What's In A Name - Part 3

Part 3 means that we are to our third son. And, I must confess, when we were told "boy" for the third time, we had no name prospects whatsoever.

Ezra getting ready to go home.

By this point we felt that we needed to use another "E" name and that it should probably be biblical. That didn't leave very many options. We tossed around a few names and had decided that we liked Ezekiel. That was the baby's name and we just needed to find a middle name to go with it. But then we had a discussion and decided that we might like Ezra better. We were so indecisive! Finally, not long before he was born, we decided that we like Ezra and that would be baby's name. Ezra, incidentally, means "help" (another Hebrew name) and the Lord knew I was going to need help with this child!

But then we needed a middle name. Gosh! Naming babies is hard! We talked about names that are in each of our families and decided that William was well represented on both sides, and it's a good, solid male name. Then there's the fact that every time I was pregnant one of my colleagues would rub my belly saying, "I know there's a Will in there!" Her son was William and he is a great young man whom I wouldn't mind my boys looking up to. 

And not long before he was born, we decided that this little man would be Ezra William.

What's In A Name - Part 2

Last week I shared how Ronnie and I chose Ethan's name. This week I'll talk about our second child.

Elijah on his birth day.

We didn't have such an easy time choosing his name, but we finally agreed and we love it still. Mr. Elijah Hayes. I remember writing a list of Bible names that I liked (I love Josiah, by the way, but Ronnie said no!) and giving it to Ronnie. He'd tell me yes, no, or maybe for each one. I heard "no" a lot. But I didn't hear "yes' very much. And there were a few "maybe" answers. Eventually we reached a truce and we decided that the first name for this little boy would be Elijah. It's another Hebrew name and means "the Lord is my God." Plus there's the fact that Elijah was a great prophet in the Bible.

When we got to the middle name, we decided that we would name him after someone in my family. Vernon, after my dad? No. Arlie, after my grandpa? No. Robert? Leroy? Eugene? Martin? Rueben? Obviously all a no. (I have some strange and old-fashioned names on my side!) I decided one day to go through the geneology book that my grandpa Arlie researched many years ago. It was there that I discovered my great-grandfather Rueben's middle name was Hayes. I liked it immediately. I shared it with Ronnie and he liked it too. It flowed well with Elijah. And we had the name for our second son.

What's In A Name - Part 1

I thought it would be fun to explain the reasoning behind the names that Ronnie and I have chosen for each of our kids. I don't think I've ever written it down and I'd like the boys (and girl) to have the story of how their name was chosen to read when they're older.

I'll do Ethan this week and go through until Little Miss is born and we announce her name. :)

Ethan at his 2nd birthday party.

When Ronnie and I started dating we told each other that we didn't want to have kids. Ha! We were just going to date for awhile and then go our separate ways. Ha! At least that's what young me thought since I was heading off to college and wanted to explore the world without being tied down. 

Wasn't I silly?

Within a few months I began to realize that this Ronnie guy wasn't very easy to scare away and that there may be something to our relationship beyond weekend dates. It didn't take long before we were talking marriage and dreaming about our future family. 

For some reason we decided that we wanted four kids. He has three sisters and I have 2 siblings so a smaller family just wouldn't cut it. In our minds at the time we thought we'd have 2 boys and 2 girls and we picked out their names. 

The very first name we picked was the first name we used: Ethan Tate. I had always loved the name Ethan and didn't know very many guys with that name. It is of Hebrew origin and has a good meaning: firm, strong. Just what I'd want my boy to be, firm in his beliefs and strong, both physically and mentally. Ronnie didn't argue as he liked it too, but he was very particular about the middle name. He wanted him named after his grandfather. So we decided that Ethan Tate sounded good together and we tucked the name away to use when we had our future children. 

Fast forward 5-ish years and when we went for the gender ultrasound of our second pregnancy and found out that we were expecting a boy, we knew automatically what his name would be. The easiest time choosing a name we've had yet. 

Just a little side note: we ended up not using any of the other names we chose when we chose Ethan's name. How odd is that?