what you wish for your child

#midlife blog crestingthehill.com.au

I was thinking back to when my children were babies a long, loonnnnggg time ago and all the hopes and dreams, wishes and expectations that came with new parenthood. Along with that there was also choosing a name that suited your child and that they would grow into, thinking about the sort of person your child would become and many other musings that come with being a new parent.

We thought long and hard about baby names - there weren't any Apples or Rocket Zots around then but Moon Unit Zappa and a few other weird celebrity names had surfaced and we weren't keen on saddling our child with anything too "out there", but we also wanted to move beyond John or Robert, or something that they would share with a multitude of others (there were three Leannes in my high school Science class and I wasn't doing that to my child!)

Being church goers, we leant towards a bible name but wanted to steer clear of Nebuchadnezzar or 
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. In the end we discovered Jared in the Old Testament and thought that was a good solid name (although I didn't realize how many ways people would find to spell it over the years.) It didn't have a very deep or profound meaning - "descendant" was all the baby name book came up with. We wanted a bible verse to reflect his birth and seeing there wasn't anything appropriate with Jared in it (other than a genealogy) we chose Psalm 127:3-4 because it was a lovely thought about the child we had wished for and who had arrived into our family. (And a good reminder during all those sleepless nights and toddler and teen years!)

#midlife blog crestingthehill.com.au

When it came time to have our daughter we noticed that there were very few female bible based names that weren't a dime a dozen. Knowing that there would be a multitude of Rebeccas and Sarahs out there, we wanted to steer clear of anything too popular or common and settled on Erin because it meant "peace". That was a lovely spiritual concept and we even found a verse for her that related to the whole peaceful concept. If only our children fell into line with our wishes and expectations..... Erin was not a peaceful child, she was sassy and full of life and has stayed that way, but at the same time her ways are pleasant ways and she has brought a lot of joy along with her.

I'm not sure how other people go about the process of naming their children - there's probably a lot to be said for John Jnr or other family names (like the Danish royals that alternate Fredrick and Christian for their first born boys - easy!) It's quite a responsibility choosing a name that another person will have for the length of their lives - unless they want to change it by deed poll to something more memorable like Rainbow-Peace-Love-and-Vegtables (that actually has quite a nice ring to it....is it too late to change my mine? I wish!!)

This post was part of the #1word challenge - this week's word was "wish"

30 comments

  1. Rainbow Peace Love and Vegetables? I'm happy you chose Erin, instead. I chose, for my son, the name Andrew, because I admired some people with the name, and it was a good strong name. Alana ramblinwitham.blogspot.com

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    1. Yes it's a good name Alana - my nephew is Andrew and he's a great young man. It's funny how you associate whether you like a name or now by the people who own it :)

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  2. Those are some nice names. I must say if we ever choose to have kids {which we really don't anyway}, I have vetoed several hundred names thanks to kids I work with.

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    1. I worked with kids too pre-children and there was a long list I would never use for exactly the same reason as you Sanch. But never say never - you'll probably get sucked into parenthood when you are least expecting to :)

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  3. We went through this a few years ago with my son. The naming process is always complicated, but for us, was MORE complex because we had to find a name that worked in German, French, and English to be relatable to our families. Outside of 'John' there aren't many that work equally well in all three languages (unless you change it a bit: Stefan, Stephan, and Steven or something... not ideal). We settled on Alexander, but it still isn't my first choice of name. I have a VERY common/popular name for my age (Lisa) and I always hated being one of five Lisas in a classroom. Jared and Erin are really lovely names.

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    1. Lisa and Leanne - both names from our era aren't they - along with Julie and Sharon etc - it makes you really conscious of the effect it has on those who have several friends who all have the same name or versions of it!

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  4. Ah I love the process you followed, Leanne. And your children will appreciate it too.
    Talking about strange names, my parents tell of a child who was born while his father was posted in Fort St George (in Southern India) - so naturally the little fellow was christened Fort St George! ;)

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    1. Oh that's a rather awful thing to do to a child! I think George would have been more than enough to bestow upon him!

