Names

I have always thought that naming a child is quite important. With our boys, I looked at: (1) meaning, (2) popularity of name, (3) initials, (4) how the name fit into our family, (4) extended family names, (5) potential nicknames, and, of course, (6) how many letters in the name.

Recently Cory found a list that we made trying to determine the name for our third boy. Cory thought it would be interesting to blog. So, here we go...

Names I researched. Listed by: name, possible spelling variation, nickname, popularity of name in 2004 as determined by the Social Security Department (1 is most popular), and meaning. If I remember correctly, this is a list containing any boy name that interested me.

Abram (Abe), 588, Father of Nations
Andrew (Andy, Drew), 6, Courageous
Benjamin (Ben), 25, Son of My Right Hand
Eli, 160, Delivered
Elijah/Elija (Eli), 31, The Lord is My God
Elliot, 398, The Lord is My God
Galen, 917, Healer / Calm
Jackson (Jack), 48, Son of Jack
Jesse (Jess), 94, God Exists
Jonah (Joe), 177, Dove
Roy, 470, King
Leroy, 820, The King
Trevor, 109, Prudent
Travis, 165, Crossroads
Joseph, 9, God will crease
Marcus, 115, Warlike
Carson, 101, Son of Carr
Wilson, 464 Son of Williams
Cade, 251, Pure
Silas, 427, Man of the Forest
Ezra, 382, Helper
Trey, 238, Three
Alan, 131, Handsome

Then on 7/20/05 Cory experimented with names and included the middle name that we chose. He also listed the rank of popularity for the first name. I was very impressed that he was working at picking the right name before the baby came...something he doesn't really like to do.

Carson Roy, 101
Jonah Roy, 177
Cade Roy, 251
Darius Roy, 285
Brewster Roy
Dawson Roy, 206
Silas Roy, 427
Trace Roy
Talmon Roy
Sage/Gage Roy
Noah Roy, 29
Henry Roy

He later crossed out Dawson, Trace, & Talmon. I don't know if it was because he wanted to or because I made him. He always liked the name Talmon, but given that our boys are most likely going to be on the shorter side, I thought it sounded too much like Tall-Man. That would be mean!

Another point of interest: We each have a version of three on our lists. He wrote Trace and I wrote Trey. This is because Zane was so sure at the time that we should name the baby Three. We tried to find something that could work, but couldn't.

On 7/21/05 I wrote another list and tried to narrow it to my favorites. I wrote the potential full name followed by a nickname and then the initials.

Peter Roy Gant (Pete) PRG
Abram Roy Gant (Abe) ARG
Jonah Roy Gant (Joe) JRG
Alan Roy Gant (Al) ARG
Cade Leroy Gant CLG
Henry Roy Gant HRG
Roy (Leon)? Gant RLG

Then I tested the name with the family names to see if it sounded right.

Cory, Lori, Zane, Luke & Abram
" " & Jonah
" " & Alan
" " & Cade
" " & Henry
" " & Roy
" " & Peter

I even tried the first two boys first and middle names with a couple potentials for the third.

Zane Cole
Luke Dion
& Alan Roy
& Roy Leon


On the next sheet of the notebook that contained this naming information, there was a "Weekend to-do list" dated 7/21/05 and written by me. Number 6 under Cory's list was "Pick baby name! (w/ help of Lori)". Next to this is written Cade Roy. So, it seems we must have picked his name the weekend following 7/21/05.

In conclusion, whoa, I'm glad that is done and that we were able to pick names for each of our boys that we like, have special meaning, and family significance.