What's In A Name?

I love how inspiring it can be to read everyone's slices.  I got this idea from Jennifer yesterday.  I enjoyed hearing the story of her daughter's name.  As I was typing a comment to her, I decided that I had enough to say to make it a whole slice!  I immediately started writing!

If you have a good name story, leave it in the comments.  I would love to hear about where you or someone you love got their name!

For Matthew -

When my Daddy and I found out we were pregnant with you, we knew right away that even though we wanted so badly to know whether you were a boy or a girl, we were not going to find out.  We wanted to wait until you were born so the doctor could say “It’s a boy!” or “It’s a girl!”  That was the way we wanted it to be…well, I think I wanted it that way more than Daddy but he was patient with me, probably because he knew I had to do all the hard work!

We didn’t know for sure that you were going to be a boy when you arrived, but somehow I just felt like I knew.   I knew you were a boy and I knew you were going to be our Matthew.  I’m not even sure where Matthew came from.  I remember that I had a dream one night and in that dream you were here!  I was holding you and rocking you and calling you Matthew, my little Bugaboo.

Good thing you were a boy; we didn’t have a girl’s name picked out for you at all!  There was a list of possibilities tucked into the baby name book that were all for girls, but nothing grabbed onto us for a girl.  Only Matthew – a name just for you.  Daddy had picked out Thomas, his middle name, to be your middle name too, but once you were born he decided it should be William instead.  Matthew William just sounded like the perfect name for our perfect boy.

For ??

I know you weren’t meant to be.  I’ll never know why.  I’ll never know what you would have looked like.  I’ll never know if you were a boy or a girl.  I loved you anyway.  I always will.  You were never given a name, at 8 weeks we barely knew you, but I’ve always secretly thought of you as Arin.  My middle name, spelled differently, in a way that doesn’t mean boy or girl definitively.  That was all I could do.

For Emma –

When Daddy and I found out that we were pregnant with you, we decided that we wanted to know if you were a boy or girl.  We decided not to wait until you were born, so when we went to see your ultrasound, we told the doctor that we wanted to know what we were having.  The technician did all the measurements and required stuff, snapped a few cute little pictures and then asked the question we had been waiting for. 

“Do you want to know what you are having?” she asked. 
“Yes!” we said together.
 “I’m 99.7% sure that you are having a girl!”

We were so excited!  We already had Matthew at home and we were hoping for a girl.  I knew almost immediately that you would be Emma Grace.  I’m not sure what it was about that name but I knew that it had to be your name.  It was a name just right for you – extra special.  Good thing Daddy liked it too!

For Madison –

When Daddy and I found out we were pregnant with you, we were so excited!  We decided that we wanted to find out if you were a boy or girl because we knew we just wouldn’t be able to wait until you were born!  It didn’t matter to us if you were a boy or a girl because we already had one of each with Matthew and Emma.  We just knew we wanted you to be healthy.  Once we knew for sure you were a girl, we started thinking about names.  We just really didn’t know.  There were names that we liked and were still on our lists from when your brother and sister were born.  We liked Hannah, Bailey, Lily, Ellie and a few others.  We debated for a long time.  Then I suggested Madelyn and Daddy suggested Madison.  We both liked Maddie as a nickname and it worked for either one.  We thought about it for a long time and decided that maybe we would need to see you to know for sure. 

Once you were born and we were holding you in our arms, we knew that you just had to be Madison Elizabeth.  After Grandma came to meet you, she told us that her name was almost Elizabeth too!  That made your name that much more special; just as special as you!

For Avery –

When Daddy and I found out we were pregnant with you, we were so happy!  We knew we would need to know as soon as possible if you were a boy or girl.  We couldn’t wait to find out!  Once we knew that you were going to be a girl, we started thinking about names.  We didn’t want any of the names that were still on our old lists.  They just didn’t seem right for you.  It took us a long time but we finally decided that Avery would was just right for you.  It was the middle name that was the sticking point.

We just couldn’t figure out what name sounded right with Avery.  We couldn’t think of the right thing for you.  Just before you were born, I asked Daddy what he thought about using Rose for your middle name.  Mommy’s niece’s middle name was Rose and she was very special to both Daddy and I.  We thought it would be a sweet name for you too, and we liked the way it sounded with Avery.

We figured we better ask Aunt Lisa if it was ok with her before we decided for sure.  She loved the idea and thought it was quite an honor.  She though that Mackenzie would have liked it.  That sealed the deal.  Your name would be Avery Rose.  When we saw you for the first time, we knew it was absolutely perfect for special little you!

Love you all,

Mommy