Hope you’re not surprised that there is at least one AGW + WPW post during ‘launch week’ — the perfect excuse for me to get to finally use never-published newborn photos. Their birth story is coming soon, promise, but it’s a doozy and I figured I needed to start with something a little less intense.
I began keeping baby name ideas in my phone circa 2007 in my first work-issued BlackBerry. KPW and I were dating, still a long way from babies (ten years, as it turned out), but I started adding names here and there as I’d find a name I thought worked with ‘Winchester’ (ambitious since we didn’t get married until 2012).
I’ve always loved hearing about how people come up with the names for their people. As someone who is an over-thinker about most things, picking out names for our two tiny humans was no small feat, but I’m quite pleased with the end results.
Anna Gray Gibson: The day this name popped into my head, about a year before I was pregnant, I can actually remember texting a best friend (who is a former teacher) and asking if it was too many letters for the kindergarten desk name label. She said it was dicey but approved.
‘Anna’ is after my mama (Angela) and KPW’s mama (middle name Ann). I was Kristin Eileen after my maternal grandma, Eleanor, and I love continuing this tradition. ‘Gray’ is in honor of the family I nannied for growing up. They deeply influenced my life in many different areas, from faith to family to my decision to go to Carolina (which turned out to be a life-altering one since it’s where I met KPW). And ‘Gibson’ is KPW’s mom’s maiden name; we wanted to honor her and all the women who helped raise and impact Kyle most directly: his late grandmother and his amazing aunts and cousins – all proud “Gibson gals”.
Yes, she has four names. Good news is that she has the personality to handle it. Her legal first name is Anna Gray. She goes by Anna Gray. We call her Anna Gray, Aggs, Sissy, Sister, Sister bear and Sue among other treasured nicknames. Her monogram is a story for another post.
Wright Preston: We finalized his name driving from Tampa back to North Carolina following the moving truck. We had spent some time with my grandma (Eleanor) a few weeks prior and had poured over family trees. We were having a time deciding and I googled “baby boy names” and proceeded to read through a list of 600+ names as we drove north on I-95. Somewhere outside Savannah, I suggested Wright Preston, and to my surprise, KPW agreed.
He is named after both our maternal grandfathers: Mine – “Elvin Wright Grant” and KPW’s – “Henry Preston Gibson”. They both proudly served their country, their family, and their God with dignity and honor. We hope and pray Wright will embody the same bold leadership qualities of these great men. In addition, our Wright is the fifth male to have that name bestowed upon him across the Grant lineage. While he doesn’t have an official ‘double-name’, Anna Gray does call him “Wriiight Preston” when she needs his attention.
His nickname list is ever-growing but Bubby, Bub, and Sam seem to be the crowd favorites. Wright might be left-handed (ironic?), but he is also destined to be senior class president. I’m already preparing to help make campaign posters – “Don’t go wrong, vote Wright”.
I can’t tell you how many people only know them by their monograms and laugh when I refer to them by their legal names in different settings. They do have real actual names.
I’d love to hear if you had any specific influences when naming your babies or if you have any names on a ‘future’ list that you might use one day. If you’re be willing to share, let me know in the comments 😉
xo,
KNW
*These photos of my little chicken-legged babies are all from our newborn session with Graham Terhune of AnaGram Photo.
Happy Blog Launch! I have followed your IG for so long and love that you have a little space on the internet to call your own now!
Loved reading the story behind your twin’s names. Just a few weeks ago I scrolled way back in your feed to see if I could find this same info! I do have a list of future kid names saved on my phone. One of my favorite on the list is my husband’s middle name ‘Wellesley’ and potentially using it for a future girl. Hoping someday soon the hubby and I can have a reason to discuss all of the names.
Becca!! Thanks so much for this kindness. I’m tickled to have this little space so I can share crazy things like how I named by tiny humans. Will be saying extra prayers for your future babies and the joy and effort that comes with making the ‘what are we going to name them’ decisions. xo.
