Saturday, March 27, 2010

What's in a Name?

When Michael and I were expecting our first child we spent LOTS of time discussing names. We both suggested names that we thought "sounded good." We both suggested family names. We thought and thought and talked and talked. Then we decided we really wanted to name our children names that had meaning and significance.


A few days before Miles was born we were still thinking about names. Michael was searching the internet and looked up nick-names for Michael. He found Miles, an old nickname for Michael which means soldier. We loved that name and when Miles was born it fit him perfectly. We added the middle name Kent in honor of my grandfather. He was a loving and caring man and we wanted Miles to have those traits.

When I found out I was expecting our second child Miles was only 14 months old. He was very verbal. I asked him when I was 2 or three months along I told him, "Mommy is going to have a baby brother or sister. What do you think we should name the baby?" He looked up at me with those big blue eyes and said, "Happy." He stuck with "Happy" through the remainder of my pregnancy so when it came close to time to have Isaac we looked for names that meant happy. We found Isaac which means "he will laugh." We thought it was a lovely name and when Isaac was born the name fit him perfectly. We chose the middle name Lynn to honor a man who had a great influence in Michael's life.

I have looked at lots of name books and websites in my life. I don't remember when but a long time ago I came across the name Abeni. It is an African name that means, we prayed for this little girl and God gave her to us. Sometimes the meaning is shortened to girl prayed for. I loved that meaning and thought if I ever had a daughter I would name her Abeni. (Ab like Abby, a like a ball, and nee like knee.) We will be leaving her Korean name as her middle name. We are considering giving her an american middle name also. We haven't decided on that yet.

5 comments:

Em said...

I loved hearing the stories behind your kids' names.

McKenna means "son of Kenneth" which is really fitting if you pretend that Kenna is a boy and that Brian's name is Kenneth.

Hadley means "fields of Heather," and I like to rename everyone that's impacted my life for good, "Heather" and then Hadley is named after everyone I love. It's so beautiful.

And now my question is: if we have more kids, and give THEM names with meaning, will McKenna and Hadley be bitter?

Annie B said...

I like hearing stories behind names too. I think every name deserves a story, because names are trendy and come and go, but those stories are special and endure. I loved hearing the story behind my name whan I was little.

We're keeping the Korean middle name too and are giving an "american" first name. Like your Miles' story, it is a variant of a name that runs in both our families.

Thanks for sharing your name stories!

happyseoul said...

Loved the name and now I love it even more! Beautiful name for a beautiful girl.

Lisa said...

I'm glad you found me at Hoping for Henry! I'll just blow kisses and smile at every girl I see and then maybe your Abeni will get some extra love. :) I really enjoyed hearing the background on Abeni's name. Like you, all my children have names with a special meaning -- I think it's important.

Summer and Stuart said...

Its a beautiful name! Great post!