After Asher was born, I jotted down the history of his name and posted it on my blog. I’ve never done that for the rest of the kids, and I’ve been meaning to do it for Jacob ever since his birth three months ago. All the kids have family middle names; that special legacy is very important to me. So, for the record, here’s a brief account of how each of my children got their names…
Brenna Lu… Lu is a family name, passed down for four generations now. My Grammy is Nancy Lu, my Mom is Terri Lu, I am Melissa Lu, and my oldest daughter is Brenna Lu. I love that heritage! Brenna is a name that Rick and I had on our list of names we liked clear back when we were engaged and dreaming of our future family. We actually thought that we’d use the name Brenna for our youngest daughter someday; it wasn’t a name we really considered when I was pregnant with Brenna. We never did settle on a name for her before she arrived, though we were certain that her middle name would be Lu. After she was born, we narrowed it down to Brenna and Allison. By the end of day two, we’d decided that Brenna fit her best. She had a prominent dimple in her cheek and that little dimple somehow made the name Brenna fit perfectly.
Joshua Brian… We named Joshua “Braden Andrew” as soon as we found out that he was a boy. But Rick’s brother passed away during my last trimester. We felt so strongly that we needed to honor this great man when we named our firstborn son. We named Joshua after his Uncle Brian. The name Joshua was another that had been on the list we made when we were engaged. It was always a favorite name of mine. I’d loved it since I was a child, mostly because I loved the prophet Joshua in the Old Testament. Joshua was the first name that I’d really liked as a kid, the first I’d ever wanted to use when I grew up and had children of my own.
Madalyn Elaine… Rick and his younger sister Elaine were always really close. When we first talked about baby names, Rick said that he wanted to name one of our daughters after Elaine and I agreed. Over the years, Elaine and I have grown very close as well. Elaine has truly become my sister and I am honored to have a daughter named after her! When we were dating and discussing names, we’d planned to use the name Katelyn (or Katie) paired with Elaine. But while working at the day care before Brenna was born, I took care of a little girl named Madalyn. I fell in love with her and her name (spelling included). When we found out that our third child was a girl, Madalyn Elaine was the only name we ever considered.
Braden Andrew… Braden Andrew was what we’d planned to name our first son. Rick’s name is Richard Andrew so we wanted to name our son after his Daddy. Braden was just a name that we both loved, and back then it was still quite uncommon. The name Braden Andrew was always very sentimental to us because it had been our favorite for so long and because we’d always been able to picture our son when we thought of the name. Our Braden didn’t come along until baby #4, but the name we’d chosen so long before fit him perfectly!
Asher William… William is after my dad. The name is a family name, passed for several generations, so William also honors my brother, my grandfather, and several generations previous to him. It’s a strong name with a great history in our family. Asher is a name that I fell in love with after Braden was born. Rick didn’t instantly like it, but it grew on him while I was pregnant with Asher. By the time Asher was born, Rick was completely set on the name. Asher means “happy” and our happy little boy certainly lives up to his name!
Jacob Dwight… Dwight is after Rick’s dad. We both felt that we wanted to name our son after his grandpa. Jacob was simply a name that we both really liked and it sounded so nice when paired with Dwight. I honestly don’t remember when we came up with the name Jacob Dwight, but I do know that we’ve liked it for a long time and that it fits our newest son perfectly!
We have several names that we love and plan to use as more babies arrive. Allison, Emily, and Katelyn are our top girls names. Paxton, Drew, Benson, Spencer, and Gavin top our boys names list. I know many people are uncomfortable sharing their favorite names, but I love sharing mine. I suppose it’s because I already feel a connection to each of these names. I can picture having children with these names in our home. And each of them is already paired with a special middle name to honor someone that we love! Of course, I don’t know if I’ll have eight more children and use the rest of the names on our list… but I’d love it if I did!!
I wonder who will come along next! I have no preference- I’d love either a boy or a girl (or both at the same time, hee, hee). I’d love to have a beautiful little Alli or a darling little Paxton or a sweet little Drew.
I’m so blessed to have six beautiful children. I love them so dearly! I feel so happy and so content in my life.
