I was pregnant, I was going to have a girl and what her name was going to be. Two days later I found out I was pregnant, the knowledge I gained before finding out really helped me through the first trimester (we lost a baby right before getting pregnant with her so I was a bundle of nerves).
ReplyDeleteWith my second I didn't have the certainty I had with my first. I honestly thought it would be a boy because my husband was so sure. When we found out it was suppose to be a girl I was suprised (in a good way, I love my girls!!). Walking out of the ultrasound a voice told me that her name is A******** (sorry, I don't share my children's names on the internet). Right before her birth (the night before actually) my husband asked if I would mind using his Grandma's middle name for her middle name. Putting together the two just clicked and I knew it was the right name for her. She totally fits into her name too! I couldn't imagine her with any other name.
Boys we have one already choosen when we have a boy. We want to name him after DH's grandfather (hes the last of his line so when he passes his last name ends).
I guess you can say the only system we have is a lot of prayer. I haven't actually sat down and wrote down names once, they just come to me.
Mike and I also decided a theme - family names. We decide the moment we know if it's a boy or girl and then call the baby that name through the rest of the pregnancy - although this is only our second, so who knows if we'll have some "buyer's remorse" somewhere down the line and change it up ;)
ReplyDeleteLily's name is Elizabeth Fern (both mine and Mike's deceased grandmothers names) and Baby's James is going to be James Michael (James is both of our grandfather's middle names and Michael... I bet you can guess why we picked that one LOL). I'm hoping for a Victoria Dawn, Charles Jesse, Olivia Anne, and on and on...
LOVE the names of your children! I'm partial to Irish names too but so far none of ours have one.
ReplyDeleteOur system is I write down all the names I like, then he crosses off any he doesn't like. Sometimes he'll add one or two that he has thought of. As the time draws nearer a couple of names will stick out. We don't name our babies until after they are born and we can see them, hold them, etc.
Some friends of mine gave their children Irish names (with traditional Irish spelling) because the dad is from Ireland. Their names are Aoife (Ee-fah) and
Aoibheann (A-veen).
Lots of fun to pick baby names! I have struggled with this one even though we know we're having a girl. Then a few days ago, she told me what name she wanted, and it just happened to be DeMar's great-grandmother's name. I didn't know that when I sensed what she was telling me, but it is so awesome to feel the family connection and know it's so right-especially with DeMar's grandpa's recent passing. It's not a name I EVER would have picked but it's perfect for her. But you'll have to wait till she's here before I'll tell ya! LOL Thanks for posting a fun topic. :)
ReplyDeleteI'm not married, and so, no children. I do however have a vague idea as to what kind of names I want my children to have, unless my somewhere-in-the-future husband disagrees. I want their first names to be of old Nordic origin (being Swedish, and loving history), but as to their second names I'm not sure... I'd like them to have Christian names, but I'd also like them to have family names. In some cases this co-incides with both the old Nordic and Christian themes, so it might work out.
ReplyDeleteMe and all my sisters are named Marie as second names. It was mine first, then my 20-months younger sister was given the same. When another sister was born a few years later we insisted she got named Marie as well, and when the fourth sister was born, we couldn't bear to think she'd be the only one without that name. And when sister number five was borne, it was no question as to what her second name would be.
My parent's had always planned to name one of their sons Johannes, but it just didn't stick, as you said. The second one was called Johannes untill he got his baby blessing. My Mum was sitting down in the bench and heard Dad say "Adam", a name they hadn't even discussed. My Dad afterwards said he was told by the Spirit to name him that, and my Mum had no objection.
Names are interesting...
Oh my stars those are beautiful! Honestly that is the greatest group of names I have ever heard.
ReplyDeletewe have Natalie Megan-we just liked the name and we too do a family middle name. Natalie was born on Christmas so it was meant to be and she is a ton like my sister Megan!
ReplyDeleteThen I just liked the name Hallie. She is Hallie Jean. With her we established the "ie" ending for our girls in an effort to help my father in law who still spells my name wrong after 15 years. Jean is after one of my aunts.
Abbie Kate is next. Loved the name,now there are too many though.(Oh and I think it is funny that I like her name so much, because I remember when your sister was born distinctly thinking her name was dumb and old fashioned!) Kate is a combination of a grandmas on two different sides. Kathryn and Catherina.