I love a good naming story. We jokingly say our buys are ready to be their own law firms, Winton Bewley & Bishop Slaten. In my family traditionally your middle name is one of your grandmothers maiden names, so that part was easy. My oldest’s first name is my maiden name. My youngest was first is a family name from my husband’s side. Our unused girl name is Magnolia Hart, and if we were ever to have a 3rd little guy he’d be Hart Duvall (for the GGMs).
Naming tiny humans is so hard! I also had a list in my phone well before having babies, but I did turn to it when it was time – naming the second babe was harder for us. We are ended up with a Stella Wren, Stella being my husband’s great aunt’s name and Wren just loving the way it flowed. Then we had a Maisie Lide, Maisie a name we loved with Stella and Lide my maternal grandmother’s maiden name. I love that they both have a little family!! 💗 SWE & MLE – Maisie gets called “ML” a lot but Stella tends to get the double name. Either way, I think we came out okay ☺️
Meg! What beautiful names and histories. And you know how I feel about double-names 😉
My oldest will be 6 next month and is Stella Katherine, named for my maternal grandmother (Stella) and mother-in-law (Katherine). Long before my husband and I met there was a future baby girl Stella. I have 4 older cousins who collectively have 3 girls older than my girls and I’m so glad no one used Stella before I was able to! My youngest will be 5 in December and is Hazel Ruth. Ruth is from my husband’s maternal grandmother. She’s the reason we met and we were proud to honor her before she passed. And Hazel, we wanted an old fashioned name that went well with Stella and it stood out to us. My mother hated the name at first, said all she could think about was old Hazel the Maid shows but loves it now. It fits her. Both names fit my girls so well.
I’m too long in the tooth to be having any more babies (40) but our boy name on deck was Atticus AllIe, for my mother in laws favorite book and my paternal great grandfather. My dads middle name was supposed to be Allie, but when he was born the nurse in the hospital changed it to Allen. If we were able to have another girl, her name would be Louise. I was adopted at 4 months and my parents dear friend Louise wrote a beautiful letter in support of my parents becoming parents, and was the first person they introduced me to.
I love names with meaning and history, such a sweet way to honor where you’ve been and where you are destined to go 💕
Oh goodness, Sheryl! What a beautiful story. Thanks for sharing. We hemmed and hawed about giving Wright a name that had so many ‘homophones’ but leaned in and now I can’t imagine him having any other name. Sounds like your sweet Hazel has experienced a similar story.
My maternal grandmother (Clara) never loved her name so she told her kids if they ever used the name to use Claire. I love the name, Margaret Claire, if I ever have the opportunity to have littles. I am actually the only kid in my immediate family that is not named for other family members. My parents just liked the name, Jessica. My brother is like Wright, he is named from the two first names of my grandfathers Kenneth William.
I absolutely love stories like this – I feel like I would love your grandma 😉
Omg!! We are stuck in name list quicksand right now. We knew WRJ right away and so there was no other name to choose from. It’s just perfect. But finding one for #2 has been more of a debate. My list has had the same contenders for awhile, but John’s changes everyday. 🤦🏻♀️
I have one million girl names and no boy names. Wish I could offer help. I know you will pick something amazing!! Congrats!
I just love your babies names! Double names have my heart. I’ve got a stashed away list on my phone not even sure I’ve actually discussed it with the hubs but when the time comes I’m ready! 😂 Some of my favorites are Ruthie Fae, Lucy Ann, or Annie Mae, (couldn’t use Mae and Fae but like one of those), Eloise, Greer with something to make it a double… for a boy I’ve got Everett. Hopefully we have some girls 🤷🏼♀️
Love this post so much! I’ve always been obsessed with names, and I thought I was the only one who kept a running list on their phone. As a teacher, I think through all the possibilities, pros, and cons for names which makes it difficult. I LOVE family names or names with significance (and of course a good, southern double name), so your babes’ are perfect!
Both my mom and MIL were teachers so we withheld telling names until after the babies were born so we wouldn’t be influenced by past kiddos in their classes 😉
Titus James – my husband has three strong biblical names (Daniel John David) so we wanted to carry that forward with our son. Honestly first heard the name Titus from a TV show starring Christopher Titus. James is my husband’s favorite book in the Bible. His nickname is Tito.
