What's In a Name?
When I was expecting Jackson, Curtis and I had a long list of baby girl names and a very, very short list of baby boy names. So short, in fact, that there was only one name on it. "Jackson" was literally the only name we agreed on. The name game is hard when you've worked with students because you have associations with just about every name you can come up with. And with one of the most common last names in America, we seemed to already know of someone named "Every-single-name-we-liked Jones."
I didn't expect naming our son to be that hard. After all, ever since college I'd planned that if I had a son, he'd be named Levi. (One of my BFF's in college babysat a little Levi and he was the cutest thing I'd ever seen.) This was my plan right up until we actually had the chance to name a little boy. That was when Curtis enlightened me that Levi Jones sounded a lot like Levi Jeans. Noooooooo! It had never once occurred to me! I should have thought twice before marrying a Jones! So Levi was out. Jackson, the one and only name we could agree on, was it. Knowing and loving Travis and Angela Cottrell's son Jackson (he goes by Jack now) made me love the name.
Fast forward three years. To our great surprise, we now had a chance to bring out that long list of baby girl names. Somehow we eliminated every single one to the point that we needed a brand new list. It's crazy how that happens.
I so wanted to honor my mother with our baby girl's name. I'm sure I don't even need to tell you why. Honestly, I cannot adequately convey in words what it means to me. My mom is an incredible wife, mother, confidante, encourager, prayer warrior, servant, teacher, writer, and lover of God. I would have been thrilled for our daughter to be connected to her grandmother in that way and for her to carry on the legacy of loving God with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength. Naming her after my mom would not be hard, as "Elizabeth" sounds beautiful as a middle name with almost anything you can come up with. But I don't think of my mom as Elizabeth. I think of her as "Beth." So I started brainstorming names that incorporated Beth. Bethany...Beth Ann...Annabeth! We fell in love with that name. It was not a common name, but still sounded classic in a southern sort of way. We felt it was perfect for our little girl.
Annabeth's middle name is "Ellen," which is from Curt's side of the family. His great-grandmother was the first Ellen. I never had the privilege of meeting her, but I do know and dearly love Curt's sister, who is named Lindsay Ellen. He also has a precious college-age cousin named Erin Ellen. Both of these young women live lives of wholehearted devotion to Christ. I have been so moved by their purity and also their desire and willingness to serve others. I would be thrilled for my daughter to enjoy a close relationship with and emulate the godly traits of both of these delightful women.
It's truly a gift that our children can draw from a godly heritage on both sides of our family. I'm very thankful for that. At the same time, I realize that there may be a Siesta reading this blog who is the only one in her family who follows Christ. Sister, if that is you, please be blessed in the knowledge that a godly legacy is beginning with you! I pray that one day you will get to see your physical and spiritual offspring worshipping before the Throne. What great joy! I love the verse in 1 Thessalonians that says, "For what is our hope, our joy, or the crown in which we will glory in the presence of our Lord Jesus when he comes? Is it not you? Indeed, you are our glory and joy" (1 Thessalonians 2:19-20).
If anyone would like to share, I'd love to know the story behind your name!
posted by Amanda @ 10:15 AM
384 Comments
384 Comments:
I don't have a good story for my name, but my husband wrote an essay to explain why we honor the name Charlotte Moon for our daughter.
Amanda - I absolutely loved this and loved reading the story behind Annabeth's name. I was named after Lauren Becall, the actress. And as a side story, I grew up with a boy named Kevin and we were BEST friends but he died in a car accident at a very young age, but when they went on to have a daughter, they named her after me!
My name is Aishlea Shee... prounounced Ashley Shae. My mother and father couldn't agree on a name except Ashley, but she didn't want to spell it normally. My middle name is a shortened version of her name, Shawnee (prounounced Shawn- ay). We also have an accent mark over our double ee's that makes the long a sound. As you can probably imagine, no one pronounces my name correctly! I am glad that we share the uniqueness!
Lisa Marie....named after Elvis's daughter. If I was a boy, mom got to name me. Girl, dad got to name me.
Amanda, thank you for the encouragement. My husband and I come from a long line of alcoholics. We are first generation Christians and it is HARD!!! We make so many mistakes that sometimes we wonder if we are even making a difference. It definitely feels like swimming upstream at times. But, thanks to your mom and her bible studies, I have come to know God and truly fall head over heals in love with Him!!
Lisa, in RL, IL
What a sweet post, Amanda, and it made me think of my sweet Lindsey -- my 7 year old.
Lindsey has always been a very strongwilled child and one with a mighty little temper. She’s so tiny and angelic looking in many ways, but she’s got a fire in her that if undisciplined she would be a mess! I’ve prayed and prayed and prayed for her that God would get a hold of all of that passion and turn it into a fiery love for Him. As her mother and being very jealous for her and her future, I’ve wanted this to happen instantly! I know that He can do that, but I want you to hear what I found out about her name and what God taught me through the study of His Word.
Lindsey’s name means: “A tree or trees near the water.” When I read this I immediately thought of Psalm 1:1-3:
“How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, Nor stand in the path of sinners, Nor sit in the seat of scoffers! But his delight is in the law of the LORD, And in His law he meditates day and night. He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, Which yields its fruit in its season And its leaf does not wither; And in whatever he does, he prospers.”
I was so grateful that God gave me a scripture that I could pray specifically for Lindsey and all the many challenges she faces in controlling her emotions. I could pray it just like this:
“God, be with my sweet Lindsey. Plant her firmly by Your streams, Lord, of Living Water. Make her strong, firm and help her not to fall away or wither. Prosper her.” I always wanted to follow up that prayer with, “Do it NOW Lord!”
Then in Bible study I studied this scripture and I saw what I had been missing all along! That tree that is planted by streams of water yields its fruit IN SEASON — in God’s perfect time — not necessarily when it is best for me, but when it is in the timing of God’s perfect will and plan. God has a huge calling for Lindsey, I’m sure, but no amount of begging and pleading on my part is going to make it all come together for her any sooner than when God has it planned and mapped out for her on His Kingdom calendar. As much as I love Lindsey and want the best for her, God loves her far more and has way more planned for her than I could ever dream or imagine!
Thanks for letting me share!
Praying for you in these sleep-deprived days, friend!
Blessings,
Dori
What a sweet post, Amanda. It's funny, my husband and I felt the same way about names - it was very hard to agree on more than one. He went to a very southern private school and was very picky about girls' names! Luckily, we both loved one n particular and so it was settled - Kate's middle name, Jane, is after my mother and myself! Katherine is a classic name I have always held dear - so many lovely Katherine's in my lifetime!
Amanda,
We had a long list of boy names picked out (or I should say I did). I had taken the last names of many of my close friends in college and made them middle names for any son that come along. Jonah Morgan, Gabriel Thomas, etc, even putting my own maiden name with one, Noah Conley.
I had only one girl's name picked out, Grace Elizabeth. So when we found out we were having a girl the name was easy. Although truth be told I didn't know of your mom when Grace was born, I'm now going to claim that Grace is named after your mother as well. :o)
One other funny thing though was that we had whittled the boy's name down to one possibility Luke Timothy (my husband is Tim). However, just a few days before Grace was born a good friend of mine who went to our church had a boy and named him Luke Timothy. That would have been quite interesting for the ladies in the nursery to have to deal with. ;o)
Blessings,
Kimberly
My name is Elizabeth Marie. When i was younger, I told people that my parents named me after Queen Elizabeth I, then I realized my name was like my grandma's so up until two years ago, that's who i assumed I was named after. Come to find out that my parents arrived at my name by just combining the middle names of my sisters. Not as grand as the Queen, but thank goodness I love my sisters!!! :-)
I was suppossed to be a boy. Rhonda is as close to my dad's name as they could get. For our boys, we actually did not name either one of them. I had the name Ezekiel picked for our first pregnancy, but we miscarried around 10-12 weeks. So when the next one came around, hubby & I could not agree so we asked a prayer warrior in our church to pray & gives us a name. She did, twice, and so that is how both our boys got their names. She also had a word from the Lord for both that she spoke over them & I will cherish that forever. Weird huh? I mean who doesn't name their own kids? Well, we didn't.
I absolutely LOVE her name. Annabeth is sweet and southern and girly and reminds me of someone who is kindhearted. I also admire a girl named Ellen so much, so I adore that name, too!
My first name is Mary. So is my mom's, grandmother's, and great-grandmother's. I was the 4th and my oldest daughter is the 5th. My mother and grandmother are Mary Virginia, my great-grandmother is Mary Drucilla (sounds like a Cinderella step-sister, doesn't it? :D But I LOVE it.), and my daughter is Mary Emma.
My middle name, and the name I go by, is Robyn. My dad was a youth minister when I was young and I was named after a sweet girl in the youth group. I've never met her, though. Would love to do that!
I am going to enjoy reading these comments! Thanks for explaining Annabeth's name to us!!
My mother died when I was 25, so while I'm sure that she told me about my namesake, I don't remember now. I do know I was named after a wonderful friend of my mother's from a church my mom and dad ministered at her name is Pam Tod. Ironically I would marry a man named Todd.
On a side note, I have a son named Jake and when I was pregnant with my second son I wanted to name him Jack. My husband thought those were too much alike so we compromised on Jaxson spelled with an "x" to help assure he would not become Jack.
Not a great story for my name - Diana. My mom simply liked the name of the lead singer of the Supremes - Diana Ross.
My daughter's name Victoria on the other hand is a great story. My husband and I picked out names for the future children we hoped we would have 1 night at dinner (we weren't even married yet!) We wanted strong names that somehow conveyed the strength of character we hoped our children would have. For a boy - Alexander Kelly, my husband's name is Kelly and for a girl Victoria Ann. We were not saved at this time either - it was like 15 years ago sigh....
We hung on to those names over time. We later married and came to Christ together and became pregnant with our first child. We both thought that our child was going to be a boy and to our surprise, she was wasn't. We both claimed in loud agreement that her name indeed would be Victoria Ann and later prayed over her at her baby dedication that she walk a life of victory for Christ all the days of her life! At times we will call her Victorious Victoria as that is who she is to us and Christ! We call her Tori as a nick name but her name is so significant to us.
Blessings Siestas!
We had every intention of calling our daughter, Elizabeth Anne, Beth! We had a dear friend in church called Beth and just loved her as well as her name. My husband and I both had great, greats named Elizabeth so it was kind of cool keeping it in the family. And Elizabeth is a TIMELESS name!! Sadly, our Lizzie never became Beth. It just never seemed to fit her! She's been Elizabeth, Liz, Lizzie & LittleBit but never Beth....
Blessings!
Jan
I love Annabeth it has that southern belle ring to it! When I was born my parents were so sure I was a boy they were blindsided when I popped out instead. Since they had no idea what to name me they asked the doctor for suggestions, of course he suggested his daughters name and so it was. I bet she was a very happy little girl that day!
My name was supposed to be Laura Shannon. After I was born (after a whole 2 hours of labor--my mom sometimes tries to play the "all-I-suffered-to-bring-you-into-this-world" card and I'm like, people have dentist appointments that last longer than that, Mama), my dad--realizing that this had taken far less time than he thought it would--went to a football game. I know. I KNOW. So she was alone and mad when the time came for the birth certificate to be signed, and decided I was going to be Shannon Leigh.
He returned a few hours later bearing pink cigars that said "Happy Birthday Laura Shannon" which he had handed out to all his friends, and to which my mom responded calmly, "That would be so cute if that were her name. I guess you might want to stick around."
He did not make the same mistake with my sister, even though her labor was only 45 minutes!
Hi there,
I am not sure if my "namesake" knows the Lord, whatsoever, or if my Aunt Sue even knows this former college roommate anymore, but my parents must have liked the sound of her name: Jennifer
And, my middle name is Sue, for that same aunt I mentioned above. And, I believe that she is "true Christian", or that He has chosen her to become one soon. She just got herself involved in an "Overview of the Bible" Bible study at her church, which is supposed to last all year long.
And, I think that is exciting, as that denomination has not exactly been one that encourages the "lay people" to read or learn from the Bible without being in a church service, up until recently. Praise God !
And, I think it is a wonderful idea that you wanted to honor your family members like this in your sweet Annabeth ! I, for one, can honestly state that I do not think that I have learned more from God's Word, and His un-ending love for us from anyone besides your dear mother, Beth. With the Holy Spirit's help, she tends to "pry" into each heart [if the person allows it] in the homework and listening sections of her Bible studies.
However, I have learned over the past 6.5 years that the way that our dear Miss Beth "pries" is with the most noble and loving ways, as she wants to help US learn to know and Love her Lord and Savior [Jesus], just as she does, and she does so in a most humble way.
And, better yet, she is so very authentic face to face, as well, which must bring so much glory to God !
In Christ's Love,
Jennifer
Janesville, WI
My mother chose my first name, Melissa, just because she liked it.
There's a family tradition that goes back for centuries that there's always a "Catherine" or a "Sarah" in the family. My grandmother's name is Catherine, my mother's middle name is Sarah, and my middle name is Catherine. It's been traced back to a great-great-great, etc grandmother Catherine in Ireland in the 1600's. And as we've traced the family back, we've found either a Catherine or a Sarah in each generation. So I suppose if I have a daughter someday I'll have to incorporate Sarah in her name somehow! I don't want to be the one to break a tradition that's lasted so long! There's also a very old opal ring that is passed down along with the name, which my mother has now.
Our daughter Hallie Miranda was named after her sweet great grandma, who has since passed on, and her cousin. The name thing didn't GET me until we were pregnant with our first son who had been diagnosed with Trisomy 18 while I was 18 weeks pregnant. I knew he had to have the perfect name, but for my husband and I to name he seemed an impossible task. I was driving one day and praying that God would just take care of this for us. I will never forget what stop light I sat at while I poured my heart out to Him asking He grant us a name that HE wanted, not that we wanted.
Later that evening I was reading baby names and clicking through boys names, meanings, etc and right as my husband walked through the door from work a name popped up "Isaac - He will laugh" he WILL laugh! I turned my laptop to my husband and we both started crying. Our sweet baby had been named. It wasn't until much later that the whole story of Isaac and Abraham hit me...then the fact that his mothers name...like mine...was Sara.
Now...we have son #3 and to our dismay the task again seemed impossible. We talked about ever name in the book and my husband kept saying: We've exhausted the Bible names honey...
Then one day we were sitting at Chilis and he said "what do you think about the name Asher?" I bout jumped out of my seat clapping and crying because I already knew the name meant Happy and Blessed and that we were! Asher is 6 months old and man is he happy and MAN ARE WE BLESSED!
