(Name that play)
On Show us Your Life, this week’s topic is:
“Tell us how you came up with the names for your children.”
If you are new to this blog, I need to fill you in on something.
I do not tell my blog readers what my childrens’ names actually are.
In fact, I bet each and every one of my readers are wondering why on earth I am participating in this blog post.
I like to keep things spicy.
***
Meet our first-born:
We could not decide between two names.
I told The Lumberjack that since I was the one having to give birth, he would have to be the one to make the final decision.
So, right after she was born, he told me what her name was.
One choice was ____ and the other choice was Claire.
I still really like the name Claire, but it was forever tainted when my good friend Kim laughed loudly when I told her Claire was an option and exclaimed:
“What? Like Claire Huxtable?!”
(Name that tv show)
Attention Readers: If you are in a conversation with a pregnant woman and she tells you the name she is considering naming her child, do not, I repeat, do not mock it.
It ain’t cool.
For this blog, our oldest is called Sweet Pea because that is the nickname The Lumberjack’s mother gave her when she was born.
Each child has a verse that was picked out for them when they were born.
Sweet Pea’s name means “Pure.”
Her verse:
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”
Matthew 5:8
***
Our second child is Daisy Mae.
Would you check out those smoochy lips?
Daisy Mae’s actual name was a little harder for us to come up with.
I had tons of choices of names I liked . . . and to each one The Lumberjack would say,
“Nah.”
AAAAAAA-nnoying.
So, one day he came up to me and said,
“Well, how about ____?”
And I declared that from heretohenceforth, that baby would be called _______, simply for the fact that it was the one and only name the Lumberjack didn’t say:
“Nah” to.
Silly Lumberjack.
Daisy Mae also gets her nickname from The Lumberjack’s mom.
100 (meaningless) points to anyone who can guess what my ma-in-law’s criteria is for nicknaming the grandgirls.
Daisy Mae’s real name means: Heath by the Wasteland.
Now, isn’t that beautiful?
Clearly the meaning of a name weighed heavily in our decision-making.
Clearly.
Daisy Mae’s life verse:
“But blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him. He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.”
Jeremiah 17: 7-8
***
So, there we were with our two girls.
Our two clean, easily potty-trained girls who would never throw dog poo at a sibling.
Then God said . . .
Let
Them
Have
A
Boy
Oh, look at that precious little pumpkin!
Yes, that is our 3rd child Handsome Dude.
A boy name was by far the hardest name The Lumberjack and I could decide on.
Every single one I liked, he would say no to.
But you would not believe the suggestions he had.
And now, dear readers, I would like to present to you:
The Lumberjack’s List of Boy Names
Interruption: If you like these names, or have chosen them for your own kin, then I mean you no ill-will.
Gunther
Meryl
Chick
Tuck
Yes, folks.
That is what I had to work with.
Rest assured, Handsome Dude’s factual name is none of the above.
There was one, yes one, redeeming name on that list and I claimed it immediately for my first-born son.
And Handsome Dude is not the nickname that my mother-in-law gave him.
Her nickname for him is Cubby Bear.
But this boy of mine has always had this serious, handsome, old-man face
and I have always called him Handsome Dude.
I do not, in fact, remember what Handsome Dude’s factual name truly means.
Terrible, I know.
Hey! He is number 3 . . .
Handsome Dude’s Life Verse:
” . . . So be strong, show yourself a man, and observe what the Lord your God requires: Walk in his ways and keep his decrees and commands.”
1 Kings 2: 2b-3a
***
Then God saw our little family and He proclaimed:
Let
Them
Have
Another
Boy
Can we not all agree that boys are way more trickier than girls?
Little Dude.
For Little Dude’s name, The Lumberjack once again whipped out his high-class list of male-gendered names.
No matter how many boys the Good Lord blesses me with, I guarantee you none will be named Gunther.
Ever.
Interruption: If you like the name Gunther, I apologize.
I don’t remember how we came up with Little Dude’s factual name, but it is a good one nonetheless.
And, in true Taylor fashion, I have not one clue what his factual name means.
But this I know to be truth:
He is stinkin’ cute.
I named him Little Dude for this blog simply for the fact that I could not think of one more option.
My mother-in-law’s nickname for him is Lion King.