Addison Olivia Grace – I fell in love with the name Addison while watching Grey’s Anatomy & Private Practice. Always loved the name Grace. My husband has 2 middle names & is the 2nd born so we wanted to do the same. We added Olivia. Her nicknames are Addi, Boo and Addicakes.
Heather! I love this so much. KPW is an only child, so we treat his cousins kiddos as nieces and nephews. His oldest cousin has an Addison for the exact same reason 😉
Oh I love this and love hearing about where names come from! My sweet George Harry (a double name like his Momma) is named for both my husband and my late maternal Grandfather’s (George was mine and Harry his) who we loved dearly and meant the world to us. So sweet to find out where your precious children’s names came from. Loved reading this! 💕 Martha Kate
You know how I feel a bout a double-name 😉 <3
This story warms my heart! I love strong family names. If I ever had a daughter her name was going to be Isabell Rita after both my grandmothers. Rita is also my moms name. I sometimes think about the what if; but then look at my 13 nieces and nephews and smile about my present. Life is a beautiful journey.
Lauren – What a sweet name and nod to your grandmothers. It’s fun to dream of the maybe one days. But I love your wisdom on the ‘present’. xo.
I love the stories behind how you chose names for your littles! We have two little girls, Stella Jane and Riley Kate. My husband loved the name Stella and we both liked the name Riley. My MIL’s middle name is Jane and my name is Kathryn so that’s how we got the middle names Jane and Kate. We aren’t super creative with nicknames though, haha. Stella goes by Stell and Riley goes by Riley girl 🙂
I am a bit afraid that the babies think their nicknames are their actual names. If you ask them what their names are they proudly say “Bubby” and “Sissy”. Whoops.And I love the name Stella. One of my best friends named her baby girl that a few years ago. My mom’s middle name is Jane – I am hoping my sister uses it one day when she has littles.
Love this post! Naming your kids is hard my first born son is named after his Dad and Grandfathers Charles William IV his nickname is Chase. Our twins boys one Landon Edward is named after my Grandmother’s maiden name Landon and my Dad’s name Edward and Grayson Robert we just loved the name Grayson and Robert is after my cousin who passed away with cancer while I was pregnant with the twins. Thanks for sharing with us!
What a sweet nod to family, Susan!!
Love! I’m single as a pringle but I’ve been thinking about names for littles as I come across people that have had an important impact in my life. Matthew Alexander, for three very important “big brothers” who aren’t actually related to me but treat me as their little sister (two of them are named Matt, lol!) and Clare Ann. No significance there, I just love the name Clare, very classic and I really like it without the i. I also toy around with a Henry/Hank for my paternal grandfather and a Harris/Harry for my mom’s maiden name. Those are both for boy names so I need to keep noodling on some girl names! Or maybe a boyfriend first. 🙃
Rachel – I fully support this effort. I should have probably confessed that I started dreaming up baby names long before I kept them in my first work blackberry and long before KPW gave me a potential last name to try out… And I had a far easier time with girl names than boy names 😉
No babies yes but I adore the name Clara Marlae. Clara is just classic, not super common, and nods to the Nutcracker. Marlae (pronounced Mar-lay) is my mom’s name and nods to our deep & strong Dutch heritage.
Oh Katrina! I love this name and nod to your family heritage.
Love the family legacy in each of their names! I’ve loved thinking of baby names as long as I can remember, and though my husband and I are still a little ways from babies, we have already chosen a name if we’re blessed with a boy one day: Joseph Carter. It is the same structure as my husband’s name (Joseph Harrison, goes by Harrison), Joseph is also my dad’s middle name, and Carter was his great-grandfather. For girls, I’ve always like Caroline (for our deep love of NC) and Emerson, and Grace for a middle name! I love being able to share this shamelessly without getting the “when are you having the kids to go with the names” question 😂
Taylor! I can 100% promise you will never get the “when are you having kids” question from me 🙃. More on that in a future blogpost. As for these names, so great. I am particularly fond of the name Caroline too.