I love reading the story behind sweet Annabeth's name. thank you.
My real name is Frances and I'm named after my aunt, "Mary Fran" and my precious grandmother, whom I adored, "Frances." I go by Fran and have such joy in knowing that my grandmother was a fantastic woman and loved Jesus. I just wish she would have lived longer.
Blessings over your family today...
Fran
I taught school for 11 years before I had children, and that made it really tough to find names for my children. I would think...oh no, the two Bridgets I had were so giggly, or Aaron so and so was such a pill--always in trouble. So for my son's name we named him after my husband's great-grandfather Benjamin and his middle name was after my dad, Ross. In all the time I taught I never had a Benjamin, or a Ross. My daughter's name is Allison because I love Alli (spelled with an "i" just like mine) for when she's little and Allison as a "grown-up" name. Her middle name is Lee after both my middle name and my mother- in-law. I think it's interesting how much names "fit" people. Ben's definitely a "Ben" and Alli is certainly an "Alli"!
There is a gaping ten year gap between my siblings and I. Colleen...then Jess....then ten years later...me! My parents prayed all of those years to get pregnant, and when it finally happened, the name to choose was clear: Samuel. (note: I was supposed to be a boy. I really don't understand how you could possibly confuse a girl for a boy...but apparently you can) So in the hospital, at the last minute, my daddy gave me a name: Hannah. Samuel's mother, a powerful intercessor, a woman of faith and grace.
I was named after my dad, Michael. My mom really wanted a 'Jr.' if I were a boy, but dad wouldn't agree. The compromise...if I were a girl then I would be Michelle. Lovely thought...however, my maiden name was Fish. Mike Fish sounds very manly, Michelle Fish lends it's self to all sorts of play ground taunts...especially coupled with the middle name of Fern. Who cares if it was passed down from both sides of the family...When you put Michelle Fern Fish together it = Shell-Fern-Fish and kids ask you whether you are plant, animal or mineral! Almost 20 years ago I married 'my man' and I was so happy to gain a surname that certainly no one could make fun of. At the time I was working for a International Christian ministry in So. Cal. It was in the days before e-mail so I had the priviledge of sending out an inner office memo with my new name on it. I proudly typed it up, printed up numerous copies and was just finishing placing them in inner-office envelopes only to notice that I had accdentally hit the 's' key on the typewritter, instead of the 'w' in Whittaker...something my husband said had never been done in all the years he'd had the name! Leave it to me to mess up a 'normal' name...and 'that' way...in a Christian office no less! =] Just another episode in my I Love Lucy sort of life!
While I go by Casi on a daily basis, my first name is actually not Cassandra. You see, my maiden name is Whitehead and my dad just thought that was way to much name for a little girl. So they shortened it to Casan and my middle name, Rae, is in honor of my great-aunt.
When my daughter was born, I immediately fell in love with the name Taylor but wanted to honor both my mother and grandmother with her middle name. So Alice (Maw Maw's first name) + Juanette (mom's middle name) = Alette. Hence, Taylor Alette.
My name is Lynn Ellen - Lynn just a name my parents liked. Ellen is after my grandma. I loved her so much and she was a great influence in my life so I have always appreciated that I have her name.
Amanda - thank you for such a thoughtful post. I always hated my name because growing up in the 50s and 60s, having an unusual name was not the norm. But I eventually grew to love my name, giving it as a middle name to my second daughter. She, in turn, gave "our" name to her firstborn daughter. So the beautiful name continues and is an honor to my parents, who had no idea that an unusual name would cause me pain and embarrassment as a child, but great joy as an adult. God is good.
My husband and I had always loved the name Emily. But when I was pregnant with our daughter, I was reading a book with the character's name Abby. I asked him what he thought, and he liked the name. We decided we would chose between Abby and Emily when she was born. Well, one day he was looking at a baby name book and discovered that Abby (Abigail) means "Father's joy". Well, that sealed it! We would have an Abby!
With our son we had a much harder time and didn't name him until after he was born. Andrew was on our short list but what made me decide to chose it was that the man giving me the good drugs during my c-section's name was Andrew!
Amanda,
Loved the post. My husband and I both believe that God came up with our second son's name. I told my husband, "I just feel like his name is supposed to be Christian." Greg said "you're kidding, so do I." Well that was enough for us. Our beautiful, now 10 year old, has Autism and epilepsy. To be able to look into those beautiful brown eyes on any very frustrating day and call him "Christian", reminds me that God made him just the way he wanted him. He is such a blessing to us, and to his brother and sister.
Amanda,
I am one of those women that really doesn't have a god-ly heritage in my immediate family. I'm the only believer....until you go back to my Dad's Mother. And a cousin on the same side of the family. BUT....God used me to bring my own Mother into the Kingdom of God about 10 days before He came for her taking her home.
My name....came from a teacher that my Mom's father had in elementray school. He spoke highly of this lady and so my Mom chose to name me after her.
Lovingly,
Yolanda
I loved hearing your story of naming Annabeth! My mom had just come to know Christ and wanted His name in my name, so that's why I'm named Christina. I am thankful that my legacy in the Lord started from thoughtfulness on her part! Dyan is from my mom's older sister who passed away when I was 8 months old, Diana. Even though I don't remember her I still feel connected to her because we share a name.
My grandfather's name is Dan. My Mama's name is Dannie, my sister's name is Danielle...
...and my name is Miranda. Hmmm....
I don't have a story behind my name. Just something my Mama liked. But also, I was the first one who fell in love with Jesus (as your blog says)... and I've had the honor of witnessing to my family, and seeing a few of them give their hearts to the Lord. There are still a few more to go, then we'll all be at the Lord's Marriage Super together.
So, I reckon' I was named different for a reason. :)
Thanks for sharing! You have your Mama's talent for writing.
Do not know the story behind the name, but my full name (before adding the married name) means "Born Again Shepherd Warrior" - discovered that about 10 years ago and was in awe . . .
My mom and dad love old movies and movie stars, so I am named Holly after Holly Golightly in "Breakfast at Tiffany's." My middle name Raequel is after Raquel Welch, spelled wonderfully wrong, because the nurse and my mom were both poor spellers.
I passed my middle name on to our Kylie and spelled it wrong, too.
Our daughter is Micah, named after my step dad Mike. I knew that one of my other 6 siblings would probably use Michael for a boy, but Micah for a girl fit from the moment I found out I was expecting pink after back to back blues.
My husband was not on board at first, but I knew in my heart that Micah was the name, so I just laid low.
The day she arrived, he was so smitten to have a little girl he just looked at me and said, you name her what ever you like, I can not even think straight.
And so, Micah Alisabeth-Lynn was set in stone.
Amanda - I really like the name Annabeth - it sounds very sweet and feminine, and for some reason, I always associate the name Ellen with someone who is confident and strong. You picked a beautiful name for your princess.
Names!!! What a great topic…
I was the fourth child born in my family. The oldest three were all born in England (my parents are British) but at the time my mom was expecting me, my parents were living in New Caledonia, a tiny little island in the southern Pacific, where my dad was completing research for his PhD. My mom said she had picked out the name “Catherine” for a girl, but at the last minute, she changed her mind and decided to give me a French name, Adrienne, since New Caledonia is a French island.
When my husband and I were expecting our first, we chose not to find out ahead of time if we were having a boy or a girl. We never did agree on a boy’s name, but picked out Rachel Elizabeth for a girl. However, after Rachel was born and my husband was asked to provide all the info for the birth certificate, on an impulse he changed her middle name to Katherine. Two years later when we knew we were expecting a boy, we debated and wrangled over names, and finally we decided on James Aaron. Our son is named after his grandfather (James) and two of his great-grandfathers (James and Aaron).
Lastly, a funny story about names! In my husband’s family, there is some weird, long-standing tradition that for boys, their middle name is the last name of the doctor who delivered the baby. Hence, in his family there are men with the middle names Baker, Willard, Memory, and such. My husband jokes that he is thankful his mother chose not to continue that tradition, as he was delivered by a Dr. Abramovich, which would have made for a hilarious name!
Hugs,
Adrienne
I so know what you mean!! We wanted the same for our baby girl. She is named after 3 very special, Godly people in our heritage...one night while I was pregnant, I woke up crying (those hormones!) thinking about the specialness her name would convey. I wrote this poem...which I put on our blog. It's too long to post on a comment, but it has the reasons why we named our little girl Bailey Elizabeth!! :)
http://thepurtlepage.blogspot.com/2008/08/bailey-elizabeth-purtle.html
I'm not really sure the story behind my name, Heather. But my middle name, Rose, is after my grandmother on my mom's side, Rosa.
Our children, on the other hand, have great stories behind their names. Our son, J.J. (Jonathan James), is named after the MANY Johns, Johnnys, etc. on both sides of our family: my dad was John, my grandfather was Johnny, my great-grandfather was John...it keeps going. My husband is Johnny, his great-grandfather was John, his great-great grandfather was John. And James comes from my hubby's dad, Jim.
Our daughter, Hadley Rose, is after me. "Hadley" means "field of heather (the English flower), which we didn't know until we had already picked out the name. And Rose, well...that's obviously just continuing my grandmother's heritage.
Amy - the only name my parents could agree on!
I also have to share that my group is doing Beth's study on Paul right now. The video is amusing as you can imagine. One thing that comes up are her hopes and dreams for her two daughters (you and your sister!!) How blessed she is to see what a beautiful mother you have become! I pray you will see your daughter (and son!) bloom!
I don't have a story behind my name (though im told Shoshannah is the Hebrew which if I have another daughter I'd be tempted to call her that - but we do have a Levi.. (who is also very cute!) His middle name is James, so there was a lot of joking when he was born about Levi James = Levi Jeans, and my dad thinks it a great "cowboy" name.
Like you I loved the name Beth, but didn't want a Bethany (although I love that name!) so hunting through the "Strongs" I came across Beth-shan....okay so Saul got nailed to the walls of Beth-shan.....but we loved the sound and the meaning (though my sweetheart hasn't lived up to the name yet...aghhh she is wilder than my my boys!!)
Susan
England
My name is Ilagene. My mother's mother's name was Ila and my dad's was Gene ( I know...the male spelling of Jean..but that was her name) I was Ilagene until college where my friends called me Ila. Sadly to say..my Gene gmother wasn't the nicest person I knew, so I gladly dropped the last part of my name. Now there are 3 Ila's in my church..very unusual.
oh, the other thing I should have told you...b/c you might get a kick out of this...my Nanaw and Papa Bailey (that my little girl is named after) lived in Gurdon, Ark...just a few miles from Arkadelphia! We also go there every year for my husband's family reunion. His family lives in Prescott, and their reunion is at DeGray Lake. I'm sure you've heard of all these small places...isn't it such a small world? :) And, believe it or not...my husband and I did NOT meet in Arkansas. We found out that our families lived so close together AFTER we had already started dating. Another small world!!
Amanda,
What a lovely story about your daughter's name. She will grow to love and cherish that story!
I was suppose to be born on Christmas eve and have the name December Dawn. Being born early at Thanksgiving though, my parents decide upon Dawn Kathleen. I am not sure where Kathleen came from but I have always liked it.
A humorous side note..My great aunt lived a couple hours away. When she would visit, she always brought us hotdogs, and rhubarb pie! She always seemed quite elderly to me and never did get my name right always calling me Donna Katherine!
Still a nice name...just not mine. lol!
Our daughter's name is Andriana. pronounced Ann-dree-on-uh. Her name means feminine or womanly. She is definitely our princess and she's very feminine but also sporty.(keeps up with her 3 older brothers!) Her middle names,are Laura after her paternal grandma and Mae, after her maternal grandma: Andriana Laura Mae. She was adopted from Russia at 3 years old. Her given name was Polina. Since her initials would have been P.P. my husband and I thought we should change it since we were afraid kids would tease her about having a potty name! Beside, since we couldn't speak Russian, we decided she wouldn't know the difference if her name was in English too! Love makes a name worth while no matter what a child is called. Like my dad used to say " you can call me anything you like,..just don't call me late for supper!"
Love and prayers,
Dawn
Oh Amanda, I am so glad you told us the story behind Miss Annabeth's name. I love this kind of stuff. My dad would not allow my name to be anything but Barbara Ann. My maiden name is Italian, b/c my dad's side of the family is full Italian. My mom's side is a mix of German, English and I don't know what else.
Laura is by far the most popular name in our family (on my mom's side). She wanted to give me her name, Laura Ann. Both sides of my family come from Southern WV, which is really about as southern as a place can get, as much as the deep south (b/c not many people have moved in or out). I think it's wonderful though. Very slow-paced and I love that. You go in the gas station and hear "Have a great day hooonnney." It used to make my day. My great-grandmother's name was Laura Lee Lilly, and I just love that. Her people, along with several other farming folks started the beautiful town of Camp Creek, WV. I know that Barbara is a name that has been used a couple of times on my dad's side of the family, but that is not why he named me that. He just loved my name and would not hear of having any other.
However, much to my great surprise, when I was searching my Lilly family roots on line I found my great-great-mothers name in several places. One place said "Alabama Barbara." I was shocked. I knew her name was Alabama, another one passed down in our family, but I had no idea her middle name was Barbara. I'm not sure if that site was bonafide and if I have to pay to find out more about my family, then I will. I am blessed to have detailed accounts of people and pictures from way back when, thanks to my great-uncle. It is so much work to pull it all together and we are working on other sides. It is so good to pass it down to your children. I have loved and been so intrigued reading about my ancestors. Very godly people. I had no idea and sometimes I wonder if they prayed for future generations b/c I should not be posting on this blog right now.
I named both of my children names that we just picked out. Adra Nicole and Michael Aidan. I did not appreciate passing down names at the time. Everyone else in my family has basically passed down at least one name to their children. I don't regret it though, I LOVE my childrens' names.
I am so darn happy that you named Annabeth after both sides of the family. That is really special. Like you, I had a long list of girl names and a very short list of boy names (no clue), but Annabeth is one of the prettiest girl names I have heard and I really mean that. God bless you all! Cannot wait to read everyone's post!
My daughter's name is Abigail Jo. Abigail was picked by her father because it means "my Father's joy." We love that it refers to both her earthly father and her heavenly One. Jo is my grandmother's name, my aunt's middle name, and my middle name. My grandparents have given our family such a rich foundation of love and faith. My dad says that he never understood what love was until he saw it in my mom's home. I want that for Abigail...a legacy of love.