100 (meaningless) points to anyone who can guess what my mother-in-law’s criteria is for nicknaming her grandboys.
Little Dude’s Life Verse:
“But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.”
Isaiah 40:31
***
We are all done having kids.
So any of you can feel free to steal any of the following names:
Claire (still cute)
Gunther
Meryl
Chick
Tuck
Rest assured.
We will not need them.
Happy Friday!
I had to laugh when you talked about the experience you has when telling your friend that Claire was one of your names choices. When we told my mother in law that our girl name was Lucy she laughed in my face…no lie, then told me that we should really rethink that. I love when people don’t have filters.
I love the name Lucy…it makes me think of Lucy in The Chronicles of Narnia…she always saw Aslan first. 🙂
Um, flowers and large cats?
We didn’t tell ANYONE our pick for Reagan’s name because we knew we would catch much flak for it and I didn’t care to hear it.
Also? I think it’s more important that you remember the verses than the name meanings. Good job.
Are Chick and Tuck actual names???
And I too agree that people need to back off when a pregnant woman tells them what she plans on naming her little bundle. My sister ruined a few names for me the first time around.
And, I like you, did not post names in my post either. I’m sure I slipped somewhere along the lines, but I do try.
The Cosby Show and for girls names flowers and boys strong animals
Nice!
Very funny post! I may steal the idea for a future one. Or two. It may have to be a continuing post since I have so many kids.
Gunther makes me think of the TV show Friends.
My kids are names I just liked. Both middle names are family names Scot (for Daddy) and Eileen (for Grandma). My son actual name is the name of a guy I dated (YIKES I know, but I always LOVED the name). My daughter is named for a character in a book I loved.
The Cosby Show. I like the name Clair but I always think of the John Hughes movie where Molly Ringwald says, “Clair is a fat girl’s name.” (Name that movie!)
THE COSBY SHOW!!!! 🙂 I win I win!! 🙂 oh, sry…LJ, Gunther?? Really?? that one is better than Meryl tho, fo sho!! 🙂 have a great weekend guys!!
@ rachael…..BREAKFAST CLUB!!!! I win again!! 🙂
So, basically, the strategy was “Anything the LJ will agree to that isn’t Gunther”?
Very wise.
My husband was very specific on the child-naming rules – no religious names, no naming after relatives, no “high and mighty names” (like Ethan, which means “strong and steadfast”), no names of guys he went to school with…
We were left with rocks, flowers, and the lesser known Biblical names. 🙂
Great post Taylor! I have always been fascinated by names, when I was pregnant each time I would pour over baby name books imagining what each name would sound like yelled at the top of my lungs (replete with middle name, of course) ;). Being that my ancestry is heavily Irish, and I love everything Gaelic, the boys’ names are all Irish. My first-born is named after the mythical/legendary Irish hero (name that hero!), and my second and third are named after movie-stars with cool Irish names that I love. It’s funny though, if I had ever had a girl she would have been Emily…so doesn’t fit within my “theme” but sooo lovely nonetheless.
Your children are beautiful and quite blessed to have such good Lumberjack parents!
Okay, I must tell you that you say boys are trickier than girls NOW, but that’s because your girls are little. Boys I think get easier. Girls become far far more complicated. Still sweet. Still adorable. Still lovable. Just way way trickier.
My husband is in a Greek mythology class and it is affecting his judgement. He’s really into names like Artemis and Hephaestus right now. We too plan on picking out verses for our kids. I think it’s much more meaningful than the supposed “meanings.”
It could have been worse… he could have liked EVERY name, like my husband did… As long as it wasn’t something weird like “Apple” he was on board… But my mom on the other hand didn’t like ANY of the names I did… What in the name of wonder bread is wrong with Lillian or Elizabeth??? She wouldn’t tell me, because “it should be obvious” to me… Maybe that is why we only had two… I couldn’t go through the naming again!
We seriously wen’t through EVERY name in the book trying to find something for our youngest. It wasn’t until I started playing with and searching out alternative spellings that we came up with something my hubby said yes to. The problem was He didn’t even have an alternative, not 1! He just plain didn’t like the ones I came up with lol! My twins were named half way through the preganacy. That is how I roll. It was totally stressed when 3 days before Alijah was born He still didn’t have a name. I was not coming home from the hospital with “baby” hehe!
wen’t lol! and it’s not even midnight!
