What’s in a Name?

I had so many of you ask me how we decided on baby names after I revealed our sweet boys name and Gender on InstaGram. The truth is, the husband and I have had this little guys’ name picked out since his brother was born. We’ve always had two boy names and one girl name picked out (a sign, maybe?), so when I found out I was pregnant, the name picking headache was the furthest thing from our mind.

We initially had another name picked out for Noah (another post for another day) and changed our minds last minute. I’m certain that that won’t happen this time. This little boy already fits his name and I am already certain that he is a Jonah.

But, how did we come up with the name?

We picked Joshua Noah for our oldest for two different reasons. “Joshua” is the husband’s name and we loved the idea of naming our first born after his daddy. But, just as important as his namesake was the meaning behind the name Joshua (God is Salvation–source). We wanted to give our son a strong foundation and felt that his name was the place to start. We knew we didn’t want to call him Josh, since that’s what his daddy’s name is. After a series of coincidental events, we chose the name Noah for his middle name. Noah meaning peaceful combined with the name Joshua made for a good, strong biblical name that had some family attachment.

With Jonah, we went back and forth between his name and the name Jacob. The husband liked the name Jacob as much, but in my mind, the only thing I could think of was Twilight. If the series hadn’t been so popular right now, we might have considered it a bit more, but I didn’t want our son born in a Vampire Infatuated era and grow up thinking that he was named after a teenage werwolf.

I loved the idea of both boys names ending in “-ah” and thought it was fun and unique. Jonah also has a strong biblical correlation and meaning. Everyone knows the story of Jonah and the whale and the incredible faith he had during his time inside the belly of the whale. The name Michael was another family name. My daddy has always wanted a namesake and we were excited to give him that if our second baby was discovered to have been a boy. Again, Michael is a biblical name (the name of God’s archangel), and we wanted to ensure that both of our children grew up with a strong faith and a strong spiritual base.

So, what would you have named your daughter?

We’ve only ever had one little girl name in mind. The middle name was decided before I ever got married…Elizabeth. My grandmother’s middle name was Elizabeth as is mine. It’s been a family name for years and years and years. But, the first name gave us a tiny bit of trouble. We talked about a handful of different names, but nothing seemed to suit our family. Finally, not too long after Noah was born, we settled on the name Rebekah (not Rebecca). We liked that it had the same “-ah” ending as the name Noah (and now Jonah) and we loved that again it was scriptural.

I’m not sure what we’ll do if we ever decide to have baby number three and it turns out to be a boy. We don’t have any other boy names picked out, so we’d actually have to sit down and discuss that this time. Somewhere in my heart I wonder if there’s a reason that we have these three names chosen and only these three names. I guess only time will tell.

For now, we’ll just keep preparing and planning to welcome Jonah into our family. I know he’s going to fit right in…

How did you choose the names for your children?