Naming babies – a topic that never gets old!! Love that class prez slogan!
Possibly my favorite fact in this entire blogpost. I’m already preparing my heart for him to say ‘mom, I love you but I’m not running for office’. But I’ll keep my bubble letter penmanship at the ready, just in case…
I love this!! Names are so special to me and I loved naming my two! My son is David William – he is a junior so that is self explanatory. My daughter is Mary Ellen. My mom and I both have the middle name Ellen. I also wanted to honor my grandmother – her mother’s name was Mary and her favorite aunt was Ellen. My husband’s grandmother is also Mary 😊
Our daughter‘s name is very special to us. Clara LaDeane, Clara was my paternal grandmother (Claras great great grandma) I never got to meet her but everyone has always raved about her gentle heart and hardworking passion for her family, friends, and faith. LaDeane was my maternal grandmother-Clara’s great grandma. I also wasn’t able to meet her as she passed away when my mother was 13 but her friends and family have always said how loving she was and how I reminded them of her. My middle name is also LaDeane so carrying on the tradition. I LOVE TRADITIONS & passing names down. Loving your blog so far. I also listen to your morning show while I work 🙈 Loving your little corner of the internet 😍
Married last October and the list continues to be added to and edited.in my iphone notes since, (embarrassed to say) my senior year of high school!
Dying to hear how Anna Gray’s monogram works because I have a few double girl names (hello, Mary Stewart) that I hesitate with for that very reason. For girl we both love Frances Edith Webb (both our mothers names) and boy is hard, but trying not to stress too much… think we have some time! Cannot wait to read other’s!!
I love love love hearing baby name stories!!! I’m accused of having “ivy-league” names for our children…Blake, Callaway, Hampton, and Caroline. No special stories really…although I taught a little girl dance named Calloway (spelled differently from ours) and always loved the name so that’s where hers came from. Ohh, and I am one that would 💗 to go by my monogram!!! One can dream!!!
I’m hopelessly single but definitely already have a full list of name options saved in my notes app. Glad to know I’m not the only one who super plans ahead!
My brother and I are named after our grandparents, and I love the idea of continuing that tradition with my own potential future kids.
Also I work as a pediatric physical therapist and am fully obsessed with babies, so thanks for sharing pictures of your precious tiny humans! 😍
As a proud four-namer myself, I hope she always treasures each one. Own those names, AGW!
Naming kids is hard especially when you and your husband BOTH have opinions 🤪. Well i have a hard time with boy names and we finally settled on Camden. However i think that’s the only boy name we will ever agree on so here’s hoping the rest are girls!!
I named my boy Rhett after Clark Gibson’s stunning presence in Gone with the Wind. I was shocked my husband went along with it! Have no fear, his middle name – Martin – has more meaning. It’s a family name on my dads side, and my father in laws middle name. Fulfilled a lifelong dream to name my kid after Rhett Butler: check!!
I’ve had a running baby name list in my notes since I got a phone when I was 13! Now, 10 years later, and no kids in my near future I still add to the list often and love talking about baby names whenever I get the chance!
I love hearing/reading baby name stories and learning the meaning behind people’s names. My husband and I are currently trying and if we have a girl we want to name her Margaret and nickname her “Millie”. Margaret is my middle name, my maternal grandmother’s first name, paternal grandmother’s middle name and my mother-in-law’s name so it represents a lot of special women in our life. And the nickname “Millie” would be after my sister Amanda who was nicknamed “Millie Molly” growing up. We’ve had a hard time coming up with a boys name that holds as much meaning so we’re still thinking on that. Right now the top contender is Dillon after our favorite bar 😂
We have a sweet little 6 week old babe who we named Georgia Katherine Caines or Georgia Kate as we call her! We are from Florida but got married in a sleepy little town in South Georgia and Katherine is after my sister and my Dad’s twin sister.
Our nicknames for her includes Georgia Cakes as my niece and nephew thought it was Cake instead of Kate 🥰 and just plain Cakes!