Ok for real, Chick? I am so glad you had a say in the whole name thing 🙂 And, btw, your kids have great actual names, I am very impressed with your choices, especially after hearing what you had to work with!
P.S. I do like the name Claire, and I never would have thought of Claire Huxtable even though the Cosby show was one of my favorites 🙂
Claire was always Girl Name #2 for us, but since we only had the opportunity to use Girl Name #1, it went untouched here as well. Kind of sad, because I really like it.
Out of respect for my husband, I will not mock him here with specifics, but the list of boy names he tried to talk me into each time was beyond interesting. Do they just like to add “frantic” to huge and hormonal?
P.S. I’m not saying you’re being disrespectful to the LJ for mocking him. You just happen to have permission. 🙂
Thanks for sharing these. I am camped out in Jeremiah 17 today! And how ironic that your daughter’s name has that verse. Everywhere I turn today that verse is talking to me!
This is a beautiful story. Thanks for sharing in your “cleverly disguised” way.
By the way, your post on my blog got me more comments than ever….even though they are really your comments. I’ve broken the 40 comment mark! yahoo! thanks again
Yeah, why is the dad’s are always, “Nope not that one, no, don’t like that!”? While us mom’s have lists of names and it seems like the daddy gets to go…umm, that one! Our children pretty much got their names because that was THE ONE that Daddy liked. I do still love the name Claire and my oldest son had a good friend in elementary school named Tucker…I kind of like that name.
Oh, everyone here is just not being so nice to the LJ for all the names he picked out.
I love each and everyone he picked. Matter of fact I have named my own children a few of these names as well.
LOL!!!! HA HA HA!!!!!!!
I crack me up 😉
I love this blog. I love reading it. It’s one of my very favorite blogs.
But..
as weird as this is, I am dying to know your kids’ real names. Their blog names are adorable..so I’m sure their factual names are too.
Never stop blogging!!!
Oh I am so glad we are running so close at “I Am Mommy” because I now have discovered your great blog! You have an absolutely gorgeous family and I love the life verses you have chosen for each. I would love to know how you chose their individual verses if you have a moment!
I also use fake names for my children. I totally get that! I am starting to write a column for a local magazine and they asked if I would be OK with having my children in the photo of me that will accompany the column. I called a sex offender detective and he said “Absolutely not.” I think the world is so much darker than I realize…
Again, congrats to you – though voting is not over, it looks like you will be pulling this one off! I love your blog – great to find you!
The whole mocking the name thing is the reason we never told our children’s names until AFTER they were born. We kept them secret. Once you have named a child, family members have to keep quiet and pretend to like it. 😉
Love the baby pics. My Prince Charming looked like a little old man when he was born as well. I called him my Christmas Elf 😉
I agree that girls’ names are far easier than boys.
Our little guy spent his first night nameless, and we had known that he was a boy.
Beautiful children. Love the Bible verse for each one idea.
I think your kiddos names are great, and I love their blogging nicknames just as much. I had to think really hard about all their real names because they are just IN MY HEAD as their nicknames!!!
What a good mommy you are….
Well I have two kids (so far) and I didn’t really name either of them. I have told the sweet husband that the next baby is all mine…well the naming of said baby is all mine. I guess I will have to share the actual baby with him as he is the dad.
I double love the verses for your sweet kiddos. How did you do that? Just pick some of your faves? Please explain…I may want to copy you.
There for a minute, I totally thought you were gonna change your blog name.
And that would be a travesty.
Heeh… My oldest daughters name came from a book of baby names – and was the name of a Celtic Princess. Now that’s she is grown – I can share, her name is Kyla Diane. My son is named after John (biblical – the disciple), and my father Richard. Jonathan Richard (grown now too). My youngest is Jacalyn – after my grandmother, and her fathers grandmother. Her middle name was just one I loved – Renee. (she’s grown too now in case you were wondering). My grandson is named after his daddy – and my granddaughter? She. is named after ME! 😉 Great that you remember all the verses!
This looks like a fun meme, I think I’ll do this later as well… I don’t have kids yet, but I do know what I’m going to name them when I do.
