What is in a name?

When Don and I were first trying to figure out what to name the kids we had a rough time. We both wanted our kids to have names that had a meaning. We didn't want to just pick a name "just because". By the time number one came along we pretty much had a good list of boy names. We both wanted biblical names but some of the names in the bible are well..........umm........ya know. Caleb was the name we chose for our first son. Caleb was a great bible name and had a strong meaning. It means faithful and loyal.

When we found out we were having another boy we got out our list again. Don and I just couldn't quite agree on these names even though we really liked all of them. For fun we decided to put all the names in a hat. After the baby was born we would pick a name and that is what he would be called. I can remember so vividly sitting in the bed and choosing the name Isaac. I looked at Don and I said, "OH PLEASE BABE CAN WE NAME HIM ZACHARY? Well for those who know us you know the rest of the story. The name Zachary means remembered by God.

I was super excited our next was going to be a girl. I could hardly wait. But the girl names in the bible are really not my favorite. So this was REALLY hard. Don loved pretty much all of the bible girl names but to me they sounded so old fashioned. Don really wanted the name Rachel. I didn't really like it at first and he really had to convince me. But I am glad we picked that for Rachel because it really fits her. The name Rachel means innocence or lovely (it is actually the Hebrew word for Ewe.

We were again excited but surprised that we were pregnant again so fast. We had alot of trouble getting pregnant in the first place and actually had two miscarriages. I used fertility pills with our first three and so we thought we couldn't get pregnant without them. Well surprise. We were very excited and when we found out we were having another boy we knew it wouldn't be too hard. I tried to find a bible name that wasn't too popular but wasn't too odd either. I really liked the name Ethan. But we wanted to stick to bible names. But then one day I was searching in the index in the bible and I found the name Ethan. COOL. Don loved it too. My brothers wife had been married before and had an Ethan but he died a few days after birth so I didn't want to stir up any sad feelings. So it took me a long time to get up the nerve to ask her permission to use that name. She was very willing and excited for us to do that. The name Ethan means firmness and steadfast.

So by now we knew we didn't need fertility pills any more but well you all know we quickly had another baby after Ethan. And I was praying it would be a girl. It was amazing to find out that it was definately a girl. But that would mean another hard time with picking a name. And there were not any other girl names in the bible that I liked. It took us a LONG time to figure out what to do. I searched online and read alot of baby books when I was pregnant with number 5. Then one day I found it. I found the perfect name. I was a little concerned to ask Don about it because I figured he wouldn't like it. But he loved it. The only problem was that it wasn't a bible name. But it has sort of a religious meaning. In the bible most (if not all) the names end in AH. Putting the AH at the end of a name (I think( means of God or something like that. So NO the actual name is not in the bible but we made sure to add an AH to the name Maya-------making her Mayah. The name Mayah means close to God.

SO for FHE tonight we made our names and their meanings into a craft. The kids LOVED it and did a wonderful job. In fact they did better than me. That figures though. I am NOT a crafty person. But if was a lot of fun. I love that my kids can know that there was a meaning behind their name.