We’ve got future names for a baby or two in the not so near future! Lol! Boy names include Rhett Matthew- Matthew after my husband’s best friend we lost in a car accident and Preslee Ann- Lee is a family name on my mom’s side and our first dance was Elvis.
Congrats on your sweet little corner of the Internet!
My sweet boy is Luke Taylor. Luke from the Bible. My husband read the book of Luke to me and I said, “I think have our Luke.” Taylor is my maiden name. His name suits him well.
Atleigh Elizabeth!! I need boy names! Haha. Getting married next Saturday!
Love this! Your sweet babies are so precious! I love hearing how people come to name their children – names mean so much and it can be tough to put a name to someone you’ve just met (or have yet to meet!).
Ours are mostly family names: our oldest, Eleanor Lane, was named for my dad and paternal grandpa, who both also have Lane as a middle name. Her first name is the only one that is not a family name – I totally expected to have a lot of arguments over it as I tend to like more classic names than my husband, but his favorite girl name was Ellie, so we compromised on Eleanor and calling her Ellie until she could choose (although she’s two, so we use her full name a lot these days 😂). We also have twins – Douglas Henry was named for my husband and the men in his family (the 5th in his family to have the name Douglas) and my maternal grandpa, John Henry. Mary Frances (also a double namer!) is named for my mom and my mother-in-law.
I love reading all of these baby naming stories! Our oldest is Jack Thomas after both my husband’s and my maternal grandfathers, and we had his name picked out even before we knew he was a boy. When we found out we were pregnant with our second, I was so convinced that it was a boy as well, we didn’t even bother to come up with a girl’s name before our anatomy ultrasound. Much to my surprise, it was a GIRL! We were completely thrilled but had to go back to the drawing board for her name. We wrote down every girl name we’d ever liked, narrowed it down to our favorites, and eventually settled on Georgia Claire. She is every bit as sweet and southern as her name. 🎀
What sweet and meaningful names for your babies!
If I am blessed with kiddos of my own some day, I really love either Anna Irene or Anna Beth Irene. My mom’s mom was Anne, and my middle name is Ann after her. My dad’s mom was Irene, and I love the two names together.
However, after watching Hart of Dixie 😂 I really like Anna Beth (or AB).
My only preference for a boys name is for it to also have a family connection.
I love their names and loved making their sweet birthday outfits for their first birthday 🙂
I love family names so I have William ‘Parks’ Watson (William after my dad and many others on his side) and Parks is my husbands middle name and a special name on his side of the family.
My daughter is Harriette Worth Watson (Hattie) named after my paternal great-grandmother and Worth is my dads middle name and a very important name on his side.
I have 4 boys. I could be here all night sharing that many stories. So I’ll keep this simple…
1. Judah Corbett (biblical + my maiden name)
2. Mack Gray (paternal great grandfather nickname + my hubby’s name)
3. Zeke Charles (Dad from TV show “Parenthood” + my grandfathers name). If church people ask, yes… Zeke is short for Ezekiel. 🙄
4. Walter Franklin “Walt” (my dad + my father in law)
Hey Pam!! Loved reading the story behind your boys names, especially Zeke Charles! You had me in stitches, friend! Miss you!
Courtney
Reading this post has made me so happy! I also have 4 names, with my first and middle names after my mom and grandmothers. I think this explains why I love my monogram – because it reminds me of the woman I am named after.
P.S. Their names are all longer than AGW, so she has no need to worry about learning her names 🙂
Loved hearing the story of their names! It is funny, the list of girl names I had before getting pregnant are names I do not even consider anymore 🤷🏻♀️. My list was comprised of more modern-unique names and we ended up going with more classic-southern. I have a Virginia Marie (named after my husband’s maternal grandmother) and a Caroline Elizabeth (a name we decided on moments before we were discharged from the hospital.) I am currently pregnant with baby girl #3 and am at a loss for another girl name. I love the idea of using family names but, I have been asked by a few women in our family to not use their name because they always “hated” their own names so that definitely limits that. I am only 24 weeks so I have time.