My name is Rebecca, which is after the biblical Rebecca but with the alternate spelling. We named our son Zachary for a more exciting reason. My husband and I actually had two girl names ready, but when the sonogram came back "boy," we were at a loss. We had nothing. We sort of had a middle name, which was Marshall for my uncle, but we eventually ruled that out. Everyone kept saying, "Is his name going to be 'Charles?'" That was my father-in-law's name, who had gone home to heaven about a year before, and my husband's first name, but we had not really considered using it. After much prompting, we decided to use it as a middle name. But we still had no first name! Finally, when I was 7 months pregnant, somehow we had narrowed the field down to three names (one of them was Jackson, by the way, Amanda!). We would talk through them from time to time, but we never came to any conclusions. As a last resort, my husband suggested I look up the meanings of the names and see if that helped any. It surely did! "Zachary" means "God remembered." Oh how He remembered us! After a miscarriage 3 years before, we finally were expecting our miracle! Oh praise His name - the name above all names - for giving us our precious Zachary!
Amanda,
I was supposed to be a boy. My mom would have named a him Kelly. Instead she had me. Interesting to note that my mom had no idea how God would take that name and the meaning of it and apply it so completely to my life's calling. Of the variations I have read one means strength. I have also read in other places it means Warrior Woman. LOL! And yes, he called me to be an intercessory prayer warrior.
My youngest daughter's name was even more amazing. My mom and I had disagreements over what her name should be. I liked the name Ashley for a first name and Michelle for a middle name. Well, my mom wanted it to be Casey Lynn. I um don't think so. I went into preterm labor twice with her so my mom came up early to stay with my other daughter. One evenening she asked me what I thought of the name Ashlin for a first name. I smiled and told my mom that I really liked it. So, when the sweetie came into this world, I named her Ashlin Michelle. I had no idea until I got home from the hospital what her name meant.
The Irish version for AShlin means a vision or a dream. Michelle is feminine for Michael and means who is like God. So I have a vision or dream who is like God.! I still get tingly every time I think about that and she was born almost 12 years ago.
Kels
My dad is a professor at a local college, so he had many names that had connotations for him. But, somehow he and my mom came up with Wendy. The cool part is my middle name, Suzanne. I always liked it alright, but I ended up marrying into a family of Suzannes! I named my daughter Brenna Suzanne and my s-i-l named her daughter with Suzanne as her middle name. I love it!
My name is Mary and I was born on my great Aunt Mary's 50th birthday. There was a family fight over my middle name. My mother wanted to name me Mary Beth. But my dad had promised to name is first child after his Grandmother, Margaret Atlas. WHAT A NAME!!!!! His grandmother finally agreed to Alice. So my name is Mary Alice. I went by both names until 3rd grade and decided that it was too childish. So I dropped the Alice. The only people who still call me Mary Alice are the people that I went to church with when I was little. I still go to the same church...so every once in awhile Mary Alice is said and my husband and daughter get the giggles. They say I don't look like a Mary Alice. Also, my husband will call me Mary Alice to get my attention quickly. My sweet 84 year grandmother always calls me Mary Alice. So that is my name story!!!
Marni(e) is an Alfred Hitchcock movie starring Tippi Hedrin and Sean Connery. Marnie was a nutjob who would go insane, see red and attack her friends. For whatever reason, my pregnant mom flipped over the name and here I am (minus the "e" which everyone sticks on the end of my name anyway).
Nice legacy huh? ;)
I love the name Annabeth. What a wonderful tribute!
I was named after my great-great aunt. She was a salt-of-the-earth type woman. She was simple, loved the Lord, and would do anything for anybody. My middle name is my mom and dads middle names combined!
We find out next month if our second child is going to be a boy or a girl! We can't wait. It will be much easier for my hubby and I to discuss names when we actually know what we are naming!
Thanks for sharing - Annabeth is such lovely name :)
Blessings,
Kate :)
The story of my name is that my dad knew a woman in town that they called "Kitty". He thought a lot of her and loved that name. So when I came along he named me Kitty Caroline. That is about as southern Arkansas as you can get. Daddy always called me "Kitten" or "Kit Cat". What I wouldn't give to hear him call me that again.
I believe that my parents saw the spelling of my name, "Cinde", painted on a box at a cattle show. Funny, but not a real deep story behind it.
My daughter, however, is named Katherine after my great-grandmother. And hers is a blessed heritage of a name. You see, my great-grandmother was a German-Russian immigrant who came to the United States in the early 1900's. When she got on the boat with the other voyagers, there were 21 children in their company (5 of which were hers). When they arrived at Ellis Island there were only 7 children left alive - including her 5. The odds of that I can't even figure so I just give God praise for His amazing protection and miraculous care! And I named my daughter Katherine because I want her to be a woman of great strength and fortitude too.
When I was reading through your reasons for wanting to name Annabeth after your Mama, the verse near the end of Proverbs 31 that says "her children arise and call her blessed" kept coming to mind. How I hope and pray that mine will.
I was named after my Mom's only sister (Gail)who was killed by a drunk driver at the age of 17. I never knew her, of course, but people tell me that she was a wonderful person.
Dori,
I really appreciate what you wrote. My daughter is 13 now, but she came out and kicked her covers off in the warmer. I call her my pink ball of energy. That girl is and has always been a force to be reckoned with. She is so strong-willed. I pray the same things you do and I've wanted it to happen yesterday.
Her name means "beautiful one" and "virgin." She is definitely beautiful, and Lord I pray that the latter one sticks until marriage. We had never heard the name Adra, but I wanted to name her Adrian after my cousin (basically sister) and her dad would not have it, so we compromised. His friend came up with Adra. I have done some research though and it does have meaning and my outgoing social butterfly found a teacher named Adra in LA and EMAILED HER AT THE SCHOOL, UNKNOWN TO ME, to make friends. Adra in LA is very nice and we have all talked, via email. They even looked at eachother's pictures on line. My Adra is on line for winning the WV State Bible Drill a couple of years ago. She did that despite me. I let her go to a slumber party the night before with her Christian Performing Art Group, Arts in Action, and she stayed up all night. So, she got an earful on the way to Bible Drill b/c her coach worked sooo hard. Boy, she was smirky after that! I was so happy.
Okay, now matter how tempted I get, I am not posting again. I am such a selfish blog-hog. It's pathetic! I actually have a lot to do today and I got off to a good start. But, girl, name posts get me fired up.
Barbara S., Katy-TX
I will say I love Jackson's name and Annabeth's name. They sound wise to me.
Our story for kids names - My husband had crazy name ideas when we were pregnant with our first. Brand, Rope, Rowdy, you name it, he thought of it. I think his bullridin' days had affected his rational line of thinking! Anyhow, we settled on Brody because we both had never had any contact with a Brody.
Then came our second baby. We knew she was a girl so we focused on that line of names. We came up with the PERFECT name. My aunt's name was Emma. She was more like my grandma, I loved it and thought it was a great tribute.
We gathered my family all together and announced Emma's name. My youngest brother stood up and said 'what a great play on words. Her name will be Emma Tate!'
Needless to say, her name is Molly.
I just couldn't imagine strapping my precious little girl with the name imitate for the rest of her life!
No more kids for us as I'm too old but we enjoy our gifts and delight in others when they receive the ultimate gift from God.
Blessings!
Kelli Tate in Colorado
Amanda, thanks for your name-midrash and your blessing on the black sheep of the family siesta!!! You made me think of how sad it would/will be to find out that i wasn't actually the first but that someone who could have passed something along to me didn't! like the light under the bushel basket...how really sad is that... anon aka jellybean's cousin
Before my mother was saved, she had me. She had always wanted to name her little girl (if ever she had one) Molly. She also didn't feel right giving me a last name that was from a father I would never know, so she gave me my OWN last name: Summer.
I am the only one in my family with the last name Summer.
My mom became saved and has lived a life of integrity and honor. She loves the LORD with all her heart and has raised me to as well.
Hi...........When I was expecting , we could name about 8 girls ,but not sure of a boy's name.
Like you we also had associations with names as I was a teacher and the names my husband loved were just NOT my choice at all! He wanted to name our son after his cat Sebastian...for goodness sake!
We both loved the name Hayden
(I taught a little boy with that name and he was so sweet natured!)and my husband had worked with someone who was married to a Hayden and as they named their son Phillip after my husband, so it seemed fair to return the compliment.We also had to have a family middle name of John, so when our little blue bundle arrived 27 years ago, he was named Hayden John..
He didn't like it to start with as it was different and he got called "haystack" at school, but now he loves it for being different!!
It's serious stuff naming a child...they can grow up with a real stigma if we don't think about it,but I guess when we get to heaven we will get new names anyway won't we??
Blessings to you all .....such a thrill to read about you all - and our little church here in the UK is doing Esther this term - amazing!
Gilly
I was just talking to my sister about names and she told me this story about her daughter.
When my sister had her daughter, Shannan, she and her husband had the name Savannah Rose picked out. When the baby arrived my sister was really out of it because of a reaction to some medication she was given. The doctor turned to her husband and said 'Well, dad, here's your beautiful baby girl. What's her name?' and my brother-in-law said 'Shannan Rose'. When my sister woke up she had a Shannan instead of a Savannah.
Close but no cigar! We love Shanny a ton and now she is 18 and going off to college. Just seems like yesterday she was a little tot running around with snot drippin' down her face.
Go figure!
Blessings
Kelli in Colorado
In our family you get a Biblical name and a family name. I am Rebecca Jo - th eJo is from my great grandma Josie (Josephine). They considered Rebecca Josephine, but my mom decided that if I married someone with a long last name I would not have enough squares to fit it on government forms! So, with that very logical reasoning, Becky Jo it is!
My girls are Hattie Grace - Hattie was my OTHER great grandma and Grace is Biblical (there are many girls in my fam so it was either Grace or Dorka!!!) and Sophie Lee - Lee was the name of BOTH of my grandpas and Sophie is after the greek word for wisdom and in SOME translations of the Bible the Wise Men are called Sophus. One child in the hope of knowing and embracing God's Grace and one with the hopes of having both wisdom and a heart that seeks the Savior.
I can't wait to read all of these - I love to hear the stories of names!!
My mother was one of five children which four went to be with the Lord at an early age. To honor one of her sisters,whose name was Elva, she named me Melva with the middle name of Lee after her father, keeping with the tradition of the first name beginning with "M". I have never met either of these family members but have been delighted with the tradition. So I named by son with the middle name of McKinnon after my grandfather whom I dearly loved.
Thanks for sharing. My (3) girls have the middle names of Love, Joy and Peace. (I quit before I had to have 1 named patience;) My husband calls them the fruit of his loins:)
Anna :it is of Hebrew origin. Latinate variant of Hannah.
The girl's name Hannah \ha(n)-nah\ is pronounced HAN-ah. It is of Hebrew origin, and its meaning is "favored grace".
The girl's name Beth \b(e)-th\ is pronounced beth. It is of Hebrew origin, and its meaning is "house". Short form of Elizabeth (Hebrew) "God's promise",
I just love her name and isn't interesting how orgins of names can fit so well.
Annabeth: the house of God's promise of favored grace.
Not trying to be bold, just having fun tracing back names - I love what's in a name.
Tabaitha - translated to Dorcas in Greek, found in Acts 9:36. Not that I'm real thrilled with the Dorcas part, but it also means Gazelle.
I am named after my parents, Martha and Joe. Growing up I was called Martha Jo. I dislike bing called by my first name alone. That was my mom's name, not mine! As a young adult I began using my initials, and so today most people call me M.J. My parents both are in Heaven now, and I am honored to be their namesake.
My given name is Kim Suzette. Not Kimberly, but just plain, old Kim. Kim for actress Kim Novack (it was a long time ago...) and Suzette because one of the nurses in the maternity ward had that name and my mother loved it. Not much tradition or legacy-building in my naming.
I looked up the meaning of my name. It is a English/Welsh name meaning "ruler" or "chief". So I claim my name-scripture Matthew 25:21 - "His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord."
When I was born, my parents THOUGHT I would be the last child; so I am named after both of them.
My parents' names are Lynn and Robin. I am Lindsey Robin.
They were in for a fun surprise when another little one came four years later and they had to scramble to figure out another girl name!
I absolutely LOVE my name though. If I ever get married, I will be going against the grain and dropping my maiden name instead of my middle name!
I think you've come up with the perfect way to honor your mother and I can just picture Annabeth with her grandmother and all the fun they'll have. I'm thinking you may not hear about some of it until way later! Knowing that Jackson calls her Bibby makes me smile and it will be great fun to see what Annabeth comes up with:)
My name is Arlet (sounds like Charlotte without the "shh"). It's my mother's middle name and I'm told my grandmother heard it on the radio and liked it. I didn't know that until long after my grandmother died so for all I know I'm named after a box of cereal!
One of the fellows I had occasion to work with on a development project and who is considered the resident historian of the small town where the project was built once sent me some documentation indicating there's an apple named "arlet". And someone from church recently told me it has connections to missions but I've not had the chance to follow up on that.
Thanks for asking, and please know how much we enjoy hearing about your little ones.
My parents were supporting a ministry at the time I was born in 1964 that supported Jim and Elizabeth Elliot. The Elliots had 1 child and named her Valerie. My parents loved them and when I came along, they named me after their daughter.
Valerie
Westerly, RI
Hi Amanda! Loved your post! My name is Margaret and I was named after my grandmother. Growing up I thought, "Why would my parents give me and 80 year old's name?" I didn't like it. As I got older and watched my grandmother and now that she has gone to be with Jesus I am so proud to be named after her. She was a mighty woman of God and so full of wisdom! Talk about a prayer warrior.
Then, my husband and I found out we were expecting b/g twins and the whole name game began! We were adamant they would not rhyme. I was a teacher at the time so there were very many names thrown out because a past students face would come to mind and I didn't want that everytime I said my children's names. For our daughter we decided on Kara Brooke just because we loved it so much and Seth Michael for our son. We always agreed on the name Seth and Michael is after my father and brother. They are both called by their first and middle names. Very southern! Kara Brooke and Seth Michael are almost 4 and what a joy it is to be there mama!
Amanda,
I love this post about what's in a name you and I actually share the same name "Amanda". When I was younger I never really knew what my name meant but I was a child that was abused physically and sexually and had to overcome so many things from that. I did I overcame and what got me through was that I knew God loved me no matter what had happened to me I knew in my heart God was right there all along and he loved me.
So how happy and joyful was I when I found out my/our name means "worthy of love, beloved". Its amazing how that has had such an impact on me. I am truly worthy of love and I am God's beloved.