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  5. I love how you decided to name your kids and will say that for mine, I got to pick our first's name (Emma) and my husband got to pick our second (Lily). It was even Stevens that way and actually think their names work perfectly for them now looking back ;)

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    1. They suit your girls - when I see pictures of them on your blog they look like little fairies - all dainty and girlie (especially the ones with the disney princesses). My husband certainly had a big say in vetoing some of the names I came up with and it was full agreement before we settled on them.

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  6. Those are lovely names. We went with Biblical names as well and used Korean or French Canadian middle names to reflect their heritage.

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    1. thanks Angela - I love that you kept their heritage but didn't burden them with something weird as a first name :)

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  7. We chose to go the "naming after" route for our two. My son is named for his father and my brother and our daughter is named for her grandma (my mom) and her great grandma (hubby's grandma). I love the names you chose!

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    1. thanks Rena - I do think that families that use traditional names have it a lot easier - although it can be a bit confusing for the mailman at times!

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  8. In a conversation not too long ago, both my children told me they really like the names we gave them. I was so pleased!

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  9. Probably a good thing you didn't go with Nebuchadnezzar. Can you imagine having to sign that on checks? Oy!

    Our oldest boy is named for a sibing of my husband's who died as an infant. Likewise our daughter is named for a baby sister of my husband's that did not live long either. The younger son has a name that is Biblical (one of Joseph's brothers). Middle names came almost exclusively from the grandparents.

    As my husband had been given the honor of picking his little sister's middle name when he was a child, we wanted to do the same with our oldest boy (6 at the time) for /his/ little sister. First he wanted Cherry. (We were so not going to go there.) Next he chose "White". Yeah, that would cause problems later in life as well. Lastly he chose Olive (I have no idea where that came from), and stuck to that name like glue. He consented to modernize it a little bit and we came up with "Olivia".

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    1. I love family involvement with name choices (especially when they are nice ones!) and I also think it might be hard to find a name plaque or key ring with Nebuchadnezzar on it - you have to keep these things in mind LuAnn :)

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  10. You chose wisely! Jared and Erin are beautiful names. Are you familiar with Ima Hogg, the daughter of the Governor of Texas in 1890. Lots of jokes were made at her expense. It was even rumored she had a sister named, Ura, but that wasn't true. What were her parents thinking?

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    1. I think parents sometimes get caught up with a name and don't look at the bigger picture - I always think of Edward Woodward as my example!

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  11. We chose to use names of favourite/revered relatives. Then pointed out to our children all the good things that person did. Or still does. :)

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    1. That's really nice - it's kind of a legacy for the relative and a blessing for the child (as long as the relative wasn't an axe murderer or one of Rena's strange kin!)

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  12. We had some of the same struggles with naming our three daughters. My husband and I both prefer more traditional names, but we dint' want something that "everyone" would have. Plus, by the time we got to our third daughter, we were running our of options! We ended up with Rachel, Megan, & Emily.

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    1. I was worried about having a second boy because we had nothing/nada that either of us could agree on - it was a relief when we had a girl!

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  13. I agree - it's such a responsibility choosing a name for your children! I'm still happy with what we chose, but I guess I should check with them and see what they think :)!

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    1. so true Lana - maybe you shouldn't check - what if they wanted to be Rainbow-Peace-Love and Vegetables?

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  14. Such a lovely post! Heartwarming indeed. We don't have kids yet. But yes, I have a name in my head which would mean 'hope'. :D

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    1. that's lovely - what better meaning for what you want your child to bring into the world!

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  15. Thank you for sharing with us at #JoyHopeLive!

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  16. People sometimes don't think about the poor child when naming them! I'm pretty conservative and loved biblical names. My daughter is Rachel Clare - the Clare is because every woman on her father's side of the family has it as their middle name which I thought was a nice tradition. My son is Nathan Luke. thanks for sharing your story with us at #WednesdaysWisdom.

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Thanks so much for your comment - it's where the connection begins.