What's In A Name?

Coming up with names for your children is a job that no one takes lightly. I know people that search for months for that perfect name. Heck, I know people that still didn't have a name chosen when they actually delivered the baby. I even knew one couple that took their sweet baby home from the hospital without a name. Seriously. It took them 6 days after birth to come up with a name for their daughter. It might sound silly to anyone that hasn't had to name a child, but if you think about it, it's really not silly to panic over what to name your kids. I mean, these kids are stuck with the name you choose forever. Do you want them to grow up hating you for saddling them with a name that other kids (and some adults) will make fun of. I know a girl that named her son "Ryder". You may be thinking that Ryder is a perfectly acceptible name, and it is. Unless, of course, you consider his last name. You see, the middle-school aged pervert in me just can't help but giggle when I tell you that poor Ryder's full name is Ryder Woody. I know. Go ahead and groan. I'm so immature! Well how would you like to go to kindergarten with a name that you can't even spell. Much less pronounce. Or with a name that has more capital letters than is normal. Confession time. Can y'all keep a secret? I went to kindergarten and I didn't even know my real name! That's where nicknames get you in trouble. I spent the first 5 years of my life thinking that my name was Kay. Big shock when my kindergarten teacher started calling me KayLeena. Who? Oh, you mean me? Yes, my mother strapped me with the name KayLeena DeVon. You can call me Kaleena. It's just easier.
When I became a mother I knew that I wanted to be kind to my kids. I wanted to pick names that would be easy to spell and easy to say. I wanted them to grow up with names they can be proud of, or at least, names that won't make them hate me when they get to be teenagers. Here's what I chose....and why.
Destiny Ayn (pronounced Ann): I got Destiny's first name off of a gift I was given at my baby shower. It was a photo album that said Destiny on the front in big bold letters. The quote under the name says, "If I could sit across the porch from God, I'd thank him for lending me you..." As soon as I saw that album I just knew that I had found her name. It took longer to choose her middle name. Some background. I worked with a lady that "took care" of me during the first few months of my pregnancy. She insisted that I wasn't eating enough and would cook and bring meals to work for me. She was so kind that I asked her how could I ever repay her. She jokingly said, "you could always name the baby after me!" Well, her name was Sissy, and the was no way I was going to name my baby Sissy. I asked her what her middle name was and she said Ann. BUT Ann is also my sister-in-law's middle name and I didn't want her to think I named the baby for her. So, I decided to change the spelling to Ayn and name her for my sweet friend Ann.
Naming Paisley was easy. Destiny was a little over 2 years old at the time. I asked her what she wanted to name her little sister. I was stunned when she said "Paisley!" It was perfect. As soon as I heard it, I knew that was her name. It was a nice coincidence that both Destiny and Paisley are 7 letter names that end in "y". I knew that I wanted a 3 letter middle name (just like Destiny's) and didn't have to search hard to find Paisley's middle name. We named her "Rae" after my husband's middle name "Ray". I thought the two names went well together. Destiny Ayn and Paisley Rae. Beautiful names, for beautiful girls. When naming our angel babe, I wanted to pick something special. Samuel didn't get a name until after he was gone. I didn't know he was a boy until after he was in heaven. We chose Samuel Isaiah. Samuel means "god heard" or "requested of God." Isaiah means "God is salvation." Samuel is our only son, a son we wanted to bring home and raise, but he was just not meant to live with us on this side of heaven. I miss him, and am honored to have been chosen to name him for God. Choosing our 3rd daughter's name was not an easy task. I wanted another 7 letter name ending in "y" but I also wanted something special. We spent months going making lists of names. Nothing felt right. I was decorating the girls' room one day and had bought some little wooden letters to hang on the wall. The letters were meant to spell their names. I got to playing around with the letters and got to thinking about what names I could spell by combining a few letters from Destiny's name with a few letters from Paisley's name. I took D, E, and N from Destiny, A, L, and E from Paisley, and Y as the ending from both names. After moving the letter around I spelled out Delaney. Sounds strange right? I guess I'm just a weird thinker. I just thought that naming her something that came from combining both of her sisters' names was a great way to make her name special. I wanted a 3 letter middle name for her as well, but didn't pick her middle name until I held her in my arms. I felt so much joy at holding her in my arms after such a scary pregnancy and delivery. So that is what I named her...Joy. She is my little Delaney Joy. So there you have it! The reason why I chose my names. Feel free to forget everything I just said. Smiles to you all:)