I love hearing how people landed on their babies’ names! My husband and I have very common names for our age group (the other 1980s Jessicas feel me; my husband is Andrew James), so our number one rule was that the names could not be in the top 25 most popular names on the Social Security website. 😂 We also both wanted to incorporate family names where possible. Third item was monogram —our last name starts with D, so we have to avoid middle names that begin with vowels so we don’t end up monograms like MAD SAD etc. My husband jokes he’d never even heard of a monogram, let alone worried about it, until meeting me; now he’s all about the monogrammed custom shirt cuff, haha. So, for our first, we landed on Sterling James. Sterling is my paternal grandmother’s maiden name and James is my husband’s middle name, his father’s name, and was his maternal grandfather’s name. Mostly I call my son Sterling, Bubs, Bubba, Buddy, and Kiddo. My husband calls him Stirfry, but I refuse! I do refer to him as SJ or SJD in texts and emails. Our second child is Lillian (“Lilly”) Jean. Lilly is my great-grandmother’s maiden name and my middle name and I have always loved it; Jean was my husband’s beloved grandmother’s name. My husband is the farthest thing from Southern but he loves double names, so Lilly Jean works perfectly! We call her LJ, Lilibit, and Lilly Jean. Thanks for sharing your story!
I’ve loved following your Instagram and am so excited to read your blog! I am a monogram fanatic which I think I got from my maternal granny who was from Virginia. I’m a born and raised Connecticut Girl so not many people get the “initial obsession” up here 😂
I’ve had my baby names picked out for 10+ years and my husband and I talked about them on our first date when we were 17! We are just entering into journey to parenthood now and Morrison Gray will be our first if it’s a boy. Morrison is his paternal grandpas name, his fathers name and his middle. Gray is my maiden name. Our daughter will be Abigail Jeanette after my mama who passed away years ago (Janet Gail). Our other favorites if we get to use them are Caroline Grace and Lucas Warren. ❤️❤️❤️
My husband and I had names picked out for our babies before we were even engaged. Crazy, I know. We didn’t have any family names we felt like we wanted to use so we just came up with what we liked. Our first girl name was Kennedy Grace. Before I even knew I was pregnant, we got 5 confirmations from the Lord in 48 hours that I was going to have (we were going to have) a baby. 5 is the number of Grace. Once I figured that out, I just knew in my heart it was a girl. Sure enough, Kennedy Grace (KG is her nickname) made her appearance mid-August, 2019. We are smitten. 💕
I’ve loved following your Instagram and am so excited to read your blog! I am a monogram fanatic which I think I got from my maternal granny who was from Virginia. I’m a born and raised Connecticut Girl so not many people get the “initial obsession” up here 😂
I’ve had my baby names picked out for 10+ years and my now husband and I talked about them on our first date when we were 17! We are just entering into the journey to parenthood now and Morrison Gray will be our first if it’s a boy. Morrison is his paternal grandpas name, his fathers name and his middle. Gray is my maiden name. Our daughter will be Abigail Jeanette after my mama who passed away years ago (Janet Gail). Our other favorites if we get to use them are Caroline Grace and Lucas Warren. ❤️❤️❤️
I love baby name stories. My oldest daughter (20)is named after two very good friends of mine, twin sisters Maureen and Meghan. When my sweet husband met them, rather than determining who was who, he contracted their names and called them collectively “Morgan”. Her middle name comes from Elizabeth Ave, where three generations of my family were raised.
My son (18) was named Mason Riley after his paternal grandfather.
And so, many years later when we found ourselves unexpectedly expecting number 3, my first two were adamant that #3 had to be another M name “so he or she won’t feel left out”, and we actually went with their suggestion of Molly as a first name and a middle name of Margaret after my paternal grandmother.