Then we got Jace because I fought and fought for it. His middle name is Cullen. His dad's middle name and sadly popular now because of twilight! Aren't you so glad I rambled on and on about that!?!
I just love reading all your comments on baby names! What a fun thing to discuss. :-)
ReplyDeleteThanks, everyone! :-D
The only theme we have is to use a family name for our children's middle name. I make lists of names through out the pregnancy and my hubby usually vetos them. LOL! Eventually one of them just seems to be "the name", then we find a family name to match.
ReplyDeleteI usually have a strong feeling about what the baby's name is before it's born but we don't have anything written in stone until we try it on. My fifth child I knew that he was to be named after a family surname but didn't want to call him that so I picked another name that I would call him by. When he arrived both hubby and I agreed that he looked like the family surname.
With our little one just born, my children and I had a great time looking through all our geneology searching for the right name. It's an awesome opportunity to remember who came before us.
Our children are:
Christopher Todd
Kimber Smith
Andrew Malon
Ririe McKay
Ryan Clermont
Katherine (Katie) Elizabeth
Gabriel Arave
Abigail Celeste
Liberty Grace
I love your blog and this post is great. Hope this comment finds you and your family doing well. we name our children with family or biblical names. 3 children we named before they were born the rest we named after their birth and saw who they were...girl or boy. Then we took our time, 2 times the hospital was ready to kick us out it was taking so long. We take baby naming serious ;)
ReplyDeleteOur children are
Laura "Elizabeth"
Martha "Amanda"
Rebekah Marie
Madison Harold
Jonathan Michael
James Peter
Stephen Arthur
William Daniel
Wesley Philip
Ruth Ella Katherine
Well hope you have a great and blessed week end!
Laura
HOW CUTE!! I love the themes! My family did not do that, but my hubby's family are all J first names, as his parents were J names also.
ReplyDeleteI was never into that when we first married, but we knew we wanted our first boy to be named after my father-in-law.
ALSO, since doing fam history, we have learned that on my hubsters side, the first male boy has the middle name of Lloyd. While Lloyd is not my type of name, I knew we could not break tradition~ it goes back 8 generations so far!
So, my hubby and I named our boys after our dads, and the last boy after him.
Jerald Lloyd after my father-in-law, Lloyd going back 8 generations
Gary Finley after my dad, middle name is my madien name
Jeremy Daniel after my husband, middle name his brother's middle name
IF I can ever have a girl her name will be Ava after my grandmother, Viola (I know, some names are sooo weird!) after his grandmother= Ava Viola. Hopefully, she'll be a strong personality to pull off that name!
AND YES!! Babies are wonderful!
Your children have such darling names! My name is Celtic, and I plan on giving my children old-fashion, vintage names that have extra-ordinary meanings, while still being modern and original. I LOVE the names Avalon and Dierdre!!
ReplyDeleteFelicity @ Simple Elegance
I love hearing all your ideas on names! Thanks for all the great comments, ladies! :D
ReplyDeleteOh, and Chrystina (great name, by the way!)-- I love Viola! That's the name of one of my favorite Shakespeare characters! If ever we have boy/girl twins, I'd love to name them Sebastian and Viola (ala' "Twelfth Night").
And thank you, Felicity! I'm going to check out your blog. :-)
I know it has been over a year since the last comment..but I loved this post then and I love it now. Our last, Abbie Nadine was an easy choice as granma would call that very night while I was in labor to tell me that she had terminal cancer. I had already thought about that name for her middle name.....but that finalized it for me...and abbie, though never discussed was just her name, especially when we looked up what it meant. But each of my children's names feel inspired and meant for them...even when one...and won't say which one just wasn't a name I would pick...but it was to be their name. All the middle names with the middle names are family names.
ReplyDeleteWe have
Chayce Findley
Carrisa ReNee
Ashlee Maxine
Mackelle Elizabeth..who is named after her dad as well
Jay Duncan
Sara Kinley and Samantha Anne
Abbie Nadine
And interesting note is that both are boys middle names mean warrior, one being fair headed and one being dark headed....their names fit them to a tee, as they are look alike except in their color.I fell lke more then a few of these children had these names long before I "chose" the name.
I still have a few more names....but alas....whether we get to use them is up to Heavenly Father and sending inspiration down to their dear old dad! lol
Love you!!!