Thanks for sharing with us the meaning of your new additions name. I'm sure she will in every way live up to it.
~Amanda Taylor
itsmrsthegreat@mac.com
I wasn't named after anyone, but according to my mom, she wanted to name me Kimber Leigh and my dad hated that, so they compromised and named me Kimberly Marie. I look forwrd to having a child some day. My husband and I already have the names chosen, just waiting on the blessing now.
I must admit, I named my daughter after a Star Trek character (I know, I know, shameful!) but it was SO beautiful....Elise. Well low and behold, when my daughter was about 3 years old, my dad went to a family reunion of his side of the family. When he returned, he shared a copy of the family tree chart. Imagine my surprise when I saw that 3 of my great grandmas from the 1800 and early 1900s were named 'Elise'?!! I had never heard that name in our family before! Now instead of saying I named my girl after a TV character, I can proudly say, "oh it's an old family name". HA! God is so funny! He knew all along what my daughter's name was to be, even when I thought it was all my grand idea!
We say in our family the highest honor one can bestow upon another is to name your child after someone.
I was named after my mother, they just shortened Janet to Jana, and my dad's only sister, Ruth. My daughter is after my favorite aunt and my mother's middle name. My aunt was never able to have children of her own so I wanted to honor her that way. My son is named after my my father-in-law and his father.
I love to hear where people come up with names. Blessings on your sweet Annabeth Ellen.
Jana
Amanda, I named my daughter after my great-grandmother and my husband. I know that this sounds strange, but keep reading. My daughter's name is Rachel Claire. Rachel is my great-grandmother's name and Clarence is my husband's name. I had always told my family that if I ever got married and had a daughter her name would be Rachel and I held true. My great-grandmother was very dear to me and was a very devoted Christian woman and I thank her for teaching me to be a godly woman. She passed away when I was only a little thing, but I will never forget what she taught me. I have been married for nearly 23 years and my daughter is 13. I knew that she would be my only child therefore, we used part of my husband's first name as her middle name because we did not have a son and I wanted our daughter to be able to have his name so when she married and received a new last name that she would still carry on her family name. Thanks for reading.
Amanda,
Thank you for sharing how you arrived at Annabeth's name. What a godly heritage and example she has to follow!
My name is Tara Lynn, and my Mom and Dad chose it just because they liked it...
But for my children, we named them Natalie Ann and Nathan James. Both are family names: (1) Ann being my great-grandmother,and my husband's mother (2) James from my husband and his father's name (3) Nathan from my great-great-grandfather. We also loved the prophet Nathan and all that he stood for in Scripture. And because they were twins, we had to have something that went with Nathan...so Natalie it was!
(When they are in trouble, we call them THE NATS!)
What a fun post!
Love ya!
Being the youngest of five girls and coming late in my parents lives. My father was 47. I was named after my dad whose name was Ernest therfore I am Ernestine.
Love the story behind Annabeth's name as well as Jackson's!!
My parents had boy names picked out but had not decided on a girl's name so when I came they were unprepared. My dad was driving back to the hospital after picking some items up and passed by a storefront sign...."Wendy Poo Laundromat" thus my name...Wendy.
What an honor for both your mom and your wee little one! May Annabeth love the Lord even more than her Bibby.
I was named after my dad's ex-girlfriend. Yes, you heard me right- my dad's ex-girlfriend! My mom liked her middle name so much and decided to use it for my middle name- Jenifer Brenee. She also spelled Jenifer with one 'n' so she that when she called me "Jeni", she could spell it Jeni. Unfortunantely, Jeni never stuck, but Junebug did. Go figure!
Blessings!
My name is Joyce. For no one in particular, but I love it. My middle name is Marie, for a BFF of my Mom's. My girls, in birth order, are Christel Beth (House of God), Rebekah Ruth (charming friend),Joy Anna (joy & grace), and Kathleen Esther (pure star). My grandchildren are Jonah Wade (dove + family name), Mary Elizabeth (because...it fits her) and twin Ruby Claire, and Gracie Florine (Graceful Flower). Every one of these names just fits us. We feel like they are God-breathed.
Amanda my middle name is Ellen-it was just a name that my Mom liked. So far only one other in the family has the name but I have always liked it myself. I know you are too young to rememeber The Waltons on tv but I happened to be watching that show when I was pregnant and not knowing what girl name I would use. I liked the name of one of the characters, Erin Walton and named my daughter Erin. That was in 1975 and not too many Erins and now it is sooo popular. Anyway, I love the name Annabeth, very feminine which I like. Blessings to you!
My parents enjoyed watching the Waltons on TV every week, and when it was time to have me, they decided to give me a name they heard on that show--Erin.
I have very straight laced Brit parents (post war child immigrants to Canada), who are happily middle of the road people. They rarely do anything without planning, and even more so do they do something outside of their personalities. A trait which I adore.
So my name always causes confusion and amusement in Western Canada where I live. My name is Bobbi-Sue. Full stop, it goes on every piece of work published in the local paper, my business cards, my charitable board name tags, every where. And here in Canada they always want to know which southern US state I am from. I'm first generation Canadian, my parents names are Robert and Susan, hence: Bobbi-Sue.
They told the most charming story about choosing my name at their remarriage ceremony 7 years ago, and how to them my name represented a new and fabulous start to their family. I intstantly forgave all childhood teasing at that point, and have made peace with my name.
Amanda - I love this -- My first grandson is also named Jackson (he is 6 years old turning 7 in June). When my son and daughter-in-law found out they were expecting the names flew like wild geese in the air. Finally they came to me and said that since Melanie's (my daughter-in-law) father was named Jack they wanted to name their son Jackson as a way of honoring him and keeping their son also an individual name -- but that's not the end of the story - since my side of the family has only one name bearer - my brother - who is not married - Brian (my son) and Melanie wanted Jackson's middle name to be "Sinclair" for Brian's and my side of the family so the Sinclair name would go on in time. So they settled on Jackson Sinclair Finney. Some say he sounds like a law firm!!! To make the story complete when the second son came along they named him Carson Wayne Finney - no reason for the Carson but Wayne is my son's middle name - another family name passed on thanks to very loving and caring Christian parents - Brian and Melanie Finney - they too are sharing God's love with their children. Thank you Jesus!
My parents were going to name me Patricia Caroline until they saw me. My mother watched a movie the night I was born "Rock Around the Clock" Cute actress with dark curly hair named Lisa Gaye. My dad thought Gaye was silly (even in 1957) so they compromised with Lisa Gayle.
Amanda,
I love Annabeth's name! She is such a cutie!
I was adopted, so my parents named me, Joan, which means "God is gracious".
There's no great story behind my name. My parents simply liked the sound of it. The doctor who delivered me, however, was convinced that they were naming me after him - Melvin. He felt compelled to warn them though; like him, people would end up called me "Mel". Appalled at the thought, my mother responded that that would NEVER happen because 'Melanie' is too pretty a name to shorten like that". Yeah. She was wrong, he was right. Everybody calls me Mel including mom; I even sign notes Mel.
Be blessed.
Mel(anie)
Thanks for the post Amanda. I agree with the words about your Mom. Especially the ones about her sharing her love of God with all of us!!
I was named after my grandmother....Georgia. Hated that name growing up....I wanted some sweet feminine name like Sherry, or Cathy, something other than that STRONG name of Georgia. Then when I found out it means "farmer" I was really devastated. Geez, why couldn't I have a sweet meaning like "pools of water" or something. Of course, as I got older I came to appreciate the name and who I was named after. My grandmother was very special to me. I did not continue the tradition, I named my daughter Jennifer because it was the only name my husband and I could agree on. When it came time to name our boy, we had to get the baby book out and he became Aaron. First name we could agree on. He was delighted when at a young age he found out he was named after "Moses' brother". He is not a talker, but a very sweet young man. My daughter is an excellent Mom and daughter. We are best friends.
Thanks
Bible Bunny in No MI
Amanda, thank you for sharing the process of arriving at Annabeth's name.I was so pleased that you honoured your mom because she's been such a blessing to so many, encouraging women to allow God to pick up the pieces of our lives and rebuild, restore and redeem them for His purposes and encouraging us to be conscious of His calling us by name.
My name is Rita. It comes from the Greek meaning, "pearl".
While studying "Breaking Free", I learned to like the sound of my name as I had many people pray for me telling me that I was God's pearl. I had no idea what my name actually meant until we completed the study and I looked back at a bookmark my brother gave me when my twin boys were born, detailing the meaning. God's been busy giving me pearls every since.
First, the "Abraham's daughter" is literal--I am Ken and Ruth Abraham's daughter. And I am the oldest of five. My name was to have been "Peter," as was my sisters' Sue and Barb. Pete came fourth!
I was named Theresa Ruth, after my great-grandmother. But apparently Great Grandma Theresa didn't think too much of me because I didn't hold my head up. Her solution to everything was whiskey, which she rubbed on gums. My mother was horrified. And shortly thereafter, Great Grandma died and my name was changed to Terri. I have a change of name stapled to the birth certificate.
And alas, I resemble my Great Grandmother. All I can say is that I will never, ever wear my hair pulled straight back into a bun!
I always knew I was in trouble when my Dad used my first and middle name. But I was in deep trouble when I was called, "Theresa Ruth!"
My sister is having her second boy in June and she told me this weekend that she really wanted to name him Nicholas, after me. I think this is particularly poignant given the past portion of your post. I am the only believer in my immediate family (although praise God mom is very close) and my relationship with my sister used to be not so great. But, to God be the glory, as i have moved closer to Him i my adult life, He has given me the grace to love my sister unconditionally and created a deep bond between us.
As it turns out the baby's father once new a Nicholas and didn't care for him, so Nicholas is out. BUT they decided on Dominic, and Ashley says they'll call him "nick" or "nicky" after me. Pretty sweet. :)
And I think AnnaBeth is Gorgeous!
Our insurance company named our first son. seriously:)hehhe. My hubbie and I were dorm parents and newly married. We realized one day when going to our insurance site online that they had been charging us for a child we did not have named Alex. they had "papers" on him and everything. We laughed and said one day if we had a boy we would name him alex. Well we found out what the name meant and LOVED it. It means helper/defender of mankind. So needless to say, our son was named by Blue Cross Blue Shield. Funny huh!
When my husband and I began our journey to adopt our son 2 years ago, we both felt that we should name him Samuel. He was, after all, leaving the country of his birth to go and live in the house of a priest! (My husband is a pastor) His middle name is Jordan because we felt that we had to step "into the water" (as the Israelite priests did when they crossed the Jordan River) of beginning the process before we would see God part the water and provide. And provide He did. Our little guy is 2 years old now and we've had him over a year. Like Samuel, we so want him to hear from God at an early age and be willing to answer affirmatively to whatever God calls him to do.
My very Southern mother married a Yankee and was carried off to the wicked North. So I was named after Gone With the Wind. My middle name, Rebecca, is her sister's name. I have a friend from jr. high whose father still calls me Tara Plantation.
I taught middle school- we had a huge "absolutely NOT" list.
Absolutely beautiful post.
I don't have a story for my name, but of course we do for the girls.
We used letters from Brian and Erica to make "BREA" and used Paige for her middle name so she would have her daddy's initials.
Brea named Brooke. She called the baby in my tummy Brooke from day one. Of course Brian and I came up with all sorts of other names, but just a few days before she was born, Brea and I were doing sidewalk chalk and we made 4 hearts. We put all of our names in them and for the 4th one, she told me to write "Brooke." When Brian came home from work, he knew that was it.
We used "Elyse" for her middle name because it means, promise of God.
Before I even knew I was pregnant, I had been fasting for something totally different. That day, the Lord told me I was "with child" and sure enough I was! What an amazing story to share with Brooke!
The letters in her middle name are shared with all of her great grandmothers as well. Fun!
Susannah - My parents named me Susannah based on Luke 8:3. Susannah was one of the ladies who ministered unto Jesus out of her personal resources. So, my mom wanted me to be like Susannah the follower of Jesus.
My name is Kaci Ellen. When it came time to put my name on the birth certificate my dad was going to spell it "Casey" but my mom corrected him saying the spelling would be "Kaci". My dad said that sounded like a radio station. It's fun having a name spelled differently. I'm 26 and have only met a few other "Kaci's".
My middle name is after 2 of my great aunts on my dad's side named Sarah Ellen. I never met them but they sure did have an impact on my dad's childhood. Kaci Sarah doesn't sound as good as Kaci Ellen, so they went with the middle names.
Thanks for sharing about your names, Annabeth is beautiful. Just want to add something about Godly heritage.. I grew up in a non christian family (5 kids).. My grandparents were not living for the Lord although they grew up in christian homes.. Anyway, when we whould go to visit my great-grandmother in another city she would always take us aside and in broken english with a strong Norwegian accent she would say to us .. "say you love Jesus, say you love Jesus" .. My sister was older and remembers this more than me but she was just a kid and thought wow who ever this Jesus guy is he has got to be someone special.. We never went to church and had no clue about the Lord.. But, that greatgrandmother prayed and today 30 years later..Four of us kids love and serve the Lord. My parents accepted the Lord in their later years.. We have Pastors and missionaries in our family.. So, with a family of 46 people, (spouses, grandchildren, greatgrandchildren) 36 people love the Lord.. (the rest don't have a chance,we are praying) Wow!!! the power of prayer.. Praise God!!
My name is Andrea. I was named after my mother's hair dresser. Her name was pronounced like the girl on the original 90210, but being born in NJ it was quickly pronounced ANNdrea. Being a transplant and living longer in VA now than in NJ I still take pride in it being pronounced ANNdrea. I thought you all might get a kick out of me being named after my mom's hair dresser. She was all about the BIG hair. LOL! Thanks for the memory. Mom went home to the Lord 17 years ago.
