Being a word nerd, I have pretty much always been name obsessed. When I found myself with responsibility of naming two real live human beings, I was, understandably, extremely excited and stressed out. Oh my goodness, I had to find the one name that would belong to someone for LIFE ( provided they didn't hate it and legally change it.) So I went through baby name books, scoured the internet, and, in the case of my second pregnancy, became almost scarily obsessed with baby naming web boards. (Pregnancy makes crazy people crazier, FYI.)
When it was all said and done, here's how we decided:
1) We both had to love the name, or at least really like it. We each had veto power, but agreed to consider all names the other suggested. It was our baby, not mine or his, so we made the decision together.
2) We wanted to give them a name belonging to or strongly associated with a saint to connect them with a heavenly helper and role model from day. Sharing a saint's name can be a great way for a child to relate to the heroes of the faith. We want our children to have all the help they can get on this journey toward heaven, so we invoke our friends who have already made it home to guide them toward Christ.
3) It had to have aural aesthetics (sound pretty.) We wanted something that flowed well- first, middle, and last names- and fit with the rest of our family. If you have to say something about 100 times a day for the rest of your life, you might as well start out liking the way it sounds. Of course, whatever your baby's name, once it means them, you will love that sound.
4) It had to have a positive meaning. For us, the saint connection mostly trumped the name's dictionary definition, though none of their names have negative literal meanings
("Little fair one," "who is like God?", "woman of the people," and " Christmas" for Finnian, Michael, Genevieve, and Noelle, respectively). In addition, we love the association of their middle names with people they love. Finn and I share the same middle name, and Genevieve's middle name is for my only sister.
5) Secondary, but important considerations:.we wanted names with nicknames, names with pleasant initials and names that reflected our heritage. (Ok, the last one isn't quite true for Gigi, though Genevieve has Celtic roots. I do have a soft spot for French things, though.) Also, we wanted names that were not extremely common, though I don't know that will always be the case.
And so we ended up with the Finnian Michael Twomey, whose name reminds us of St. Finnian of Clonard (a student of.St. Patrick and one of the 12 apostles of Ireland), our Irish heritage, Fionn McCool from legend, the incredibly awesome archangel St. Michael, and the connection between a mama and her first baby. We then had Genevieve Noelle, whose name reminds us of St. Genevieve
(The heroine of Paris whose prayer and sacrifice were more powerful than the violence of Attila), my dear sister, St. Noel ( a North American martyr who offered up his daily suffering against his nature as a living martyrdom), and the sweet sound of "bebe Gigi".
I hope I didn't bore you too much, but names are very important to me. Naming is a distinctly human task, one of the first God gave Adam in the garden before the Fall. It is one of the ways we are allowed to participate in the beauty of Creation. It is another bond between us and who are children will be. A name can bless, inspire, carry the weight of your hopes for your child, but giving them an identity separate from your own also frees them to create a definition for that name, to find out just who they will be.
Linking up with Team Whitaker's baby name post, cuz I love naming stories.
Today is: the last Saturday before Lent
Finn is: a Jedi this week
Gigi is: making astounding progress in the walking department
Mama is about to read: A State of Wonder by Ann Patchett
No comments:
Post a Comment