What's in a Name?

With how hard it is to choose a name you like in the first place, the challenge is compounded when the meanings of names are taken into consideration.

My husband and I believe that a person's name is kind of a promise, blessing or a legacy, and therefore the name should be a strong and meaningful one. Obviously some names aren't very "meaningful", and it isn't going to help or hurt the kid being named something with a benign meaning. But I think it's best to give them a name with a good meaning, and definitely not a "bad" meaning.

That said, here are a few of the names I like(d) for our baby girl, and a discussion of what they mean and how that makes me feel.

LUCY: Light; Graceful light; Illumination.

Lucy was my number one choice; I've loved it since the beginning. It fits and it's cute... EVERYONE loves it!

Unfortunately, it is also the name of my Mother-In-Law's teacup chihuahua, and M-I-L really loves this dog (like on par with her children). She said that she would call her something else, but it doesn't seem to be the case, and it is unfair for me to enforce it since the dog had the name first.

In addition, M-I-L's family has a hefty case of the "Nickname Disease", as I call it. They will give someone or something a nickname and it will morph over time into all kinds of things. Some of the most predominantly used nicknames for Lucy the dog have been "Lices", "Louse", and "Juices".

These are all meant in an endearing way, and for the dog I think they're fine. But in the event that they'd be transferred to Lucy the girl, I would be less than pleased. I thought I was prepared to deal with this until one of them WAS used for the baby, and I swear I heard glass shattering in my head. And that day I realized we couldn't use Lucy...it's not worth the potential stress and fighting. And that makes me sad. Like broken-hearted sad.

But we shall move FORWARD!

MOLLY: A familiar form of Mary, meaning "bitterness; sorrow."

Mary is a form of Marah... A Hebrew word search shows the following:

Definition
1. to be contentious, be rebellious, be refractory, be disobedient towards, be rebellious against
a. (Qal) to be disobedient, be rebellious
1. towards father
2. towards God
b. (Hiphil) to show rebelliousness, show disobedience, disobey

Some miscellaneous name-search websites yielded the following results for Molly:

-Form of Mary. The perfect one.
-English pet form of Mary meaning, "Beloved"
-Diminutive of Mary: Wished-for child; rebellion; bitter.
-The meaning is not known for certain, but there are several theories including "sea of bitterness", "rebelliousness", and "wished-for child". However it was most likely originally an Egyptian name, perhaps derived in part from my "beloved" or my "love".

I have always liked Molly. I actually thought about it for Gwen, obviously without checking the definition, but I knew that her name was no doubt Gwen (and I sure think I was right!). Anyway, now having seen what the name MEANS, I know why I couldn't have chosen this name for her. And unfortunately probably why I can't choose it for this daughter either.

And on to........

LAYLA: Night Beauty; Night; Dark Beauty; Born at Night; Sweetheart

These are nice, benign meanings to me. Obviously, if my child is blond haired and fair skinned it won't "go" literally, but in the grand scheme of things it doesn't seem harmful. I don't know how "Sweetheart" got thrown in there, but it is nice enough for me. Layla has always been a name that Mikey has loved, partially for it's merits of being the title of an Eric Clapton song, and partially just because he likes it.

Sadly, Layla is not my absolute favorite so far, but as you can see, my other choices have fallen by the wayside. I am willing to say that Layla could be the name of this child. It sounds pretty, isn't hurtful in it's meaning, and my husband loves it. But I am still going to keep looking.

NOTE: I had someone (a few people, actually) prophesy that this baby was going to give
us amazing joy, like we've never experienced before. I believe that that is true as we have been overjoyed about the pregnancy and her arrival. Too bad I don't like "Joy" as a name, otherwise I think we'd be done with the naming process.

I do, however, like Anne, Anna, Annie, etc: Gracious; one who gives; favor; grace; Prayer. God has favoured me.
I just don't know if I like it as a FIRST name. Either way, I think it is highly likely that this baby will have a variant of this name within her name. We both like it, and the meaning is gloriously lovely. This is definitely on my short list...

Along with Annabelle, Anabelle, Anabel: Joy; Beautiful; loving; lovable; graceful.

This was the name Mikey and I chose before I was even pregnant. I liked Isabelle, he didn't, and we came up with Annabelle. And WOW, apparently some definitions have "joy" as part of them. Though, "Anna" means "Grace", and "Belle" means "Beautiful" according to everywhere else I've looked.
So this one is definitely on my short list too... EXCEPT, that I don't like the Double-B sound of Annabelle Best. It sounds weird to me. but I did want to call her "Annie" for short anyway, so we shall see.

OK, that's enough for today... what do YOU think?