It's not very exciting, but I was supposed to be named Shannon and my mother loved the name Colleen. It was her favorite name. I'm not sure why it wasn't my first name. I'll have to ask her that sometime. But my parents decided Shannon Colleen sounded too irish, which I don't see what the problem is. We are irish. But they decided on Shellie. I don't really know why. Now, my kids. Jeremiah is named after a friend of my husband's from high school. He loved the name then and then when he became a Christian he loved it even more for obvious reasons. And his middle name is William which is his daddy's middle name and also Josh is a descendant of William Brewster. My daughter, Angela, is named after a dear friend who helped me through my very difficult college years as a new believer. Her middle name, Nicole, is Josh's favorite name for a girl. They were the only 2 names we both liked for a girl. We were going to save Nicole incase we had a second daughter, but we had decided to stop as soon as we had a daughter after we had Jeremiah. We wanted to have at least one of each. So we had the same problem with a girl's name as you had with the boy name. When we found out we were pregnant with our third we argued and argued about girl names. Had tons of boy names we both liked, but not one girl name. Finally, we decided to just hope it was a boy so we wouldn't have to worry about it. Then the ultrasound revealed we were having another girl. We had to settle it. We had original talked about Colleen Ruth. Colleen after my middle name, Ruth because of Ruth in the bible. We decided against Colleen and decided we liked Naomi, so she was going to be Naomi Ruth. Josh was working with some kids and one girl said she thought Naomi Marie would be nice. We agreed. At the time I was reading the Left Behind series and loved the character, Chloe. Josh had liked that name, but I had known a girl in high school named Chloe. Need I say more. Now I had someone else to associate that name with and I liked her. I was taking a shower one day and the name Chloe Marie popped in my head. I called Josh, and we decided it was perfect. So, now we have our adorable Chloe. Oh, and Marie is the name of my best friend from high school. Actually it's Maria, but that doesn't go with Chloe or Naomi, so we had to just do Marie.
No real story behind my name, but my sweet Saralynn, too, is named for her grandmothers. My mother-in-law's first name (that she doesn't use) is Sara, and my mother's middle name is Lynn. Thus, Saralynn. I am Mary Elizabeth and go by Mary Beth, so she has my middle name. Saralynn Elizabeth has a name associated with godliness from her grandmothers, and a mother that aspires to the same!
Mary Beth Pelt
LaGrange, GA
http://peltfamily.blogspot.com
I'm writing an addendum to my first post, as being blonder than I pay to be today, forgot that I am actually also named after my precious mother. I of course was thinking about my first name, but my middle name Lee is after her. As I mentioned earlier my mother died when I was 25, she was only 54. My mother was the an extraordinarily Godly woman and I am honored to carry her middle name.
The Journey Continues ~
My name is Kim Louise.
My mother truly believed that I was going to be another boy.
I totally SURPRISED HER!! literally
~thinking she had to go
"to the bathroom" at her home ~ while sitting on the toilet ~
"YEP, MY FIRST VIEW OF THE WORLD" she crowned and screamed for my father to help her. I was born at home. Headline News the next morning!!!! She loved the name Kim (English) and my middle name is the same middle as my mother, grandmother, great grandmother.
I love your story! Family heritage is such a blessing to pass down generation to generation!
AnnaBETH and JACKSON are such joys and I sincerely appreciate and thank you for allowing us to see little glimpses of their journey in this precious life!
You will have to check out my youtube.com search Mike Safina
and hear my son singing JACKSON. :0
you can also search KLSAFINA
on Youtube.com
Enjoy your day ~
hug AnnaBeth and Jackson for me!!
With "Heaven Bound" Blessings,
Kim
I'm not married and do not have kids yet, but like most girls I have a few names I like! I get so sad when I come in contact with kids that share those names and then ruin the name for you.
I no longer work in student ministry or at the church daycare, so hopefully I'm good :)
My name for my son is Ethan Quinn. Ethan because I just love it but Quinn because I was adopted and when I found my birthdad his last name was Quinn...So there you go.
I love your daughters name!
Amanda you write so beautifully. I just love to read your posts. I know you are busy, but please keep them coming. We have never met, but I read them and feel like I am hearing words from a dear friend. I wish I was back in the homeland -TX, of course, and could visit over a yummy grande something or other.
To the names - We named our 2nd son Jaydon Slayde. (I have had a name for a little girl since my husband and I were married, but will never get to use it.) We entered a very tough time in our lives, lots of change and trying to get pregnant. It took about a year to conceive. We had a list of boy names we liked and started looking at the meanings. Jaydon means "God has heard" and Slayde means "He who hails from the valley." We feel God heard our cries during our times of trial and blessed us with a son. From that moment on we knew what his name would be. We pray that he will remember that our Lord is faithful to hear his cries during times of trouble.
How fun all of these stories are...I have been sitting here on my lunch break and giggling...the dad who went to a football game while his wife was in labor...such a man thing to do.. and the mis-spell of the last name Whittaker....FUNNY!
I am pretty boring...though I like the hertiage of my name...my dad was Paul and my mom is Joyce..so Paula Joyce and I named my daugher Joy.
Names are funny aren't they? I was named after my mother's College roomate, and for the longest time I was the only Andrea I knew. I loved that. My first 2 children were born before I knew the Lord enough to care about honoring Him(bad times) Zachary (19yrs)was named because it was the only name we could agree on. Samantha (15 yrs) was named after a soap opera figure I liked, and loved the name. My youngest 2 were named by their birth families, and we chose to keep their names to honor that gift. Nahom means comforter/compassionate and it fits him. Ermias is the Ethiopian version of Jeremiah which is a name we would have chosen if he could have, meaning "the Lord exalts"
My mom wanted different names so when My sister was born they called her Glenalea which is a a name my mom and gran made up, then I came along. well after many strange tries, like Bryony and things I can't even spell, Dad said Jill. Mom said after Glenalea no way, so the only name they could agree on was Astrid so I am Astrid Jill and she is Glenalea Ann
Mine is a generational name. The first Susanna was gandmother who was named for her Aunt Susan. (Actually the family bible says grandma's name is Susananna but we're 99% sure great grandpa just stumbled a wee bit on the spelling...)Anyway She went by Susie most of her life. My mom is the youngest of 7, she has 6 older brothers, one of whom was married and already had a child of his own when she was born! To say she was an unexpected blessing is a gross understatement. Grammie's answer to prayer she was and so the name was passed on. Mom went by Susanne until she and dad married and now she is Sue. I am the youngest of 5. Oddly enough, my brother and I who are the youngest got dad and mom's names :-) I've gone by Susanna my whole life. I swore up and down I was not going to carry on the name tradition until my beautiful girl was born 7 weeks premature and at the low birth weight of 2 pounds 12 ounces. She needed a strong name, one that carried independance and sheer stubborness! So She got my Grammie's name of Susanna. Not to be confused with the rest of us, she goes by Anna. At 13 years old she is already talking about the next Susie who we pray she will someday be blessed with... Names can be such treasures, chosen with love and the desire to honor those we love and remember...
I love all my kids' names. The 3rd boy was a challenge because we had very few left that we could agree on...but I still love them all. Every child (except that #3 boy) were named after someone very special to us....
Isaiah Clifton
Huston Oliver
Avery Benjamin
Lillie Frances
My name? My name was choice #2 because someone stole my folks' first choice - I was going to be named after both of my parents... but as things turned out I am now a family original.
I love name stories! My parents named me after my great grandmother, Mary Arnette, who they both adored. Problem was, they hated the name. So from day one, they called me "Marnie", after the Alfred Hitchcock movie about the cleptomaniac daughter of a prostitute. It's a confusing legacy.
My son's name, Jonas, comes from a favorite book. We had a hard time with a girl's name two years later. My husband jokingly decided that we should name her something Russian and dramatic so she could always be a James Bond villainess. One night I heard a Russian woman speaking on NPR. Her name was "Lillianova". I laughed to myself and thought, "there's his Bond villainess name. We could call her Lily." And Lily stuck.
I realized much later that Jonas's little sister in my book is also named Lily. I like how God works things like that...
My father was one of those awesome men with a heart of gold. His family came from Iceland and is name was Bjorn Oliver. I was so moved when my daughter Jessica named her son Oliver Bjorn! I had never thought of that before and it was so fitting yet unique to my grandson.
DQ Nana
Amanda-
Thanks so much for sharing your posts with us... Annabeth Ellen is such a regal name for a Southern young lady of God. With all the love her namesakes have, she will be so blessed to be among them.
My mom always told me she was going to name me after my grandmother .. Edna Mae ... now I was born and raised in Houston, but as much as I might have loved my grandmother, I truly do not like the name. So she came up with Lichelle Renee... that in itself rhymed but is unique on its own. I mean can I just tell you how many times I have to spell my name.. Honestly sometimes I answer to Michelle just so I don't have to say it over and over again.
Blessing on you and your family...
Love you all like crazy.
Lichelle
I have loved reading everyone's posts! I think my paternal grandfather liked the name Kimberly (as did my parents, I imagine) and my middle name, Sue, came from a friend of my mom's who apparently was a strong lady. I never got to meet my grandfather (he passed away before I was born), and I think Sue met me when I was a baby. But I don't remember now.
So excited to see other siestas with the middle name Sue!
By the way, when I was around 5 or 6, I really wished I was a Jennifer instead of a Kimberly. For some reason, I didn't like my name much. I love it now that I'm older.
My parents had chosen one girl and one boy name. The girls name was Japhia, after my sister's closest friend. (Japhia, as you know is an Old Testament name, and it means "shining light".)
What my parents didn't know, was that my mom was pregnant with twins! Until the second baby started coming even the Dr's didn't know she was carrying twins. (You must realized this was back almost 47 years ago, and my sister and I were born at 25 weeks weighing only one pound each, so there wasn't a lot to indicate two babies - my mom wasn't even into maternity clothes.)
When my parents ended up with twin girls they were so excited, I received the name "Joy". Dr's gave no hope for either of our survival, but the Lord answered the prayers of many, and to this day we have people who refer to us as the "miracle babies".
Thanks for sharing the stories being your little one's names. I know what you mean about name association. I worked with children prior to having our son. Until that time I always wanted to name a son "Andrew", then we had neighbours with an Andrew...and well...my mind changed quickly. Our son is "Christopher", meaning "Christ-bearer" and I pray His life will always reflect His Savior.
Blessings,
Joy
PS. Your children are absolutely beautiful!
I am dying to hear how "Bibby" came about? I think it is very endearing and would love to hear the story behind how your mom became "Bibby" to her precious grandchildren! God bless you and your whole family, I have beens so blessed by God through the Living Proof Ministry! Thank you for your service to our Saviour Jesus Christ! Michelle, Indiana
Mine is about my son. My maiden name was Price. I have all sisters so the name would die out with us. So we decided to name our son Price Alton. He was born the day my grandfather Price was buried at 106 years of age. At his funeral they stated that Grandaddy Price was with Jesus and a new "Price" was being born. My son Price has a great spiritual legacy of being a 5th generation preachers kid!!
My little cutie pie's mane is
Levi Jones and he is the most precious thing you have ever seen! It was the ONLY boy name my husband and I both liked. I had several, but my husband is super hard to please when it comes to naming babies.
Levi Jones it is, and he will be three in April! :)
This is such a great post! Thanks for sharing with us. As the story goes, I was named by my sister (who was 3 1/2 at the time!) so I am happy that I was not "Barbie"!
When it came time to name my own children, much time and thought went into their names. Our first was a boy and Jared was literally the only name that my husband and I could agree on. His middle name was a family name from my husband's side - Arthur. So you can imagine my dismay when with my second pregnancy I dicovered that not only was I having a girl, but another boy! WHAT on EARTH were we going to name him! The girl name was easy. Megan Elizabeth, Megan because we both liked it and Elizabeth after my Granny and Mom who are already home with the Lord, and my sister. Elizabeth was their middle name. But we struggled over what to name the boy. Not only did we have to come up with another name, but it kind of had to go with Megan. We eventually decided to go with Ryan Andrew. Andrew is my husband's name. My Dad and brother are Brian (I even have a brother in law Bryan), so we had dismissed Ryan early on since it was so close to Brian and we already have so many of those! But eventually when we could find no other name we settled on it. And I am so glad that we did. All of my children suit their names so well, and I even love what they all mean. And as a little aside, I have had so many people tell me that they never forget my twins names because they just remember Meg Ryan! (And the thought had never occurred to me when I was naming them!)
Thank you for your sweet reminder that a godly inheritance is starting with me. Sometimes it is so hard to be the "odd one" at family events. No one understands (nor wants to) why I love Jesus so much. Fortunately the Lord blessed me with two children that love Him sooo much. They inspire me to keep pressing on when the road seems lonely. They will carry this onto to their children. I often forget that though...so I again thank you for the reminder.
And I think it is so neat that you have your own little AJ now. :)
My Mother thought it best to name me Melissa Gay Moore. Finally after 25 years of living in this mad world the gracious Lord sent Kinsman Redeemer Colin Fitzpatrick into my life to obliterate my name. I was never happier than the day I got my new name: Melissa Moore Fitzpatrick. I was made fun of terribly throughout elementary and middle school and made up a brilliant lie that my parents had legally changed my name to Melissa Gayle Moore. It worked like a charm until Graduation Day in High School when they read my name over the loud speaker. Luckily by that point kids were a little more mature and not so cruel.
I loved reading your story of Annabeth's name.
Our littlest one is Anna Grace (Anna was my husband's grandma and Grace is something we all could use a little more of . . . and it sounds so nice with Anna!) Anyway, I have a special place in my heart for Anna's!
Our other kids are:
Jacob Mason: Jacob because we liked it and we wanted a Biblical name and my husband's "grandpa" -- the man who raised my father-in-law after his mom died when he was still young and his dad had to farm out some of the 17 children -- was named Jacob. Until that day I hadn't ever known a Jacob, but when he was about 3 weeks old I got some free parent magazine with the top 10 baby names for the year in it and wouldn't you know what was the #1 boys name of 1999 . . . Jacob! Argh! Mason is after my dad who is a cement mason by trade.
Rebekah Rae: again Rebekah was a biblical name that we like and Rae is after my husband whose middle name is Ray
Lydia Joy: my challenging girl . . . what a blessings the reminder of her middle name is some days . . . no special reason behind it, we just loved it and the way it sounded
Joseph Carl: Joseph was my husband's grandpa -- the husband of Anna :) and Carl is after my maiden name, Carlson
My name is Shana M. Yup, just M. Shana is for a writer that my dad liked when I was born (my mom wanted to name me Jordan but was overruled) and the M is the first letter of the names of my mom and both my grandma's: Marcia, Marjorie & Muriel . . . and subsequently my mother-in-law too, but they didn't know that one yet when I was born. It was just a fun extra thing the Lord did to confirm the amazing gift and fit my husband is in my life.
So fun to read through all the name comments! I love stuff like this.
My name is Sarah Ann. My middle name is Ann because I was born with blonde hair. No joke. My mom said that in her mind a "Sarah Elizabeth" had dark hair and
a "Sarah Ann" had blonde hair. Maybe that is why I have to pay for my hair to remain blonde? :)
All of my kids have Biblical names, Hannah, Caleb, & Moriah.