I wanted an Anna Gray for the longest time but my husband already had an Anna cousin. We ended up with Avonlea Gray. Avonlea, from Anne of Green Gables. I had loved that name since middle school but never expected my husband to go for it. Gray is for him, Grayson, planned from our first date on! Our second daughter is Emmalyn Jane. My friend Emily died almost a year before Emmalyn was born & I knew before I was even pregnant that God would give us another girl & I wanted to honor her in her name. My favorite aunt’s middle name is Lyn, so that seemed fitting. Jane took a long time to settle on. I wanted another literary name since Avonlea was named from a book. On the drive for thanksgiving, we decided on Jane for Jane Austen.
Davis Daniel – boy names were hard! So very hard for us. The name Davis popped into mind while driving to church one morning, mere weeks before he was due. I’m a sucker for alliteration + we wanted a biblical name for the middle name hence Daniel.
Anderson Andrew – we had mulled over names for our second born and never could settle. We felt like we had backed ourselves into a corner with wanting to keep the alliteration going + a biblical name. Mere moments before he was born, or after – I honestly can’t remember – we agreed upon Anderson Andrew. Andrew is Phillip’s middle name and I had always wanted to use it. He did not. So I agreed to Anderson if he agreed to using Andrew.
Most people assume Davis and Anderson are family names/my maiden name but alas, no! Pulled out of thin air!
I have a running list on my phone of baby names🙈
Hi Kristin,
Loved reading this story!
Two weeks after my husband and I met we went out for dinner and discussed baby names. We settled on one boy name and one girl name. We had a girl and a boy and named them what we decided on this date two weeks into our relationship. Then when my son was born my best friend in the US emailed me to say that his name made him sound like a future President. I remembered thinking how much I loved her!!
My paternal grandmother’s mother was a twin. Somewhere in my childhood, I understood this fact of family history to mean that I could possibly have twins. As I grew older, I realized the science might not quite be in my favor but I could not shake the sight of twin boys when I envisioned what our family could become. The picture in my mind was simple — the arrival of twin boys would rocket us into parenthood and I had just the perfect names picked out — Huckleberry, who we would call “Huck,” and Aaron David. My middle name (no family connection) is Erin. My late father is David. Huck would be my wild guy and AD would be my polished little scholar. My little mama heart could get so happy just thinking of this dream.
Very early in our first pregnancy, we learned our baby (only one) was a boy! As I struggled with morning sickness one Saturday, I asked my husband if we could go for a drive. He obliged. On this drive we started to discuss names. For whatever reason, the reality of motherhood was not happy with the dream when it came to names for our dear boy. I adore and cherish so many memories with my dear dad that any name which pays tribute to him would please me. However, my dad had a family name and I think sometimes it was overwhelming for him. I could almost hear him say to me on that car ride “Don’t you dare name this boy David.” And Aaron? My husband’s family descends from the great Aaron Jernigan — the one who established roots in Central Florida and had a city named for him. Only, the city would lose the name “Jernigan” and become “Orlando” after Aaron did some not-so honorable deeds. As a teacher, my mom instincts were screaming, “Do not name your child Huckleberry.” (I still think it is a sweet name but I just could not see our family pulling it off — the families with “Huckleberry” boys — or girls — I am sure are doing fine)
On this car ride we were certainly back at square one. My husband suggested the individuals he would love to have children named after are my paternal grandparents, Allan and Shirley Walker. We laughed about “Shirley” but Allan was a serious contender in the running. My husband’s middle name is Allen (note the spelling) along with his father and grandfather. For me, that settled it. Our boy’s middle name would be Allan, spelled just like my Grandpa Walker. Exercising pragmatic reasoning, my husband asked why I loved “Huckleberry” to begin with and the truth was, I liked the idea of calling him “Huck.” Inspired from that, we said many names that can be shortened to a cool nickname and once of us said “Tucker,” we knew that was it! Tucker Allan was our boy. Today at two years old, he has shown himself to be everything I imagined the two boys I had originally dreamed of for our family. He is the perfect mix of wild, inquisitive, kind and sweet any mom could ask for.
I know that was long but for anyone reading it, I hope you feel some comfort if you find yourself veering from “the list” when it comes to naming the precious blessings we receive.
My kids are Caroline and Henry, both family names. My grandmother was named Carolyn and my husbands grandfather was named Henry. I love your names 😁
Oh gracious I LOVE these kinds of stories!
