Tuesday, October 25, 2011

What is in a name?

Baby names has been a hot topic around here lately. We have decided on names that have special meaning for us and I cannot wait to share it with our little one. Some people don't like to share the names they have picked out but since Jay and I have already shared them with so many people, I'm not worried about letting the cat out of the bag...just don't steal our names! :)

We had decided on a boy's name about the same time we decided to get married. A boy's name was a no brainer for us. Now if we have more than one boy...things could get interesting.
There is a history of the first born males on Jay's mom's side of the family having the initials J.T. Jay's grandfather even went by just the initials JT. Jay's initial's are J.T. so we knew we would keep the tradition of initials J.T. John is a family name on my side of the family. My brother, my uncle, my grandfather all have John in their name. Thomas is a family name on Jay's side of the family. So if we have a little boy, he will be named John Thomas Jackson. We plan to call him John Thomas. Like I said...we have had this name picked out for years now.

Girl names on the other hand have been not so easy to decide on but once we did decide on one it seemed quite obvious. The first name we had picked out was Sarah Caroline. I love the name Sarah Caroline but it got many funny looks from our family. When asked why Sarah Caroline, I couldn't give much of an answer other than we like it. We threw around the names Sophie, Isabelle, and Lillian but they just didn't seem right. Then one day it hit us. Bailey Reed. Bailey is Jay's mom's maiden name and Reed is my mom's maiden name and my middle name. It was perfect! Then I thought...wait a second....I have a cousin named Bailey Reed. She is married now so she has a different last name but I wondered how she would feel about having a cousin sharing the same name. When she emailed me to say congratulations, I asked her about sharing the name and she was excited about it. So Bailey Reed Jackson it is! Best of all, it is a way for me to share my legacy with the baby and pay tribute to the grandmothers.

So what is in a name for us? A way to say thank you to our families. I hope that our baby will one day come to appreciate the love we are passing to him or her by naming him or her with family names.
I am so excited about having chosen names that have true meaning to us.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I am pretty sure the family will be appreciative of the honor. You put such thought into the names. They are perfect! I am so excited for you. I cannot wait to meat John Thomas or Baily Reed.

Katie said...

love the names!!! i am a big fan of using family names or names with meaning! Maggie's middle name is Reed (after Will's dad) so I am particularly partial and think it is a precious name for a little girl!! Would yall call a girl by the double name as well? I think John Thomas is such a strong, classic, southern boy name! LOVE! When do yall find out boy/girl? Hope you are feeling great!