Names....

We have had different reasons for naming each of our children, some more profound than others. As someone who goes by a nickname derived from my legal name (which is a name that no one under 65 or so would have), I didn't want any of my children to have names that would lead to a nickname of any sort.

With my oldest, I "knew" from even before I was married, that I would name her M. Angelica. It fits her perfectly and she's always loved it.

My second born - I had a very difficult, high risk pregnancy, going into labor for the first time at only 19 weeks gestation. My dedicated OB spent hours and hours and hours with me, always being honest about the difficulties before us, but remained calm and positive and reassuring. He'd come to the hospital for me, even when he wasn't on call. My healthy, near term miracle son was named after him, B. David (my ob's last name was Davidson).

G was the first child we really debated or considered more than one name. If she was a boy, she would have been Noah Thomas. For a girl, we like G, Emma Jean, and Amelia Jean (Jean is my middle name, and my grandmother's name. About a week before she was born, a baby born on a very popular sitcom was named Emma. Wood and I looked at each other and simultaneously said "ok, not Emma". We decided on G, and gave her Wood's mother's middle name of Catherine.

All during our adoption process, we just really didn't think a lot about names - we were so consumed with the process itself. Miss A was a waiting child, and we requested her info immediately after turning in our dossier. After looking at her picture for a few days, we couldn't possible think of her as anything else other than A.

A is a name that, while unisex, is usually given to firtborn boys in Ethiopia. It means "Gift to God", in the way you would tithe, give your first fruits, the best of the best, back to God. In A's case, there was a tragedy in her family just a few days prior to A's birth. Knowing that there could never be a boy in the family, her mother gave her the name A. I'm amazed at the faith of this woman - her world had just collapsed, yet she looked to God to give thanks for her blessing, and gave honor and praise to the Lord. A was all that she had in the world - and was dedicated to God.

Ayele, her middle name, was her father's first name (Ethiopian tradition). Ayele means "from who (God) who gives me strength or power". So her name together means "our gift to God, who is the source of my strength and power.

Wood and I just realized the other day that all of our children have 5 letter names. And none really have a shortened form, or nickname that would be associated with them, other than a pet family nickname.