What's in a name

By Mary

Naming a kid is kinda hard. It's not like naming the family dog, after all, where you have a little window of opportunity to change the name if it doesn't seem to suit as you learn their personality. This little person is going to be stuck with whatever you give them for the rest of their life (or at least until they're old enough to convince everybody to call them something different or change it legally)

And then, you know, both parents have to agree on the same thing. That's where we tend to get stuck.

I don't really want a name be too run-of-the-mill, but I don't really want it to be odd and I really don't need my kid to say I'm the reason why they always get picked on for their crazy name ("sorry honey, it seemed so great at the time!") I also don't like being super trendy and keeping with whatever is popular.

Our daughter was actually pretty easy to name, since she shares both of our middle names. I do take credit however, for very strongly encouraging my husband to stick to Gianna as the feminine form of his middle name, instead of Giovanna.

Our son was quite a bit harder and I think we didn't settle on his name until maybe a month before he was born. I'm not really big into themes, like everything starting with the same letter or whatnot, but I did kind of want to keep it Italian since we'd already done that with Gianna (okay, okay, I know that makes it a theme)

We haven't exactly chosen names for our kids just based on the meaning of them, but we have paid attention to it and given ones with meaning behind them that I'd love for my children to grow into. Ones that also serve as reminders to me, when I slow down and think of them as I have lately.

Gianna means "God is gracious". On so many levels, in so many ways that I never want to forget or take for granted. I pray for her to know His grace and to see how her presence in our lives is just one of His gracious gifts to us. And maybe we kind of overloaded, because her middle name is Grace. But just like I want her to grow to know and rejoice His grace, I want her to be a gracious woman. It paints such a vivid picture for me, just that one word. Gracious. I think of maturity, confidence, selflessness, poise, thoughtfulness, patience, even contentment.

Our son is named Dominick, meaning "of the Lord". I want to teach him that truth...he is of the Lord, his life in this world, his life in our lives, of the Lord, for His purposes. And as he grows I pray he chooses to be heart, soul, mind and strength, "of the Lord", that his eyes will always be on that goal.
His middle name, Eliseo, means "my God is salvation". My husband struggles up and down feeling confident in his salvation, and I want our kids to accept their need for a God Who saves, to have confidence in His power and His love for them, to call the True God their God.

So while we haven't chosen our baby names solely based on their meanings, I pray these characteristics will grow to define them and become their identities just as much as the names themselves.