Two of you cute people asked how we came up with the names for our children.
It’s a fine time to answer that.
Anna Helen
I always knew my first daughter’s middle name would be Helen. It’s my middle name and my grandma’s first name. My grandma was one of those people that you want to be like when you grow up. She just did everything and knew everything. (or so it seemed.) Her home always smelled like home cooking, I always loved that. And I always miss it.
Anyway. When I was about six months pregnant Brian and I were out to dinner. I recall having a strawberry daiquiri (virgin, people) from Redamak’s. mmmmm….soooooo good. Anna just popped in my head. I said “Anna Helen.” And Brian didn’t grimace at me, which was a very positive response. I then realized that my grandma’s full name was Helen Anna Pauline and I almost died right at that very moment from OHMYTHISISSOPERFECT-itis.
It’s a real condition.
It was a done deal at that moment.
Noah Daniel
We just loved the name Noah. Daniel is my brother’s name. I had hoped and prayed that we may have another boy someday and we could name Noah’s brother using my other brother’s name as his middle name.
When we were pregnant with the twins, I knew twin A was Jake David. Such a perfect name and named after my other brother (Dan and Dave are also identical twins). I always loved the name James but hadn’t really thought to share it as a possibility. I love that James could be president or James could be the guy with the guitar on stage at open mic night. It just fits…everything.
I can remember writing the names James Thomas on a piece of paper at the hospital before delivering them and handing to Brian as way to communicate twin B’s name. I couldn’t say it out loud. My emotions wouldn’t allow it. He looked at it and said “I love it.” That’s how our James and Jake were named. Thomas is Brian’s middle name and his Dad’s first name. How I would have loved to have yelled those names out in a fit of frustration or yelled them out as they ran across a field but instead they’re said, mostly silently, in our prayers or in our dreams. That’s perfect, too.
Elijah Harrison
I really wanted Eli’s name to be Harrison. My dad’s name is Harry. I loved the idea of calling my little boy Harry. I pushed and pushed but Brian really never budged except to make it Elijah’s middle name. Which was smart because Eli is so very Eli.
With Eli and Clara we didn’t just need agreement between Mom and Dad, we had older, opinionated kids involved. I recall, maybe at 8 months pregnant, finally coming up with his name. We were at lunch, the four of us. I read it out loud from a baby book, Elijah. Brian said he really liked it. We looked at the kids and they said “yes! We love it!” I remember getting emotional “his name is Elijah?” Brian nodded.
The funny thing about Eli now is that if you ask him his name or if he calls himself something, he always says “I Elijah.” Even though we always call him Eli. I say to him “I’m your Mama” and he says “I your Elijah,” so very sweetly. That’s my favorite.
Clara Catherine
Goodness, she’s so sweet. A few weeks before our ultrasound I was laying in bed when the name popped into my head “CLARA.” I thought, oooh, so pretty and also “and it ends with the “ah” sound that we accidentally used for all of the others. (that was totally not on purpose.) I became very excited, very quickly, I’m pretty sure I woke Brian and said “okay, it has to be a girl because I have THE MOST PERFECT BABY GIRL NAME EVERRRRRR.” He opened his eyes and I said “Clara.” He loved it.
I remember telling my mom that I had thought of the most perfect baby girl name and she said “yep, you have to have a girl.”
Catherine is Brian’s grandma’s name. She’s 99 and one of the most amazing and beautiful creatures to ever walk this earth. Both she and Clara have October birthdays. It’s a very special bond they have. Anna also calls Clara C.C.
There you go, an explanation into the names of our sweet little babies. It was fun reliving such beautiful, sweet memories. Thanks for listening, friends.
photos by Michelle Hamstra Photography
Love this! And your kids will treasure this so much when they’re grown.
so cute! love all their names.
I LOVE this! I’m always fascinated by the stories behind people’s names. Thank you for the behind the scenes peak.
I love baby names and hearing about how people picked their baby’s name. It’s so interesting to hear about their reasons, their thought process and what they mean for them.
