What's In A Name?

I know many many people who really plan, consider and strategize about what to name the precious baby they are expecting; and I know many people who don't. They just like a name, because they just do; hence that is the name of the baby. I know some people who have the baby named before his/her arrival, and some who have to actually see the baby before making a final decision. Then I have even run across a few folks who really had no name, in particular, picked out or couldn't decide even after the baby was born. However parents name their babies is not really important, but I think it's fun to know about how they chose their children's names. So with that being said.....I'm going to tell you how NPayne and I chose names for our little sugars.
When we first started discussing having children, we decided that NPayne would name any boys we had (with my consent of course); and I would name any girls we had (with his consent of course). This was mainly because we both liked several different names for girls and for boys, and we thought it would be fun to do it that way. When we found out we were expecting our first, we didn't know the gender of the baby; so we narrowed down our choices to three names for a girl and three names for a boy. We wrote them down on a little dry erase board and kept it in our closet, so we could see it everyday; and start to get the feel of how the name sounded and looked. We had decided that the middle name would be a name after a friend or relative, no matter what the gender of the baby; and we had chosen names as such. Our sweet little GIRL was born.....this would mean I would choose the name out of the 3 that we had both agreed upon. Guess what.....I just couldn't decide, so NPayne actually chose her name. He chose Addison Jo, which I was completely happy with, because he said she looked like an "Addison." You see my maiden name was Addison, and all of the Addisons are redheads with either pale or sort of a ruddy (which means healthy reddish) complexion. Little did we know that many caucasian babies are sort of ruddy when they are born, nonetheless, her name was Addison. Her middle name came from my best friend, Cynthia, because for as long as I can remember; she has always called me Jo. She started by always saying "Ya Know Jo?" and then just started calling me Jo after that. My first born's name was decided....Addison Jo (Addison means "child of Adam").
Then came our second child, a BOY, and we took our baby naming one step further; he would have a name which was Irish or English due to our heritage. He was actually named before he was born, because we both were HUGE fans of Cal Ripken Jr. at the time (baseball player for you non sports fans). We had decided we loved the name Cal, but I wanted his middle name to be Leigh... because my grandfather's middle name was Lee, and one of NPayne's lifelong friend's names was Leigh; so we went with Leigh. I didn't think Cal Leigh flowed off of the tongue well, so I started doing some research and discovered the name Callahan (Irish in origin which means "little bright headed one-devotee of the church"). How appropriate that was going to be, although at the time we chose his name he was still in my womb; Cal was a tow head and is still very blonde.....and his second home is our church. In turn I actually named the BOY, so our theory of NPayne naming boys; and me naming girls was turning out backwards. .. but we were okay with that. Our second child was named, Callahan Leigh (doesn't that flow off the tongue much better?). Then our third little blessing came along, and she was a SURPRISE in every sense of the word; because we weren't expecting to have another just yet, and we chose to be surprised at the gender of this child. This time we only had one girl name picked out and one boy name picked out....we both had agreed on the name Drew for a girl. When I was teaching kindergarten, right out of college, I had a wonderful wonderful friend named Ann (who taught PE). I just loved her so much, and she had a beautiful sweet little girl named Drew. I fell in love with them both from the first time that I met them. When I had Addison, Drew was one of the names on our girl list; and I had asked Ann if she minded if we use that name at some point (because I loved the uniqueness of the name, and I loved her daughter). She was thrilled. Ann passed away, from breast cancer, just a few short years after we had met leaving behind her husband and her sweet 3 children (Drew being her youngest). My Drew's name was decided long before her actual existence. Her middle name is Michelle which comes from two of my lifelong friends (one having the first name of Michelle and one having the middle name of Michelle) and our niece who is also named Michelle. Drew is from English origin (it actually means "manly" which is fairly appropriate for my little tomboy). So our third little sugar is named Drew Michelle (Michelle means "who is like God"). Then came our fourth baby, and her name has a very significant meaning. We actually knew the gender of this baby; because we had thought that we probably wouldn't have anymore babies. We needed to make room for this little one in our home, so in turn....we were going to have to clear out some stuff. If the baby was a girl.....goodbye to all of the bins and bins of little boy clothes. If the baby was a boy.....goodbye to all of the bins and bins of little girl clothes. Because I was over 35 at the impending birth of this baby, I went in to have level 2 sonograms every so often; and it was very OBVIOUS that the baby was a girl. I had been contemplating the name from conception and had decided that I wanted it to start with a B, because my other three started with A, C, D; so I wanted to fill in with a B. Once we found out she was a girl, we decided on Mae as her middle name; because both NPayne's and my grandmothers' middle names were Mae. I remember learning that they shared the same middle name at NPayne's grandmother's funeral, and I thought it was nice that these two women who were so instrumental in our lives shared a middle name. We had it narrowed down to a few B names.....when lo and behold I went into labor at 36 weeks. This was not too alarming, since Drew had been also been born completely healthy at 36 weeks. However that wasn't the case with B. She ended up having very sick lungs and had to be intibated and spend some time in the NICU (Neo Natal Intensive Care Unit). All I could focus on was praying for the well being of my newborn baby girl. Everytime they would ask me what we were going to name her, I just couldn't decide. I couldn't even remember the meanings of the names that we were deciding between, so I decided to ask A, C, D which name they liked best. Addi and Drew both chose Bryna. Cal......well he kept saying all of the names. That night, I asked NPayne to print out and bring the names and their meanings (to the hospital) before we officially gave her that name. He brought them in, and I read Bryna (origin Irish.....meaning Strong One or Hope). I knew immediately that her sweet little sisters had made the right choice, so her name is Bryna Mae. Then came our last sugar, and she was also a SURPRISE (more on her story in another post); but a very welcome surprise. Since we now had A, B, C, D.....well you know....we had to have E, so once again the research began. Her name Elliot....is Irish in origin and means "The Lord Is My God." When I write the Story of Elliot post (coming soon), you will see why that name was the one we favored. Her middle name is Ann....Ann has many special meanings to me....it is my best friend Cynthia's middle name, it is my cousin (who is like a sister to me) Julie's middle name, and it was my friend's name (who had Drew and had long since passed away but will always have a special place in my heart). Ann also means "full of grace, gracious, merciful"....very intentional on our choosing. Our 4th girl and 5th child is Elliot Ann.
So there you have it.....our child naming criteria. Let me summarize (if you're already bored or not interested, quit reading here).....we prefer Irish/English/Gaelic in origin (for their first, middle or both of their names). Their middle names are after someone we love, admire, respect and have a very special place in our hearts. Their first, middle, or both names must have some sort of spiritual meaning. It may sound complicated, and for very low maintenance people like NPayne and myself, you would think it is; but actually we have enjoyed choosing their names with such an err of importance, substance, and personal meaning. It's funny too, because NPayne has said that each of children really become the name that we have chosen for them which is so true. We didn't know that at the time the names were chosen, but GOD did; and so His nudge was very evident in this wonderful gift of naming our children.