Hannah Nawal - I had a miscarriage before her and it took awhile for me to get pregnant again. Hence, the story of Hannah and Samuel. Hannah's middle name is pronounced similar to Noel. It is an Egyptian name, the name of our dear, dear friend who helped us through our miscarriage more than anybody else we know.
Caleb Josiah - I love the fact that this name means "great spiritual potential." Also, we didn't really think of it when I was pregnant, but my husband's name is Joshua, so we have Joshua & Caleb.
Moriah May - means "God is my teacher." We had liked this name when I was pregnant with Caleb and then still liked it when I was pregnant again, but were also thinking of other options. I remember sitting in The Patriarchs study the week Beth talked about Mt. Moriah. My eyes filled with tears and I thought, "Yes, that is our girl's name. If this baby is a girl, she will be Moriah."
Hey there!
I actually wanted to share the story behind my daughter's name.
http://focused-on-the-center.blogspot.com/2008/06/have-you-ever-heard-promise-laugh.html
oh, and if anyone can tell me how you hyperlink in these comment boxes that would be GREAT! I hate having to put the full link in.
My Mama always told me that she had picked out the name "Miriam" for me but that when the nurse came around and ask her what she and my daddy had picked for a name Mama got her "tongue twisted" and out popped "Marilyn" instead of "Miriam". And so it was. And so it is.
Marilyn
Yay, thank you so much for sharing the story behind her name, I was so curious! It is beautiful and not common at all.
I was born on my uncle's birthday, so he named me: Sara Re-nae. I have a hyphen in my middle name because my mom had originally wanted to name me Janae-Danielle, so when he named me, she decided to keep the hyphen.
Nothing earth-shattering, but I am glad not to have such a long first name, although I'm sure I would have been JD.
My darling daughter's name is Emmie Rhea (pronounced Ray). In the haze of pregnancy hormones, I argued (read "it's my way or the highway) with my husband over the spelling of Rhea, as he thought it should be "Rae". I had a friend whose daughter was "Shea", and I like the way it looked written out so much better. So, we went with it.
My poor child has been made fun of, mercilessly, with "Emmie-rhea"...sounds like "diarrhea" and (horror of horrors) "gonorrhea"! For years she said she was going to change it to Rae (one point for Dad), but now she's kind of defiant about it! Just try to make fun of it...just TRY! :o)
Good thing she wasn't a boy...her name would've been Price Hunter (two family names). Might as well have named him "Bargain Shopper". Sheesh.
Amanda,
You are as precious as your little Annabeth! I got my name from my older brother (since he didn't need it). I passed my name on to my younger brother (since I didn't need it) and my younger sister was named for Julie Andrews and my mom. My folks thought it would be fun if we all had the same initials. And so we do. It is kind of fun to pass the monograms around. We even had license tags JAW1 through 4. I don't go by my whole name because my mom liked a wierd way of spelling it so no one ever says it correctly.
I was one of those unfortunate folks who did not have the joy of being raised in a christian home. But my legacy is to pass on that legacy to my two sons. There has never been a joy like that of seeing them stand before our church family and make that public confession of faith and then choosing to be baptized after that. My family line will not continue lost in alcohol through the grace of my God. He has shown me a much better life to live and I will ever be thankful for those friends who have grown up in the christian home that have taught me so much. My life has been blessed by your family in more ways to explain than I have time to list.
Love you all,
Jan
I live in Tennesse,and my name is very Southern.I am named for my great grandmother. She had a daughter named Florence as well. I didn't really like my name growing up, because it was so different and old fashioned. But now I do like it because I know I am named after an incredible God-fearing woman who raised her family with a wonderful Christian heritage. I am proud to have her wedding ring and many other nostalgic pieces (jewelry, pictures, china, etc.)that belonged to her. I pray I can leave a godly legacy as she did.
One of the girl names I like for our daughter (should we have one one day) is Lyla Jane. Both of those names are from my dad's side of the family. Elizabeth Kay is another one--it's our moms' middle names. We are very undecided, though. :)
My name is Shiona Eileen. Shiona means "girl running through field of flowers" in Cherokee. I hated it growing up because no one could pronounce it, but love it now because it is unique. What means the most is my middle name, Eileen, which is also my grandmother's middle name. The reason this mean's so much is that she introduced me to Jesus Christ and is why I follow Him today.
Amanda,
I really enjoyed your post. It was so sweet! I loved hearing the thoughts behind your kids' names. Their names are beautiful! I can't even imagine how touched your mom must feel to have your baby girl named after her....not to mention the precious thoughts of how you feel about your mom. You, your mom and Melissa seem to share a very special and close bond, which I'm sure will include that baby girl one day!
What a great post Amanda! Thank you for sharing.
Right now I am 5 months pregnant with our second child, a son. We have an adorable 2 year old (soon to be 3 in April!) and naming her was so simple and quick...Madison Taylor Harper.
As for our son, we do not yet have a name for him. It has been very challenging, but the one thing I do want is his middle name to be Daniel. That is my husband's name and I just want his son to share that with him. The day of the ultrasound to discover the sex of our baby, I prayed God would give my husband a son....but still thankful that the Lord blessed us with a child regardless of the sex. You can imagine the joy on my husband's face. So I have been adamant about his name containing a part of my husband.
Now if we could only decide on a first name......
This isn't a story of my given name, but the name i married into.
When I was a girl I wanted nothing more than to have babies. I wasn't all that interested in getting married, but somehow, I knew God would provide a way for me to become a Mom! I remember being pretty young when my parents were watching the TV show Murphy Brown. Murphy had given birth and named the baby Avery. I know nothing else about that show, except that I fell in LOVE with that name. And decided that is exactly what my first child would be named. Boy or Girl it would be named Avery.
Well years later while in college I met a hunk who's last name was Avery. We got married, and eighteen months later, were thumbing through baby books. It was at this time that I would have to give up my dream of having an Avery. Because Avery Avery sounded a little redundant.
I was driving in the car one day, my large "bump" waiting to be named, and I was thinking ridiculous things, as I am sometimes wont to do. I asked God this question, "I love The Mister so much, but you knew I have always wanted name my child Avery! And now I can't!"
And I heard The Lord whisper in my ear, as clearly as I type, "I know you loved the name Avery, that's why I gave that name to YOU."
I almost wrecked my car, but I have never been more grateful.
Amanda, I loved this! I really do like the name Annabeth (I haven't heard it before) it's such a beautiful name.
My name is Stormy, and there is a story behind why I was named that. When my mom was ten, she used to daydream about having a little girl with dark hair and freckles who's name was Stormy (Which I happen to have dark hair and freckles). After the song "Stormy bring back that Sunny day". Then my mom found out that she was pregnant she was overjoyed (She wanted a girl). However the ultrasound said that I was a boy. So she started to look forward to having another boy (I have two older brothers). There was my dad on the other hand who believed all along that I was a girl. Long story short, when I was born (Two months early) the doctor said "It's a girl!". My mom was surprised and shocked. Out of her mouth came praise, in that moment she yelled in the hospital room full of nurses and her doctor "Thank You God!". There is a lot more to my story, but from that moment of my first breath I was known as Stormy. Better than the name I would have been given, if I had been the boy she thought I was going to be.
I don't know the story behind my name. My oldest daughter's name is Eliana which means "My God is my answer" in Hebrew. That was the only girl's name we'd picked out. My second daughter, we had decided to name Arielle which we loved, but for some reason no one else in the family really liked it. At one point while family members were sitting around thinking of possible girl's names I agreed that I like Elisabeth even though I had no intentions of changing her name. About a week before she was born I was looking at a baby names book and was drawn again to Elisabeth and found out it meant "consecrated to God". Anyway when my daughter was born we told everyone her name was Arielle but both my husband and I decided that the name just didn't fit her and that she was an Elisabeth so we had to tell everyone the next day that we'd changed her name!
Amanda-Most of your posts (and your mom's etc.) just make me cry, because their awesome. Enough said.
Now about my name: My mother became a Christian when she got pregnant with me. She prayed God would give her the perfect name for me, but nothing came. Until, the night she went into labor. She was in her hospital bed reading the Psalms. Psalm 30:5 jumped right off the page at her: Weeping may endure for a night,(God spoke to her directly that he knew what labor was like! lol!)but JOY comes in the morning. She knew then that she would have a baby girl and name her Joy, because "I would be her Joy" I was born at Dawn, and mom forgot to ask God for a middle name so the good Doc suggested Dawn and that's how I got my middle name. JOY DAWN. And for the record, Dish soap was named after ME. Not vice versa. :)
I don't really have a story for my name but I do have one for my children. We wanted our children to have their own unique names but somehow show the wonderful Christian family heritage that is a blessing for us. So we selected initials first. For the first born we chose D for my mother-in-law's maiden name and L for my maiden name and for the name of a dear friend Louis. Then we chose names we liked starting with those letters. We came up with David Lloyd. For my second born we chose M for a dear friend named Mary Charlotte and C for my mom's maiden name. Her name is Meredith Claire. I always made sure my children knew why we named them the names we chose. They are unique individuals but with a wonderful Christian heritage. Now David is 23 and Meredith is 20. It just seems like yesterday they were little. Enjoy every minute. My children have truly been a special gift from God. They have grown into wonderful young adults who love Christ.
I was supposed to be Matthew, but I surprised my folks by being a girl. They decided on a childhood friends name of Gretchen. Appropriate name, though. The translation of Gretchen in German is "little pearl." The actual making of a pearl inside of an oyster happens over time by dirt inside rubbing together (doesn't the Lord just use EVERYTHING). I, unfortunately, find I have a whole lot in common with the oyster -- there is a whole lot of junk inside of me all rubbing together and creating all kinds of friction. So, I'm still praying with great hope that one day what comes out is a beautiful pearl necklace (I'd take earrings, though! :-)
Congratulation on your beautiful baby girl, Amanda. May Annabeth be a woman one day who is as beautiful as her namesake.
My Name is Kim Elizabeth.
My first name was chosen by my dad and my middle name was one of my grandmothers middle names as well.
I believe I have an aunt with the same name too.
I love Elizabeth so much that when our daughter was born, I told my husband, she has to have Elizabeth as her middle name. He was fine with that if he could have a second in there. So,daddy chose Michelle.
So her name is Kaylee Elizabeth Michelle. She loves it!
Fun meanings in names!
Well, my mom was pretty good at naming names. There are 4 of us. Older brother, older sister, me and then my younger sister.
My brother was named after my dad:
Scott Thomas Ashton
My older sister carries her middle name from way past grandmother or grandfather:
Julian Claiborne Ashton-Duvall
(we call her Clai)
Me
Well...I got my mom's first name in the middle:
Allison Elizabeth Ashton
(sometimes known as Alli (nickname)
And my younger sister has a middle name from my great, great, great grandmother:
Andrea Cornelia Ashton-Lang
(nickname Annie)
Both my sisters wanted to keep Ashton in their name, (must be something about control!) Andrea has a boy named "Ashton"
so there you have it!
My name kind of gives itself away: Rachel Noelle. I was born Dec. 22nd. My mom said she actually wanted to name me Holly Noelle (can you imagine the teasing I would have had to endure?) but another little girl was in the nursery with the name Holly. My mom thought we'd grow up together (it was a VERY small town) and she didn't want us to have the same name. That family ended up moving away so it didn't matter, but I'm so thankful to be Rachel Noelle and not Holly Noelle. I don't think my first name has any significance, they just liked it. I just consider myself fortunate since my sister's middle names are Sue and Roxanne.
P.S. Melissa's post about her name had me in stitches.
My parents had a thing for Irish names, and it shows! My sister is Kathleen Jane, my brother Brian Patrick, and I am Erin Colleen which literally means "Irish Girl"
We had 3 names in mind when we went to the hospital that night, and when she came out, we knew her name must be Abigail Grace. Abigail means "father's joy" as another siesta mentioned, and by the Lord's grace, she is here.
I can't go without mentioning my sister-in-law's name. She is "Cyminda" named after her dad's favorite race horse. Not kidding. She goes by Mindy!
When my mom was expecting me she worked for a pediatrician. One of the patient's was named Leslie and my mom really liked that name. Unfortunately, her darling daughter ended up with a VERY pronounced lisp and there isn't a much tougher name to pronounce when you can't say "S"...so I ended up calling myself cethie for my first five years!!!! Luckily diligent work by several speech therapists and my mom restored me to being Leslie by the time I got to school...
thanks for sharing the beautiful story. I am named Tammy because that was the name my mom wished she was given so I got it instead.
My mom wanted to name me Diana, which I would have loved. My dad, for some reason, prevailed and named me Wendy, which I years later found out was only invented for the book Peter Pan...so no ancient history for my moniker! I didn't like having such an uncommon name till 1976, when as a junior in high school I read Parade magazine one Sunday to discover that Michael and Wendy were favorite names in some poll or another. My dad was ahead of his time!
I just wanted to share that I have four children and with each of them we chose to use a family member's name as the middle name. My first son's middle name is after his paternal grandfather. My second son's middle name is after my mother. My third son's middle name is after his paternal uncle. My daughter's middle name is after my father's mother. We switched from one side of the family to the other so no one felt slighted.
My name is Ellen Geneva. I was named after my great aunt who was dying at the time of my birth. She rallied and lived a few years longer. She actually died when I was 22 yrs old.
I was named after Catherine Marshall's book CHRISTY. I hope I am in some ways like her. My children are named Scott Taylor after my husband Scott and my favorite cousin whose married name was Taylor, my daughter Sarah Cassidy, who my husband named after one of his favorite people on earth, and Annie Cathryn after two of our favorite youth from previous youth groups. Our first child we lost at 10 weeks gestation. For me it was important to give him/her a name as closure. So Leigh it was. After a dear friend who won his battle with kidney cancer.
I had always loved the name Andrew. So when we found out our first born was going to be a boy, I quickly pulled Andrew out of the hat and just smitten with my little Andrew. Until...my hubby brought to light that "kids may shorten it to Andy," and honey, "our last name is Griffin." Andy Griffin. Noooooooo! Needless to say, there went my Andrew! Definitely couldn't name him Andy Griffin. But it's ok, he's a very precious Tyler.
Thanks for sharing...it was beautiful!
My name was supposed to be Crystal Darline. Crystal - who knows. Darline - my mom and grandma's middle name.
I was born 39 1/2 years ago when dads were NOT in the delivery room. After I was born, the nurse came out and asked my dad if he'd like to meet his new daughter, Cheri Dawn.
WHAT?? My mom was on so many drugs (horrible, horrible birth story) that she just zoned out and picked a name out of the air. I'm literally named after no one and to this day she has no idea what made her say "Cheri Dawn."
