Tuesday, August 9, 2011

What's In A Name?

Thomas (seeker of truth)
Jamie (truthful one)

My husband came home with his list of names (finally).
It's funny, as the woman, I think I start thinking about names for the baby immediately.
As the man, my husband doesn't
.
We are not planning on finding out the sex of the baby this time.

In the past, my husband has waited til we have found out the sex, around 20 weeks and then he only has to look at 1/2 the names. (that's his reason anyway-makes sense, I guess)

We do narrow down our search by only choosing saint's names for our children.  (hey, I need all the intercession I can get!)

Our names have all been picked by God and I do believe He tells us every time somehow.  Either by a direct sign or by placing it close to our hearts.

With our son, while pregnant, his patron saint's feast day came and we just knew it was our name for him if he was a boy.  We didn't know the sex of the baby til he was born!

With our first girl, we picked my favorite name, a name I've always loved, after my Confirmation saint.
We found out she was a girl at 32 weeks and didn't tell anyone--which was really fun!

With our 2nd girl, I felt her name in my heart, we did find out her sex and told everyone.  My husband picked her middle name, I'll tell you that it's Celeste, which means "heavenly" derived from Celestial.  I fell in love with the meaning, but didn't want it as a first name, I wanted to stick with our Saint's theme and thought it went perfect with her first name.

With our 3rd girl, we also found out the sex of her, and the day I picked her name, it was her feast day, but my husband was not convinced as we didn't realize it til it was the next day, the feast of Timothy and Titus.  He wanted another "sign".  When visiting my parents, I thought I'd look up the date she was to be delivered to see who the saint of the day was, not realizing they had a calendar that was for pre-Vatican II followers, it showed the same saint, listed on the day she was to be born.  My husband accepted it was a sign, her patron saint's name was celebrated both on the day we picked her name and on the day she was to be born.  She was obviously meant to be who we named her.

With our 4th girl, I had grown to love a name I hated as a child.  This particular name, my mom wanted to name my little sister and I begged her not to, because I hated the name.  Then, a few years ago, I decided to do this particular patron saint's year long---long, long prayers. (twice)  I grew to love her and her name.  I love saying her name now every time I say it with Sweetie Pie.  Here, again, God placed her name on my heart, and if my mom would have named my sister this particular name, we wouldn't have used it.  God knew way back then, that Sweetie Pie would have this name.

I tell the kiddos that God knows this baby's name and He will tell us.  He will place it on our hearts.
It hasn't happened yet.

God has told us somehow which names we don't want though, my husband's list looked something like this last night after supper:

Vincent
Edward
Paul
Christian
Jude
Henry
We all love the name Elijah, but cannot talk him into it.  So...
Elijah


The boy names that were left were:

Simeon  (means obedient)
Sebastian (means venerable)
Andrew (first apostle, brother of St Peter)  Funny he picks this name now, because I've always loved this name, but after seeing Simeon and Sebastian, it doesn't quite feel right anymore. so....
Andrew



Girl names looked something like this:

Sonia
Faith
Hope
Charity
Mercedes (means Mercy)
Helena
Margaret (sorry Mags!)
Lilian
Sophia
Olivia


The girl names that were left were:

Veronica (I picked this one a long time ago...it means Victory)
Felicity  (means happy, she is the patron saint of expectant mothers)
Camille (comes from St Camilus de Lellis, who is actually a man, means temple servant)
Natalie (means birth, she married St Aurelius)

I was really impressed with his list and the time he put into looking up their meanings and what each saint did.
I was particularly intrigued with the names that are left.  I'm leaning towards Felicity, Veronica & Simeon.


Veronica Felicity
Felicity Camille
Camille Felicity
Simeon Thomas
Sebastian Thomas? (the kids all love this name)

I had my 16 week check up yesterday and we have a very active baby inside and the heart rate was 166.
Which means it's probably a girl.  Even the doctor agreed.  She said maybe we have a very active boy, but it's very rare!!

Do you think heart rate has anything to do with the sex of the baby?
What do you think of our names?

18 comments:

  1. I think the names you've narrowed down to are wonderful!

    Continued prayers for your family and little Felicity/Simeon/Veronica!

