What's in a Name

I think naming children is one of the most fun things to do. I am pretty sure I must have started thinking of names for my future children when I was a very small child. I recall lists in notebooks but have no such record of these. I know I took great pride in naming my many, many, many baby dolls. I have to confess, I am one of those superficial namers. My final pick of names is based on how they sound-I mean I am going to have to say the name at least five billion times in my life right? I want the name to sound nice to my ears. Of course, if we can have a deeper meaning and a great sounding name-I am all for that! Matt, on the other hand, cares much more about the meaning of the name and that it appears either in the Bible, a famous person he respects, or in a family member (multiple of these is preferred!). Taking our much different criteria into consideration, we have a very tough time naming our children. There are so many people I admire and love, but I just don't like the sound of the name. There are so many names that sound so wonderful but mean something off the wall.

Another quirk of mine is that I simply must have a name for my baby when we find out the gender-so usually around 20 weeks. It is one of the reasons that I like to find out the gender of the baby. I like to know who is inside of me. It makes things more real for me as well as helps me bond. I love telling the boys about their sister, Margot, and I love praying for my daughter by name.

Anyway, for memory's sake, I thought I would just do a little post for the reason we picked Margot Josephine for our daughter.

Margot-Matt's younger sister and paternal grandmother are named Margaret. It is a beautiful, traditional name. I like different, slightly unusual names. Margot is a variation of Margaret, so we get the family aspect that Matt desires with a different spin for me. Margaret also means pearl, or treasure. To say that this little girt will be a pearl in our family is an understatement. What an unexpected treasure she is! Wikipedia says: the word pearl has become a metaphor for something rare, fine, admirable, and valuable. It works out very nicely that I also love the way Margot sounds-so feminine and great for a baby or adult.

Josephine-Josephine is of Hebrew origin and means God increases or adds to. Her name all together means "God has added a treasure." Indeed He has! My grandmother passed away shortly after Owen was born. I knew if I ever had a daughter, I would want to find a way to use part of my grandmother's name whether it be her name or that of a close relative. Her middle name was Jo. It was a name she passed on to my mother (it is also her middle name), who in turn passed it on to my brother (his middle name is Joseph). Now Margot will have a middle name similar to three very special people in our family.

Just thought I would share a little of how we arrived at our newest addition's name!