I love the story. It's my precious mom in a nutshell!!
Oh what fun it has been to read all these stories about names! I LOVE names- ever since I was in middle school I have toyed around with name combinations for my (still)someday children! (I'm 24 and married now, but no kids yet) We have two beautiful girl names picked out, but not a single boy one - with that said we'll probably have all boys!
My both my sister and I were named after 4 gals my mom knew in college. Andrea Cherie and Vanessa Renee. All our lives it's been "Vanandrea" and "And-vanessa" whenever our parents started with the wrong daughter and then corrected themselves. So it's always been a joke in our home that someday Vanessa will actually get to be an "Aunt Vanessa"!
I adore my middle name, Cherie. It's not very common, and such a beautiful French term for "loved". I have a handful of relatives (including my parents) that only call me Cherie, hardly ever Andrea! I always make a point to correct people that it is not at all like "Sherry" or "cherry" but more like "Sure-ie" or "Marie" with an "sh" instead of an "M"! We hope to have a daughter one day named Mercedes Cherie. (Named after the main female lead in The Count of Monte Cristo and then my middle name.)
Naming Emily was the easiest decision we have ever made. We both loved the name separately, even before we knew each other.
Looking back, I think I loved the name Emily the first time I read an Emily Dickinson poem, or when I was 8 and we stayed at the Emily Morgan hotel in SA. The name Emily has just surrounded me for as long as I can remember. Then I met my hubby. When we were dating we talked about being married and having a girl. He had been married before and had a son through that marriage. They had expected a girl and he said there was a name that he wanted to name the baby but couldn't remember the name; besides his ex didn't like the name. A friend on mine was pregnant and threw out possible names to us at dinner one night. When she said Emily, my now hubby shouted, that's it. That's the name he loved. So almost 3 years later we had our Emily. Her middle name is Catherine after my grandmother who died when I was 5.
Can I also add that she was born 4 years to the day that we met. She was and is God's gift to us born of love.
In 2003, I had a seven month old little girl who was a handful. I was taking grad courses, my husband was in seminary.. we were super busy. Overwhelmed, actually. I was walking to my car one evening to go to a class, and something in the sky caught my eye. I looked up, and it was the biggest, brightest star I had ever seen. Immediately, I felt God speaking to me. I got in the car and knew He was trying to tell me something. I can't explain how, but out of nowhere I felt the words, "You're going to have another." Of course I completely blew it off until a week later when I was deathly sick and took a test. I was pregnant again. Later when we had an ultrasound and found out it was another little girl, the name 'Estella' just kept coming to me. I wasn't even sure I liked it, but I couldn't shake the name. I mentioned it to my mother in law, and she asked me what it meant. I had no idea but did a quick internet search. I was absolutely amazed to find that it means, "star."
It is traditional in our family to name newborns after relatives (living and deceased). I am blessed to be named for both of my grandmothers; Laura from my dad's mother and Beth (short for Elizabeth) from my mom's mother.
Laura In Ohio
I was named after Rhonda Fleming, the actress (I'm 51). She had red hair (might have been dyed, I don't know). My hair was strawberry blonde when I was little then light auburn. Now it comes out light brown and turns reddish. I was the only Rhonda I ever knew till I was in my late teens/early 20s. Most other Rhondas I know are quite a bit younger and named after the Beach Boys' song (Help me, Rhonda). When I met my husband, he said he had never known anyone named Rhonda and probably wouldn't be able to remember it. I told him to remember R-honda and he did. By the way, my brothers' names also begin with R - we say we're the 3 R's: Randy, Rhonda and Rex.
I was named after a soap opera character so there's no legacy in that. However, your comment about being the first to begin the legacy was the comment I needed today. What a glorious day it will be when those who've come behind me stand at the throne alongside me worshipping the King.
Thank you for sharing! I love the name Annabeth! Just perfect! I have an Anne-Elizabeth (close) named after my precious grandmother...
I am Emmy and my Mom is Emmy too... I adore my Mom so it is fun! We were always Big Emmy and little Emmy (of course my Mom did not like the "Big" part!)
This comment has been removed by the author.
I was named Carrie Beth because my mom had a friend whose mom had that name. She thought it sounded like a cute southern name and the "beth" part worked out because my mom's first name is Lizabeth. I think I'm the only one of my siblings whose full name (both first and middle name) has a story behind it :)
My name is Emily Clare - Emily after my maternal grandmother and Clare because my parents were worried about Emily being such an unsual name and figuring I could use the more common Clare if I didn't like it - Ironically, Emily is a top 3 UK name now and Clare is nowhere so they got that wrong!
When we had our first daughter it was a non-decision as my husband had said 15 years previously that he wanted his first daughter to be Florence after his grandmother and would not be moved on the subject! I got to pick the middle name and went for Rose after the pet name/nickname of my best friend.
When I was pregnant the second time I remember not being able to sleep trying to think of a second girls name (we had a boys name we never got to use)- it worried me sick. I finally decided that it would be nice to honour the other great grandmothers. I didn't want Emily as it was my name too, but found out that the hebrew version of it was Amelia- meaning work of the Lord. We really liked it and then when We found out that it was a town in Italy about an hour away from Florence that was settled.
We kept the middle name secret as my Daddy was upset that his Mama's name wasn't being used (She was an Annie but I had already had one red head and wasn't prepared to risk the taunts if the second one went that way!) However, I never knew her as Annie anyway, she was always Nanny Dolly to me. When our daughter was born it was a wonderful moment to see Dad's reaction when I handed him the newly named Amelia Dolly. He was thrilled and even now every time he sees her he breaks in to song with a quick 'Hello Dolly'!
By the way, should have said that I love the name Annabeth. As an english woman it sounds like the perfect name for a Southern Belle
So fun, What's in a name!! We are Ellen's too.
Something like 15. I am Brittany Ellen, my daughter AshelyLu Ellen. It is beautiful thing to carry the legacy of our past, or start the legacy now.
My name is Calista Domonica Patterson. Calista was my great, great grandmother's name. Her family was Greek. Domonica is a name my parents made up??? It is pronounced Monica with "duh" in front....although I have been teased endlessly all my life about these two names, I wouldn't change a thing!!
Congratulations Amanda on your beautiful baby girl. I love her name too.
My dad named me after a singer named Teresa Brewer. When I was in school I didn't really like my name because noone else had it. Isn't it funny how as kids we want to be different but yet like everyone else!
I have grown to love my name and have met many other Teresa's along the way. Right now there are three moms named Teresa on my daughters dance team!
When my mother was pregnant with me she was doing her student teaching. I think that she was teaching 3rd grade. There was one little girl who just bonded with my mom and my mom just fell in love with her. Her name was Tara. So my mom added Tara to the Nicole that my parents had already decided would be in my name.
They so went about it backwards! They knew that they wanted to call me Nikki, so that meant Nicole was in there someway.
So I was going to be Tara Nicole. Right before I was born, my Father's Grandmother passed away and her name was Anna. They decided to change Tara to Anna and so I was named Anna Nicole.
At the time, that name only was special for the people in my family. NOW however, it is slightly more well known! Lol!
When I was in high school, I was a little embarassed by it. I soo wished, and kinda still do, that my parents had called me Anna for several reasons! One being that I didn't want to have to tell people that my name was the same as Anna Nicole Smith! Oh the reactions that got! The second reason being, everyone spelled Nikki completely different. Nicki, Nicky, Niki, I even had a Nickkie! And people hear Micki, Vicki, even Becky!
My dad's brother tried to get them to call me Anna and my favorite Uncle calls me Anna alot. My dad will even slip in an Annie everynow and then.
I like the name Anna and I was very excited to see that you named our little siesta Annabeth! I love it! Im going to name my little girl JulieAnna whenever I get to have one.
But hey, I do have the awesome bonus of having a theme song! Lol! From the Anna Nicole show!! Although I don't know if Im outrageous like the song says! Hope not too outrageous!
When my mother was pregnant, she met another pregnant woman who had a 9 year old named Jill.
My mother loved that name, and so named me Jill.
The other pregnant woman named her daughter Lynda Lee after Miss America 1959.
Fast forward 50 years, those babies in womb, Lynda Lee and Jill are best friends.
Well, of course I think your baby's middle name is an excellent choice. ;)
I run in to very few other 'Ellen's', and I've always liked my name. My aunt named me, and she said it had to start with an E because she and her sisters (including my mom) are named:
Erla
Ethyln (pronounced Ethlyn)
Elna (my mom).
I have always been very thankful she chose a more common name for me....Ellen!!!!
Loved the story of your kids' names. Names have always been a big thing for me. My name, Christine, was just a name my mom and dad liked but when my mom read that it meant "follower of Christ" she was sold. I love my name for that reason. My given middle name is my mother's maiden name. Since she was one of two girls growing up, giving me the name allowed it to carry on a bit longer. My maternal grandfather was one of the godliest people I've ever known. I love that I carry his name in addition to my own father's and now my husband's.
My first daughter's name, Amy Grace just came to me while pregnant. Never thougth I'd have an Amy. But I loved the name Grace as a middle name, especially since it was my maternal aunt's MN. DD #2 came along we were STUCK on her name. We debated for months until I found Maia in a book for a character born May 1, my due date. Her MN is my mother's MN of Ruth, so my 2 duaghters' names mirror my mom and her sister, the last 2 sister pair in our family.
I have a godson/foster child who has lived with me on and off and is named Phenias. Phen is a refugee from the Democratic Republic of Congo, and his name is actually French (the colonial language of the DRC) although it sounds Irish. Phen is named for his grandfather, who died in the Rwandan massacre in 1994.
When I yell at him it's usually in Arabic (Halas, mish tetakellum, wah yalla alan = Enough already, no talking, come on now) so we draw some stares on the soccer field: the white girl yelling in Arabic at the African kid with the Irish-sounding name!
We make quite a striking pair. ;)
I think my parents named me Susan after the movie star Susan Hayward. Or maybe it was just a popular name in those days. Middle-name Marie is after my grandma Mary. But I want to tell you about my son's name. His dad is Gary and wanted a "Junior". I don't know of too many "Jr"s that are thrilled about that tag so we though of a different twist. A Swedish uncle explained it this way....When John has a son, he is Johnson. When Jack has a son, he is Jackson. (EVER THINK OF THAT?) So when Gary has a son, he is Gary-son....and we spelled it GARRISON. I think that is such a "presidential" sounding name and he sure gets my vote!!!
I can't speak for my name but I can speak on my kid's names. My oldest is named Paige Irene. My husband proposed to be on a road in Nashville, Page Rd. Her name will be special for that reason but I wanted to know what Paige meant. It is a french word meaning "Messenger". Paige's middle name is after my mother, Irene, who went to Glory when I was seventeen. She was a mega christian to me and others. She has a great legacy in my home church and everywhere is went. Irene is a greek word meaning Peace. Paige's name literally translates "Messenger of Peace". That she has been for 8 great years and counting. Adler Arthur is my son's name. It was the only boy named we agreed on. But, I had to figure out its meaning before totally deciding. Adler is a german word for Eagle, Arthur means noble and is also my Father-in Law's name and he too graduated to Glory when me and my husband were 20 years old. Eagles of all the birds are the ones that soar,fly alone(not in a flock) and fly above the storm, and they mate for life. They are powerful symbol and are even mention in Issiah. Adler's name literally translates Noble Eagle.
Great post, Amanda!
I'm named after my aunt and uncle, Diane and Patrick. Diane was my dad's sister and Patrick her husband. They were killed by a drunk driver just four months after their wedding day and exactly one year to the day before I was born.
I'm actually Pamela Diane. Mom says Patricia would have been nice, but feared I'd end up being nicknamed Patty, which she didn't care for. So, I became Pamela ... but with Patrick in mind!
My mom wanted to name me Sabra..my grandpa threw a fit. He told her she couldn't do that to me. So he suggested- Cathareeenn..that's how he pronounced it. Mom wasn't going for the Cathareeen thing so they settled on Cathy. I do wish I would have been a Catherine though.
My son is named Drake Addison. I have always heard you are to say "Supreme Court Justice Drake Addison *****" and see if it flows. It did and that's how he got his name. I love his name, he goes in and out about the middle name. His cousin (male) calls his Addie and he calls him Pauly..it's their little joke.
I was given the name Kelly because my parents liked it. End of story. (Runner-up was Holly. I'm glad they chose Kelly.) My middle name is one of the Five Middle Names from the 1970s (Ann, Marie, Sue, Lynn, Jo).
But my newest baby, Teyla, has great meaning behind her name. God worked such a miracle of restoration and healing in our marriage in the years just before she was conceived. We literally would not be married any longer without His grace flooding our relationship. We wanted to honor that somehow, so we came up with the name Teyla, which ties in loosely with the Hebrew name Telah, which connotates spring, new growth, greenness. It was the perfect way for us to honor God's miracle in our midst.
(It's perfectly coincidental that Teyla starts with T which starts the word trouble. I think.)
Long story short - if I was a boy I'da been Mark Alan (Dad's initials are MA) and a girl I'da been Charity Sue (Mom's initials are CS) but Mom's dad said he wouldn't allow his granddaughter to be called "the welfare kid" (you know, CHARITY - silly grandpa, God rest his soul!) and so he grabbed a beer and sat on his back porch. Seriously. It was misty outside...hence my first name. And no one had been named after HIS mother, Jane. Here I am 31 years later: Misty Jane. I like it...I could never see myself as a "Charity" :o)
I LOVE your names...I have names picked out for babies #2 & #3 - after 8+ years of (secondary) infertility, please pray that the opportunity arises to use them both. I'll tell you what they are if (when?) it happens! :oD
I LOVE names!!!! I have five children and it was always a big deal to get just the right name for each one of them!
I had to laugh at Rhonda's comment. I was supposed to be a boy as well. My parents were positive....they really didn't take pictures of you before your birthday in those days!!!! So that was the beginning of me fooling them........surprising! Surprising them sounds so much better. My surprise on them left me nameless for several days. The marriage didn't fare well those three days.....they got over it and my baby brother was born sixteen months later.
One of our sons is named Josiah. I was very, very ill when I carried him.........bedridden a great deal of the time. We believe now that I was having kidney failure. Josiah means "Jehovah heals". My husband insisted that we name him Josiah because he believed that God was going to heal me. I am here to testify that "Jehovah heals!" praise the Lord!!!
Thanks for letting me tell my stories!
Blessings on your new little Annabeth! What a beautiful name!
