A rose by any other name...

A family member recently said to me, "You guys sure come up with some interesting names!"

I responded with a smile. Though the word interesting could be taken as an insult, it didn't bother me. It's true, I guess. Naming children is a very hard job. Leila herself asks me from time to time why I named her Leila. The truth is that we found the name in a baby book, and we loved it immediately. I was very close to delivery when we happened across the name, and if we hadn't found it, Leila could very well be a Natalie.

The night that Leila was born we had a a nurse and my OB doctor in the room with us quite a bit. They had asked us what we were going to name our baby and we told them that if we had a boy, we really didn't know yet what his name would be, but if it was a girl, it would be Leila. When she made her grand entrance in the middle of the night the doctor and nurse announced her arrival with, "It's Leila!" instead of the traditional "It's a girl!" That is our Leila, her presence was strong from the moment she entered the world, and when I held her in my arms and looked down at her beautiful dark hair and brown eyes I knew that we were right, as Leila's name is an Arabic/Persian name that means two things. Dark haired beauty, and born at night. Both of which fit our new princess. We capped off our dark beauty with a middle name that means strength and nobility. I can't imagine anything more fitting!

Naming a second child is an even more challenging proposition. Leila's name was right the moment we found it, and it was validated to us the moment she was born. There was no doubt. When our little Thea was born we found ourselves in a familiar position. If it was a boy we had a name that we loved all picked out. If it was a girl...we were going to have some work ahead of us. Cory and I debated names for months. I searched the social security website for baby names that were popular in the late 1800, and ealy 1900's. I did not want something that was made up or new, but I also didn't want anything that was common or ordinary. One thing was for sure though, her middle name would be Dalene, for my grandma.
The truth is, if not for the fact that Cory watched me experience natural childbirth, and had to listen to me cry that I felt like I might die at any moment, Thea's name may have been Maya or Tessa. I wanted Thea. Thea is a Greek name, and it means "gift of God." I don't think a name meaning could be much nicer than that...and in combination with Dalene, I have always kind of thought of Thea as my gift from heaven...my baby that Grandma Dalene knew before I did.

So when I hear that I have interesting name choices, I happen to feel a sense of pride in our choices. Interesting is just what I was going for. Lots of thought went into the decisions to name or girls, and I am very satisfied. It is just too bad we never got to use our boy name.