Names.
AH!
There were several nights earlier on in the pregnancy where I would wake in the middle of the night thinking of entire lists of names.
John begged me to just not think about it until we found out the gender.
Fine.
I would try.
And I did.
But, the thing is…
I had 8 baby names picked out before we even got married.
Eight.
First & middle names. Four boys’ and four girls’ names.
Here they are: Girls // Boys
Mackenzie Anne // Camryn Levi
Skylar Eve // Micah Pierce
Eden Laurelai // Gabriel Hosea
Harmony Grace // John Morgan
I loved these names.
But when I found out I was pregnant, it was like all of a sudden they weren’t going to work.
{Most of them are pretty popular these days AND John informed me he doesn’t want to name a baby after him.}
Here are the two things we look for in a name for the littlest:
Unique & meaningful.
Words are powerful.
{Says the hopeful writer.}
And in modern American/western cultures we incredibly undervalue words & their meanings.
I love words. I love the meanings of words & understanding their roots & origins.
I want baby girl’s name to have significance in that way.
And, we don’t want her to be 1 of 10 kids in her class with the same name.
{John said that was never fun.}
So, our name Journey has been an interesting one since we found out she’s a girl.
Here we go:
- Juliette = French, “Youthful”
Fun fact: for the first 3 months of being pregnant, I had a song stuck in my head about Romeo & Juliet.
& I do SO love that song.
And I do so value being young at heart.
Jesus taught us to be like the little children, and there’s so much to be said for having childlike faith – being youthful is a beautiful thing. - Anaya = Indian, “Completely Free”
Mhmm. Love that Indian culture.
Freedom is something I hold dear to my heart. It’s something I’ve been told I had ALL my life, but only began to understand when I met Jesus.
And it’s something I know to run deeper than anything my country could ever define.
And I hope to share that with our little ones. - Davina = English, “Beloved”
Beloved. Ahhh. That’s the truth. - Verona = Italian, “Truth”
After I thought of this name {& then researched its meaning} I sat down at my typewriter with tears in my eyes and wrote a really long letter to our baby girl about the importance of Truth. How powerful & precious & valuable it is.
Needless to say, this is my favourite meaning.
I really, really like the name “Verona Juliette” but I also think it seems like way too much Shakespeare for one name. - Harmony = English, Multiple meanings:
“Agreement, accord, unity.”
Musically,”The simultaneous combination of tones, esp. when blended into chords pleasing to the ear; chordal structure, as distinguished from melody and rhythm.”
And, Biblically: “An arrangement of the contents of the Gospels, either of all four or of the first three, designed to show their parallelism, mutual relations, & differences.I thought about this name last week & it was stuck on my heart for 2 or 3 days straight. So beautiful.
I thought of it in combination with so many other middle names: Harmony Skye, Harmony Dawn, Harmony Grace.
John’s favourite? Well, he likes Noxolo. Pronounced, {Noh-(click your tongue)-oh-lho.}
It’s an African word that means “peace.” I met a little girl in Swaziland with this name who changed my life forever.
{But, we don’t live in Africa. And no one would be able to pronounce her name. I keep trying to tell him.}
He also really, really likes Verona (and now Harmony).
I think Anaya & Davina are out at this point, but this has just been our journey of favourites.
I have also liked other random ones:
Ada: Great grandmother’s name, German, “Happy”
Naomi: Hebrew, “Beautiful, Gentle”
Kiva: Gaelic, “Caomh” = “Beautiful”
Allegra: Latin, “Joy”
John’s sister, Dana, really really wants us to use the name Adelaide.
Which happens to be in my spreadsheet of baby names.
Oh, am I only now mentioning that I have a spreadsheet of baby names?
Ya know, just in case she’s born & we haven’t decided.
I want to have several that I already know I like with their meanings & origins & popularity, easily accessible.
Also, I found myself looking up the same name meanings again & again.
Anyway, there are about 30 names in that spreadsheet.
I’d love to have your feedback on names.
{As long as you’re okay that we might reject it completely. I’m realizing it’s impossible to find a name everyone will like.}
How did you decide what to name your little one{s}?
Did you decide before they were born for sure?
Any fun naming stories?