My daughter is Emory Catherine and goes by Emmy Cate. She’s named after my grandfather Emory Lynell NeSmith who was about as great of a man as you could come by. And Catherine because, well, Princess Kate.
My son is Brooks Thomas. We also had a really hard time with boy names! He’s essentially named after Garth Brooks, Brooks Robinson, and the Brooks shoe brand haha. Thomas is his daddy’s middle name!
Love hearing baby naming stories!! It’s such a big thing. We chose to wait until seeing our babes to officially name them, I couldn’t imagine it any other way looking back.
My two little guys both have grandfathers middle names as theirs! Something so special and sweet about family names passed down💙
Family names alllll the way! Growing up I always felt so special knowing I was named after my mama’s favorite cousin. My son is named after my maternal grandfather and my husbands paternal grandfather, George Edward. My daughter is my maternal great aunt and my husbands paternal grandmother, Cassie Lynn.
I loved this post about naming your sweet babies! We had a baby last October and her name was something that I really ruminated over and knew that when I had it, I had it. We named her after a man, Everett. He was the grandfather that wasn’t related to me by blood and someone who really exercised unconditional love and family honor/acceptance. He was there the day I was born and he was always in my life as “Evie”. His wife was lovely as well and passed away a few years before he did.
When I started dating my now husband, there was one woman who was so supportive of my relationship and then again when we were married and planned to have our baby. I had to do 3 rounds of IVF and she knew the walk I was walking as she had to do the same for her boys (who are now much older). We never called her by her formal first name, Elizabeth, but she is know as Betsey. And, we love how she loves her family and is the best kin keeper around! So when I was thinking of all the things I want my little girl to be, these were the wishes I had for her. Plus, a perfectly symmetrical monogram horizontally and vertically, is the prettiest! So our sweet girl is named Evie Elizabeth Henn. And her monogram of EHE just makes me swoon.
I love this! My baby girl has 4 names also – I couldn’t bear to drop a name when I got married so it’s something she and I share. Her two middle names honor my mama (they share a middle name) and my daddy (her second middle name is my maiden name). I use her first middle name for the ‘gram (monogram, that is) but love that she has a special name like me!
I couldn’t love this any more than I do (your blog AND this topic!) Our little boy is named Hugo Michael and I still love it as much now as I did when we picked it. We agonized over for the longest time (well, I did, my husband’s criteria was significantly less than mine!). Since we have very common first and last names, Joshua and Abigail Walsh) I was adamant about choosing something not on the top 100 list, but it had to be easy to spell and of course his monogram had to be good. “Hugo” just checked all of those boxes and HMW just felt right. The meaning was very important to me as well and his name is German in origin (my family is German/Irish) and means “strong of heart, mind and soul”. Michael is my husband and his dad’s middle name as well as the name of step-grandfather who is one of my closest grandparents. On a more fun note, Victor Hugo is one of my favorite authors and my husband who is a film producer, really loved the movie “Hugo” about the boy who lives in a clock tower in Paris. He’s three now and his name still suits him so well.
Oh, it makes my heart happy to hear that I’m not the only one who obsessed over baby names before marriage! Love your explanations behind the names! We are having our first in August and are naming him Pennington Anderson and will call him Penn. Each name is a tribute to each side of our family. I was so worried it would be too much of a name for a kid that I would test it out with strangers before we ever announced it to our family, but everyone gave it a thumbs up. Hopefully, they weren’t just pitying this pregnant mama😉. Thanks for sharing the sweet story!
I love reading about baby names. We had some fun with initials we have GAD and then AGD 🙂.
This is too cute – and I have to be honest, I didn’t know their real names! I’ve always been so obsessed with baby names… Before we were married, we chose Sophie Jade and Luc Christopher – and we both agreed! (Jade and Christopher being both our second names)
Our second two girls were a little more tricky: Ellie Nicole came from my FIL who chose Ellie and my husbands late sisters name is Nicole. And then Zoe Belle: my grans name is Zoe and Belle was just beautiful x