My boys are Mason George – George after my husband’s late grandfather and Copper Sidney – Sidney after my late father. We just really liked the first names and the middles are after very important people in our lives. If we had a girl we always said her middle name would be after my husband’s mother but I also would like to honor my grandma. Who knows if we will even have a third or if that baby would even be a girl though. I would be so happy to have another boy except for the naming part…boy names are so much harder, I think and I would be would be a little sad to never be able to honor any of the women in our lives.
Sweet Beth!! Every time I learn something new about you I fall in love with everything about you in such a new way! I love it!!!
I love that they each have a story yet they fit perfectly together!
I love this! I want babies (hopefully someday) and naming them seems like such an honor although possibly a daunting task. Your stories are so sweet and make me look forward to that possibility even more. Thanks for sharing!
Oh what sweet sweet stories and I love that they’re all accidentally “ah”!!
Oh my gosh what a great post idea. It is nice to hear the thought behind the name. We all know there is plenty of thought when thinking of a name…thanks for sharing! I may have to use this as a blog idea…being people ask about Goldie’s name every day!
love!
I love their names
It’s very interesting to hear how each of them came to be called who they are 
My oldest son’s name is Christopher James (James was my hubby’s grandfather’s middle name) and Christopher’s name came from the movie “She’s Having a Baby”. The part at the end of the movie when they are asking all of the famous people baby names.
My youngest son’s name is Elliott Michael. Michael is my older brother’s first name and also my uncle’s first. I am not completely sure where we picked the name Elliott. And no it’s not from E.T. We started rattling off dome names and that one struck me as The One
You had me in tears reading this! I like that you have a story behind every one of the names, including the twins. I had a friend go through a similar situation and I can’t hear the name Logan without thinking of that little angel.
You have heard my story before, everyone has! Grace, Lily, and Keri – if you just hear the names you would never guess Cubs players. My husband is lucky to have such an understanding wife! But I love the story
Perfect! I love the stories behind their names. We have a Noah, and one of our daughter’s has the middle name Katherine. It is such a beautiful and regal name.
Hugs!
The iPad created grammar mistake in my comment above is going to kill me!
*daughters*
Love this! Gives me happy goose bumps! Love that I have at least known of you both since middle school days
. Sweet family you are. Kristina
Hi Beth,
This is a great post! It shows that a name is so much more than just a name
My daughter’s name is Anna too, she is now 10 months old. She was named after my mother, who’s name is Anita. When I was only a few weeks pregnant, when the name popped into my head and everything came together as finishing a puzzle, like the baby instantly agreed with the name too. My husband loved the name too. During my pregnancy, we thought about many other names, but always came back to Anna.
Oh I love this! (I think I was one of the cute people, right?) ;p Anyway, you make me want to do a blog post about this. Just to have it written out like this, for them to read some day.
I didn’t really do it on purpose either but all of our kids’ names end with an “N” sound (and letter!) and I think I liked it since our last name begins with a vowel and it’s better to have a good, strong consonant before that.
I think all of your babies have beautiful names for many reasons and I love that you used many family names. We did that as well and it’s so very special.
You have a beautiful family. And I think the names you chose are so perfect, so fitting … I feel like Claire from Elizabethtown – “I’m a student of names.”
My kiddo’s name was more of a last-minute thing. I was trying to decide between Landon (if he had blonde hair) and Liam (if it was brown), and some homeless guy in the streets of D.C. told me my baby should be called Jeremiah (which I discredited because I hated when strangers felt entitled to touch my stomach, let alone homeless people). Then labor happened and I decided, during, that I hated both names. Which is just as well since he turned out to be a redhead.
I named him Isaac.
So that’s how that went down.
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PS I am doing a mama-questionairre guest post series on my blog and would love it if you would participate! It’s a short questionairre, no deadlines … but no pressure either way!
what fun to read this! Just wonderful. And Eli’s outfit has killed me dead.