My husband and I agreed on names for our future children on our first date. MacKenzie Altie and Julian Ashby.
the years passed, we discovered we were infertile. We started the adoption process. And eventually were matched with a lovely couple who wanted us to raise their not-yet-born daughter.
Well, that meant we wen't using Julian. Okay. but we also couldn't use MacKenzie becasue our adopted daughter has a blood sibling (who we hope she gets to meet someday) named McKenna. McKenna and MacKenzie are just too close so we had to stop and think.
We also invited the birth parents to be part of the name discussion.
what we eventually ended up with was pretty long, but it shortnes nicely.
Virginia (for a dear family friend and devout christian lady)
Altie (for my husband's mother)
Aspen (at the request of the birth mom)
Gerrard (the birth parents' last name)
Russell (our last name)
Most of the family calls her Ginny. But the Texan side calls her Ginny-Altie.
I love the name Annabeth, and I especially love hearing your tribute to your mom. you are all so precious.
I'm Amy Elizabeth, named for Amy and Beth in Little Women--my mom's favorite book. My oldest daughter is Anne Elizabeth, named for Anne of Green Gables--my favorite book. We're book people. :)
My son is Nathan David, named for the OT heroes. Sometimes when we're angry we call him "Nathan David Uriah Bathsheba" just to get the whole story in there.
We totally don't do that.--I just made that whole thing up. :)
My son's name is Levi...our last name is Gray, but for some reason, my husband has always called him Levi Jones as a nickname!! Sometimes he even just calls him Jones...funny!
Amanda
I just love this posting. I am all about names and their meanings. My name is Alexia named after the movie star Alexis Smith, a time ago (I believe Beth and I are about the same age), in those days of hospitalization typewriters were used, and the typeist hit the "a" key instead of the "s" key which made my name Alexia, my mother was not one to rock the boat and call it to their attention and left it as Alexia, which was/is different and I have to say I love my name. I have 6 children. My first born Is Allison Marie, my mother's name was Alice and she wanted so bad to carry on this name because her mother is also Alice and I did not want to go that route so my sister came up with Allison her middle name is also mine and my paternal grandmother. #2 child Ashley Megan named from Gone With The Wind my all time favorite movie and Ashley seemed to have been the name of the year for awhile. #3 A boy Timothy Keith, Timothy a good sound Biblical name and Keith after his father's middle name. #4&5 twins Alexandra Morgan which is close to my name and Amanda Michelle (how about that you two share a very cool sweet name and she is very very sweet like you. #5 Taylor Kristian, I wanted a name close to Christianity and still within the same initials as his father. So the girls got "A" s and their middle names "M" s like the mother's initials and the boys "T" s and "K" s like their father's initials. Somewhere in the hopechest of all their treasures I have the meanings in their baby books. Now my oldest Allison is expecting her first child, my first grandchild and she wanted Jackson for a boy but her husband's cousin is due about the same time so she is changing, I tried to explain to her that doesn't matter. If she has a girl it will be Addison Morgan or a boy Aiden Zachary, she too is all about names.
Thank you for sharing how you came about such precious names for your little darlings. What is your middle name?
God Bless you
Love
Alexia Marie
I don't have a story for myself, but for my daughters. I loved the name Madison for a girl. My first daughter died, and we named her Madison Elisabeth. We had a boy next, and named him Parker Andrew. My husband's name is Andrew, and Elizabeth is my middle name. Next we had another daughter, and she was due one day after our first daughter was due. We named her Morgan, which in German means "morning". My husband thought of the verse that says "weeping may endure for the night, but joy comes in the MORNING". We were devastated to lose our daughter, but God gave us another that has definitely brought us joy in the morning. So Morgan it was! Her middle name is Genevieve after my hubby's favorite Grandmother.
Love your blog, AND the Esther study...SO good so far!
Kathryn
My name, Ramona, comes from my grandmother, who is 101 years old now and as fiesty as ever!! She and Grandpa had six children. Grandma gave birth to a daughter who only lived to be a few days old and then passed away...Constance Ramona. So, my mother and father chose to honor her by giving me the name Ramona. My middle name is Leah, which is a name my mother chose but I do not know why.
My mother passed away from cancer when I was 17 and never got to meet my four sons, but she would have adored them! I've had no girls and cannot now, but look forward to the day when my sons might chose the name of my mother for their own daughters...Marie.
My name is Biblical, but nothing really special in the name of naming babies. No family history or rhyme or reason. I imagine it was what my parents could agree on.
My husband and I got married young and quickly found out that we were expecting right before our 2nd anniversary. I cried when we found out we were having a baby, because I didn’t think I was ready yet. My husband is calm, cool, and collected all the time; and he assured me that we (and I) would be fine.
We named our first son Jared Matthew. (Jared we just liked, Matthew is my husband’s middle name). After learning we were pregnant with our second son we were talking names again, of course. And instead of just looking at names, we decided to also look at their meanings. We didn’t do this with our first son.
It was then that we found out that Jared means, descendent…and Matthew means, gift of God.
Descending, gift of God…..I about fell over! I wasn’t ready; but HE knew I was!
We have three wonderful boys and thank God for them each day!
Thank you for sharing that! So beautiful. You got me thinking about spiritual heritage. I presume I am just the 2nd generation of Christ-followers in my family. I'm so thankful for what I learned about spiritual lineage from THE PATRIARCHS study esp for where I was went it found me. (I am so glad to now share this story with you Amanda & Ms. Beth:) Two years ago I had a miscarriage early in my first pregnancy and Praise God, 8 days later found The Patriarchs women's study at church. The 1st night at group we talked about Sarah being barren and her emotional struggle with that and I knew I was in God's hands to carry my grieving heart. After finishing the study 2 months later, I started speaking life (out loud) into my not-yet-conceived child. Part of it went "I am the spiritual seed of Abraham, Isaac & Jacob. Our family line promises ME God's hand of blessing & protection, of multiple generations and a SON (like Sarah & Rebecca.") Last April, God blessed us with that son and he has the unique name in our family. We named him Jeshua. God showed it to me 4 years ago, while on our honeymoon, in the NLT version of Zechariah, and it never left my spirit. At my mid-way ultrasound, I never doubted what the sex of the baby would be. He is napping peacefully now as I type, listening to his breaths on the monitor beside me. Thank you God!
Heather, Charlotte NC
Rebecca Jane: My parents had a "nanny" named Becky when my older sister was little. They told her they would name their next daughter after her, hence the Rebecca. My middle name is a result of my parents trying to get pregnant with me for 4 years before they were successful. Jane means precious gift.
You are blessed with the gift of words, AJ. My first name (Jill) is after a family friend and my middle name (Marie) was my mother's middle name.
Like you I searched to name my children something that connects them to the family. Son #1 is named my maiden name and son #2 is named my mother's maiden name or my grandparent's last name. Still LOVE both their names and what they each represent.
My maternal grandparents were Carl Creighton and Pearl Elizabeth. I was supposed to be Carla Elizabeth, except that my dad had an aunt Elizabeth that he didn't care for, so I ended up Karla Kay.
My husband picked our girl's name out when he was 12, from the Sound of Music. Her name is Liesl Beth.
We had twin boys next, and they each got a grandpa's name: Jesse William and Matthew James. You can probably guess why we didn't pair Jesse James together!
One grandaughter has a combination of my middle name and her other grandma's middle name as a first name: Kay+Lynn = Kaylynn Ruth.
Oh I love this post...but it has only increased my crazy anxiety of naming my first baby, a boy due in April. I have been naming my babies (dolls mostly) since I was one myself, but now that the time has come for me to name a real baby I am just at a loss!!! I want his name to be perfect and to have meaning. My sweet husband is mostly agreeable to my ideas, I am just having a hard time committing to one name. Please pray that I make a calm decision! Thanks for sharing!!!
My parents expected a boy right to the moment I was born so, my name is Jerri, after my Dad, thanks Dad. Thankfully, they spelled it with an i. My Mom's middle name is Ann so, Jerri Ann. I tease them and say that since they thought I would be a boy they didn't have any girls names picked out so they named me after my Dad, I'm a junior.
When my mom was pregnant with me, my parents had decided on the name Amy Penelope if I was a girl. (If a boy, Mickey after Mickey Mantle.) However, whenever my dad told anyone what my name was to be, they said "what's a Penelope?" Eventually, they decided to change it to Amy Nicole. That is on my birth certificate. All my life, my dad called me Amy Penelope and when I was in college, I legally changed my name to Amy Nicole Penelope. My parents were touched that I did that and made it legal.
I have always loved the name Elizabeth and planned to name a daughter that. I ended up having 4 boys and their names are Dakota Daniel, Trevor Steven, Logan Brooks, and Mason Andrew. I guess we'll have to name a cat that or something!
Amy =)
My dad's full name is Jeremiah and my mom thought it would be cute to call me "Jere." It's pronounced Jera. Problem is it looks like "Jerry" which is what they call my dad. Needless to say, I have spent most of my adult life explaining my name.
Oh yea, I have another one, my grand-daughter is named after my grandmother, Sarah. Her middle name is Kate, so we have a Sarah Kate. I love the fact the it is my grandmother and my grand daughter. I feel loved in the middle.
My name's history is pretty simple: my parents never expected a girl. I don't know why, but they just didn't pick a girl's name until I was born.
My pastor father chose Kristen Faith. [Lots of people in the church where I grew up used to pronounce it "Christian".]
Hi Amanda, The mama in me wants to share the simple story of my children's names. :O) Our 17 year old daughter is Kathryn Renee. I have always loved Kathryn (or Katie) and Renee is my beloved sister's middle name. Our 12 year old son is Keaton Joseph. I originally thought to name him Curtis Ethan E. because his daddy's initials are CEE. But when I saw the name Keaton on a little child's nametag at the local playland, I fell in love with it! Joseph is a family name and of course a very biblical name. The miracle in all of this is that my husband agreed to both, no questions asked!! Now you have to know that we are both passionate head-strong people, so when I say miracle, I mean it. Some miracles are small, right? The funny sidenote about my name is, I'm the only one in our family without a name that starts with a 'k' sound. Thanks for telling us the significance of your sweet baby girl's name. AnnaBeth is perfect! Hugs to all you precious Moore (Jones) Girls, Jax
P.S. If you want to join the fun, I'm hosting a special "chick flick" DVD give-away over at my blog. :O)
Amanda - Thank you so much for the encouragement about the spiritual legacy each of us have whether or not we have a natural family that raised us to know and love the Lord. My mother's name was June Audra and my parents named me Debra June. The Lord has given my husband and I two sons, Mason Lee and Tyler Jay. We didn't name them after anyone. Our boys came to know the Lord as their Savior as young men and through their testimony, I came to know the Lord in 2000 and so did my husband.
I don't know of any Christian hertiage on either side of our families. Living every day with a grateful heart for the mercy and grace that has been lavished upon us. Thanks for sharing your lives with us. I just love the name you gave your daughter. She is such a beautiful baby girl. Thanks for sharing with us how you named her. I have three grandsons and I couldn't imagine how honored I would be to have a grandchild named after me. Bless your heart. I have a little sister who's name is Lizbeth Ann. This is getting kind of random :) Love you, Debbie
I'm named after my Godly grandmothers: Carolyn Elizabeth (now at home with Jesus) and Ruth Josephine (still praying up a storm and loving Jesus at age 87!).
My children's names are fun, too. Christian Boaz (he goes by Boaz) is 13. Noah Solomon is 11 and Lily Anna is 9. They all have fun stories to their names (they're all "temple" names - not that we started out with that in mind. But God knows how much I love Mt. Moriah and the site of the ancient temple in Jerusalem). "Boaz" is one of the two names of the pillars that faced the Mt. of Olives. Solomon, of course, built the temple. Lilies adorned certain pillars in the temple and Anna of Asher "...never left the temple but worshiped night and day..." and "spoke about the Child, Jesus, to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem."
With Noah's name - we weren't sure if Noah was the name God had in mind, but we were "trying it out" during our third trimester. He decided to show up three weeks early. So off we zoom to the hospital in Anchorage. Once there, the nursing staff said they weren't convinced it was true labor but to walk around the hospital for an hour or so - which my husband and I dutifully did. Then they hooked me back up to the monitoring equipment and still no change. Right before I was going to be sent home, my husband got really close to my stomach and said, rather authoritatively, "Noah, COME OUT!" Within a couple minutes two weird things happened: my water broke with a gush and outside, the clear, sunny day instantly turned dark, it started to thunder, rain and hail. This is Alaska. We don't get storms like that. This storm came out of absolutely nowhere and soaked Anchorage with rain. I turned to my husband as the rain outside began to pour out of the sky and said, "What in the world is going on out there?" I remember him calmly looking back at me and saying, "Of course it's raining: we're having Noah."
The newspaper the next day ran a large article with a big headline saying how the storm came out of nowhere - it hadn't shown up on anyone's radar (or whatever they use to track the weather).
The name Noah literally means "rest" and trust me, I haven't had a day of rest since that darling boy showed up in a shower of rain 11 years ago. I wouldn't trade him for all the tea in China or even for his namesake's real live ark.
Thanks for the fun question, Amanda - and sorry to write you a novella sized response,
Warm (and wet that day) in Alaska.
I love the name Annabeth and what a wonderful story. My father decided to name me Doak after Doak Walker, a football player of the '50s. If a girl my grandmother decided I was to be named after an aunt, Margaret Elizabeth. God in His great grace and wisdom saw fit to put the name Doak on hold. However, when I was born my mother (behind my father's back) named me Denise after no one. It just came to her in her drug induced haze following childbirth.
My father's middle name is Lee; my aunt's is Anne. My mother decided to combine the names to bestow upon me the middle name LeeAnne. Exactly like that. No space, all one word, capital A. The folks at the hospital told her she couldn't do that. They wouldn't put it like that on my birth certificate. It would have to be Leeanne. She said I can name my baby anything I want to, and her middle name is LeeAnne. Sure enough, when the birth certificate came, it was spelled Leeanne. She sent it back along with a note demanding that they correct it.
My birth certificate? It reads LeeAnne. :)
I don't know my name story....but my daighter is Peyton Beth.....my dear, wonderful Grammy passed away when I was 6 months pregnant with my daughter. My darling Grammy was BERTHA!!! We felt "Beth" was the majority of the letters...and it just happens to be one of my other FAVORITE person's name, too! My maiden name is Collins....so we named our son "Collin".....
and thank you for the verse....I am a first generation Christ follower....thank you for the encouraging word!
Heather SMITH....the other most popular last name! :)
Post a Comment
<< Home