Baby Names

Baby names have been on my mind lately. I think it is because my friend Melissa is expecting her third child (first boy) and is trying to decide on a name. It has gotten me thinking about the names we decided for our boys. I wanted my children to have names that were not very common but at the same time were not totally off the wall like Indigo or Luna. I always started thinking of names for my children as soon as (if not before) I found out that I was pregnant. I just don't like referring to my baby as "it".
As soon as we found out our first child was a boy, I fell in love with the name Noah. Joe and I both knew that we did not want to have a Joseph Travis Givens IV. We have the deceased Joe, Big Joe, and then Little Joe. (Yes my nearly 6 1/2 foot husband is still called 'Little Joe' by most people.) I thought that Travis went well with Noah and seemed like the logical choice. My husband, his father, and his grandfather all had the name Travis as well as my father and my brother. So my first child became Noah Travis early on for me. However, Joe was not so sure and did not finally relent until I was about eight months pregnant. We made a deal that we would name this child Noah Travis and if our next child was a girl, I would allow her to be named Megan. (No offense to anyone out there named Megan, but I despise that name.)
When we finally got pregnant with our second child, I was praying for a boy. ( Not that I would not have liked a girl, I just did not want to have to name her Megan.) We did not find out what we were having this time around and therefore had to pick out both a boy and girl name. I was set on the boy being Jonah Ozious (Jonah because I liked it and Ozious after my maternal grandfather) and the girl being Cora Elizabeth (Cora after my paternal great-great-grandmother and Elizabeth after me). Joe was okay with Ozious but did not like Jonah for a boy name and of course wanted Megan Elizabeth for a girl. It was not until we were on the way to the hospital to deliver that Joe finally agreed that we would go with Jonah Ozious or Cora Elizabeth. This made me feel much better about the possibility that we may be having a girl! I needn't have worried, because baby boy Jonah Ozious came into the world that afternoon.
We found out early on that our third child was a boy. My choices for this child were either Josiah James or Micah Joseph. Joe on the other hand came up with some really off the wall names. His choices were Rockwell Eaton or Fuller Pledge. Don't think for a minute that this was because my husband is extremely creative. Rockwell, Eaton, and Fuller are all names of truck transmissions. Pledge was a family name (a great uncle) but reminded me too much of furniture polish. I tried to get used to his crazy names, but in my heart I was already calling this baby Micah. I kept waiting for Joe to "come around to my side" but as my delivery date drew closer he remained steadfast in his quest for the "truck part" name. I began thinking that maybe Micah would surprise us all and turn out to be a girl. Even Megan was better than having my child named after an automotive part. We arrived at the hospital still undecided on a name. As I was being wheeled out for surgery, Joe leaned down and whispered in my ear, "I'll be waiting on you to bring back Micah Joseph." Aw, I still get goosebumps and teary eyed when I remember that moment.
It turns out that with every child we seemed to get later and later in picking a name. So if we ever have another baby, he or she may be ready to leave the hospital before we decide on a name. And just in case you were wondering...No, I am not thinking about a name for a new one right now, it is WAY too soon! I promise, it is just because of Melissa!