OT: Where did your child's name come from?

We named ds8 after both of his grandfathers. Our daughter’s first name (Jennifer) was a name we both liked. Her middle name came about because dh wanted her initials to spell a word. It had to begin with A, but we couldn’t find one that sounded right with Jennifer. Then a friend suggested Ariel. If the last syllable is stressed it sounds better. (Ari-EL)

As a side note, what kinds of things do you write?

Our son’s name has a pretty cool story, we think. It all started with my husband’s best friend who was tragically killed in a car accident at the age of 18; they had been friends since they were 6 and were inseparable. His name was Ryan. Consequently, my middle name is also Ryon–but pronounced like Ryan only spelled with an ‘o’. It was never a question that if we had a boy, Ryan would be his name. Then, in June of 2003, we bought our first home. We had our life group from church come to our new home to pray over it as we were moving in. They all gathered around us, with my husband and I sitting on our piano benches and people’s hands were placed on us in prayer and blessing for us and our home. Our pastor began prophesying over us that we were going to have a baby boy and that he was going to be a great prophet of God, proclaiming God’s Word, and preaching to crowds. (Yes, we believe the gifts of the Holy Spirit are still alive and active in the Church, and no, we are not Pentecostal…just in case you were wondering. ) Two weeks later, I found out I was pregnant. We didn’t even know I was pregnant when our pastor spoke these words over us and our child, so there’s no way he knew, except by a word of knowledge from the Holy Spirit.

As soon as the pregnancy test showed two pink lines, there was no doubt in my mind that the child I carried was a boy. That day, I went out and bought baby boy clothes. We already knew his first name would be Ryan (meaning “little king”), and because of what was prophesied over him before we even knew he existed, we believed God would have us name him after the greatest prophet who ever lived: Elijah (meaning “my God is Yahweh” or “the Lord is my God”). So his name is Ryan Elijah.

Our daughter’s name doesn’t have such a special story. We simply chose a name that was original, unique, and that we both loved. Her name is Addilyn Belle–Depending on what source you use, Addilyn either means “noble” or “under God’s guidance”, Belle is “beautiful” in French. Most of the time, we call her Addie.

Oh well here we go!

DS 17 Casey-DH’s middle name and is short for Casimir(his grandfather from Poland) Oh and his initials are CPA…which DH happens to be 🙂

DS Jordan 13-DH’s favorite basketball player and I really liked it anyway

DD McKenzie 12- umm…….not really sure but she has my middle name

DD Delaney 8- someone said the name and I fell in love

DS Jeffrey 6- The Dr’s name!!! He delivered all of my kids and is  a family friend. We honestly went in circles with names and it kind of hit us right before delivery to use the name.

DS Tristan 3- I have always loved this name but because it rhymes with my name (Kristen) I always thought it was corny to use. Well after 5 kids we were just like WHO CARES! and he has DH’s first name as his middle

My DS’s first name is Asher from the Bible. His middle name is Chad which was my DH’s brother’s name. His brother was killed in a car accident when he was young so it was a way to honor him. 

My DD’s name is Eva Mae which was my great grandmother’s name.

My DH was named Jonathan, from the Bible, by his grandmother.

And I, Dana, was named after a barmaid on a TV show. Haha. 🙂

I’m going to mix up first and middle names here….Each kid has a religious or Biblical name as well as another name (of some sort).  We also worked hard to make sure the names “flowed”, that they varied syllables and such.

Aleksandr…to honor his Russian heritage and it means “protector of mankind”.  

Aidan….love the name and we have a strong Scotch/Irish family history.  It means “little fire” or “fiery one” and boy did we nail that one!

Quinn…again with the Scotch/Irish.  And I just love it.  Aidan and Quinn were NOT given to the same child

Faust….named after a religious leader who helped my husband return to Christ.  Our family would not exist without this man’s influence.

Joseph…so many amazing men named Joseph in the Bible.  We are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) and there are many wonderful men named Joseph in our church history and in the Book of Mormon as well.

Jacob…this poor kid was named Tow Truck for 3 days before we decided on Jacob.  He came early and we weren’t prepared.  Like Joseph above, there are many faithful men in the Bible and Book of Mormon that we admire.  There is a sibling pair in the Book of Mormon, Jacob and Joseph, who are powerful men in God and good friends.  We can only hope the same is true for the sons that bear these names!

Ezekiel…a faithful prophet in the Bible.  Means Strength of God.

Josiah…yet another Biblical figure.  A king who sought righteousness.  Means ‘God has saved’ and He really did.

I feel really lucky that they have the names they do.  My husband wanted names like Mustafa, Khalil, Rocky, and Lefty.  Cooler heads (or perhaps pregnancy hormones) prevailed.

I, too, love names and am fascinated with them.  I did find when choosing names for our children that some names I liked had unmeangful meanings (like white sea dweller).  I wanted their names to have meaning and purpose.

Hannah “Grace of God” – a name DH and I both loved and chose long before we were expecting.

Elisa “Promise of/to God” (comes from Elizabeth) – DH read it in a book and liked it.

Ava “Life” (comes from Eve) – she was a hard one to name!!!  The only name that DH and I could agree on!!  I read it on a baby name board somewhere and really hadn’t given it much thought when I asked DH if he liked it.  I was just trying to find his naming style since we weren’t agreeing on anything!!  Of course, there is the actor which DH knew the name from.  But, I never remember actors names.

Damaris “Gentle” -(we pronouce it duh-mare-isss) Damaris is mentioned in Acts 17:31.  The only thing said about her is “and Damaris believed.”  What more do we want for our children than for them to believe in and accept our Savior?

We have not yet been blessed with a boy, but if we ever are his name will be:

Levi “Joined/Attached” (my brothers middle name)  Joel “Jehovah is God” (DH name and an old testament prophet).  Isn’t that what we want for all our children, to be “Attached to our Jehovah God”?

Love this post!

DS6 – Ezekiel (God will Strengthen) Brennan (“man of sorrows” – chosen because his dad’s middle name is Brent): We call him Zeke.

DS4 – Aidan (little fiery one) Zane (my hubby likes Zane Grey, and I love Z names).   He was going to Josiah, but we tried the name after he was born, and it just. didn’t. fit.  So we went back through “the list” and picked this one.

Zeke has red hair.  I thought for SURE Aidan would have it, too.  But, he doesn’t.  Just a fiery personality.  🙂

My name: Katrina – my sisters picked it from The Legend of Sleepy Hollow – Ichabod Crane loved Katrina, and Nicole, because my sisters and I all have French sounding middle names – E’Lise, Renee, and Nicole.