What's in a Name

    I was reading the obituaries the other day (I know, a strange habit that I have but I just can’t help myself) and there was a tribute to a gentleman that had recently passed away whose first name was Shirley. The tribute went onto explain how his parents had come up with such an unusual name for a male. It got me to thinking about names and how my husband and I named our daughters. 

    My husband, Ty, is a HUGE Elvis fan. For years he joked that his first born son would be named Elvis. Or so I thought. I was about three months pregnant with our oldest when the name topic came up. Ty said, “Well, we already have a name for a boy- Elvis.” I reminded him that he had been joking all those times and that we now seriously needed to discuss a name for a boy when he informed me that I may have thought he had been joking, but he had been completely serious the entire time. Something I wish I would have known BEFORE I was pregnant, hormonal and emotional! 

    Somehow, a moment of clarity came over me and I said, “Let’s wait until we know if we are having a boy or a girl and then have the name discussion.” We subsequently learned our first born was to be a girl, so the Elvis debate was shelved for the time being. We put together a list of about 6 names (Priscilla and Lisa Marie didn’t even make the list!) we liked and decided to wait until we saw baby before giving her a name. Shortly after she was born (and before I had a chance to see her), I heard Ty telling everyone her name was Victoria Marie, so I figured she must look like a Victoria! 

    Fast forward three years and I am pregnant with number two. I didn’t even bring up the name subject until AFTER we learned another girl was on the way. Allison Lynn joined our family and the name “discussion” never came to fruition. And so in our family we have a Ty, a Margaret, a Tori and an Ally and no Elvis. Thank you, Thank you very much!