Okay, LJW, I do not have your email address, and I’m too lame/lazy to find it on your sidebar…Although I did look for it for 1.3 nanoseconds…
So, you will now be punished with an entire post in your comment section…
I guess you are sick from this sniffles, cold thing. I hate cold medicine, don’t you? Although it does decrease my appetite, so that’s good! However, I have a few homeopathic remedies that has helped Nurse Andi immensely.
1. a neti pot. Yes it seems gross. But, they seriously work. It’s allergy season, and if allergies are causing your problems, it flushes all allergens out of your sinus cavity. If it’s not allergies, it will relieve the pressure in your head, and take care of snottiness for awhile.
2. Vitamin C, Echinacea, and even a Vitamin E or Zinc. Now, most of these say to start them as soon as symptoms set in. I say, better late than never!
3. Water, water, water, water, water.
4. Humidifiers.
5. Mentholated vapor rubs. There is a reason it’s been around like a million years.
6. This one is the worst: Make yourself a toddy. Buy some local honey and apple cider vinegar. Mix equal parts of these (I started out with about a tablespoon of each when symptoms are severe) in a cup of hot water, and drink it. For some reason, the cider vinegar is shown to dry up sinus drainage. The local honey makes the vinegar palatable, and it has local allergens in it, so your body will build antigens to the allergen from the bee using it to make honey! I swear this worked for both me and my boss!
Now, onto the medical regime I sometimes have to resort to out of sheer desperation.
1. Pseudoephedrine. This is Sudafed. Not the stuff you find over the counter. In Oklahoma, you have to ask the pharmacist for it, and they will scan your license to be sure you aren’t excessively purchasing it for the home meth lab you are building in Ruralville to pay for that lovely house with a well.
I recommend this over phenylephrine, which has been placed in most over the counter (OTC) meds to replace the pseudoephedrine since it had to be moved behind the counter. It is only effective in like 20% of the population, but they changed it to keep sales up, and most people don’t realize the ingredients were switched.
And, no, you DO NOT want to see me hyped on decongestants. It ain’t pretty. I only take half the recommended dose, and it still works. Otherwise, my heart races and I get anxious and can’t keep up with my thoughts…BUT it works best.
Okay, that’s all for now. However, how sad if you don’t even suffer from cold symptoms!
Feel better soon!
And, I just lifted you up in prayer to heal quickly!
The Cosby Show! And I am glad that you dont have Guthers and Chicks, Ticks or Tucks, w/e! lol your kids are too cute for names like that!
Everyone has said everything already!
I also love your verses. That is so meaningful. Very nice. 🙂
Great post… I can’t believe you pulled it off without actually saying their names. Although, I am totally dying to know their names now.
I don’t think I’m going to tell ANYONE, except the farmer- of course, my future babies names until they are born. It just seems more fun that way.
Note – even if a women is adopting do not mock her potential names. I liked Amelia (told people would call her Amelia Bedilia), Beatrice (told it made people think of the Golden Girl Bea Arthur), and Kalia (made someone think of the female genitalia – I still don’t get this). Kalia is still in the running though, along with Cecily and Eliana. Thankfully I am adopting as a single so I don’t have anyone pushing Gunthar.
People, it’s P O R E not pour. I like the name Tuck short, simple, interesting four letters no nickname just like all of ours. That was the criteria I was given by my husband. Dana Wade Neil = 4 letters, no nickname. I so wanted your 2nd girl to be Tess; like her sis – 4 letters no nickname. It’s it curious how they grow into their names? OK. Who used the word curious in a famous children’s tale? Get well soon, and a very happy MOm’s day to you.
PS Romeo and Juliet
It’s just a good thing you stopped at 4. We didn’t have trouble with the “name game” until we hit #5. Then it just seemed like after naming two boys and two girls, we’d discussed EVERY name out there already. It was tough!
And my husband loves to veto every name I come up with, too. 🙂
LJW – the blogger is my active one right now, if you choose to do the comment thing later. Thanks for thinking of me!
LOL! I like Claire… I have no kids (first things first, I gotta graduate highschool, go to college, get married… Yeah.) but I LOVE the name Kate. My first name is my mom’s middle name and the first part of my dad’s first name, and I would love to do that with one of my kids… My middle name is Lynn so Kate-Lynn would be cool too!! My brother’s both have biblical names, I don’t know if I would do that or not… Some people want all biblical names but I think the meaning is just as important…