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  2. Love your names! It does sound like you have a girl, although sometimes those little boys can be sneaky with their heartbeats. how exciting- I always loved the naming process of our babies!

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  3. Heart beats haven't always been a true indication for ours. I won't touch the names ... I had a favorite name with our first, and shared it. A comment was made, and although I still really like the name, I could't use it anymore. Ours have significance, too, and I like that you think about this, as well.

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  4. I think not knowing the sex will keep it interesting, if it is a boy, it sure will be a surpise!!

    Suzie-I think the child makes the name, so I don't care what people say!!

    Shelly-it is a fun process, a fun story to tell each kiddo as to how important we think of them, from the very beginning.

    Snarky-Thank you for your prayers!

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  5. Love the name choices!~ I've never heard of a Simeon except in the Bible. It would so unique!

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  6. Can't wait to see who it will be!

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  7. Beautiful names! I do think the heartbeat is usual a good indicator of the baby's sex. At least it has been for my 8 so far.
    God bless you and the wee little one, Jamie. You both continue to be in my prayers.

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  8. It will be fun seeing what you end up having! Heart rate wasn't true for us, as Annamarie always had what would have been considered a boy's rate. So it's not always true!

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  9. Names are so hard! I have always like Felicity for a girl, but could never talk Hubby into it.

    I am trying not to think about it too much, as I get so intense about it, lol.

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  10. You may not be opting for Margaret but you've picked one of my daughters' real names *and* one of my daughters' blog names. Not bad!

    And I'm with your kids--love Sebastian.

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  11. PS. My husband never casts a vote until, like, the LAST week because I keep changing my mind so much.

    He knows me.

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  12. Love the names, Jamie! I always started thinking of names even before I knew for sure I was pregnant!! I still wish we could've had more kids. I have several names that I just love and haven't used yet!!

    Heart rate does not hold true for us either -- EVERYONE said our first would be a girl based on 'her' heart rate - my dr, the nurses, relatives... nope. He certainly is not a girl!

    Blessings~

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  13. I almost was circumcised because my heart rate was so low..my mother and dr. were 100percent certain that I was a boy.

    But I do believe that higher heart rates usually are girls. You and Tom make beautiful girls!!!

    I love all the names. Especially CHRISTINE...oh wait...you forgot that one!!!

    hee hee just kidding.

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  14. hi!i love your name picks! they were some of top picks too. love the name sebastian!!! :)
    as for heart rates....my first ALWAYS had a high heart rate and up to the last contraction, all the nurses said GIRL. Well...well...well...BOY!!! we had a boy and shocked everyone!!! haa haaa. Good thing we went neutral w/all the clothes!!! :) God bless you during your pregnancy!!!
    God bless,
    mary

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  15. I really like reading and hearing what other moms choose for baby names and how they go about it. My husband also holds off on names and we usually don't narrow things down until later in pregnancy. Of course, I like to keep the options open in case I'm divinely inspired later on and don't like to shut out any other possibilities.

    I love your names! Let's see, totally a fan of Natalie since that is the name of our miscarried baby. Sebastian (along with Thomas, Isaac and Josiah) was actually on our list with Gianna and was a last minute entry due to our lengthy last name. But then, we all kind of fell in love with it. My mom suggested Sebastian when we had Lily and she did to other family members too...but no one ever used it.

    Even after just recently having a little one, I still find myself changing my mind on some of the names for this new little one...we'll see.

    I can't wait to see what name you choose! Excellent choices!

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  16. How fun Jamie to be discerning your babies name!! I think it's wonderful that you name your children after saints... you can't go wrong with that. You glorify and honor God with your choices!

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  17. I think you are brave to share your ideas with us! We have never told anyone the baby names we are considering, because we have always worried about unwanted opinions ~ ha! But like you, we trust that the name truly comes from God. He reveals it to us at some point, and it is just so clear. There is a little story behind how we came up with each name. And that is SO special!

    Oh! And on your list is the name of one of my daughters! =)

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  18. Congratulations Jamie! What a house full of blessings you have. I'm so happy for you and your family!

    All of your names are beautiful. We have a Margaret...and she really does not like her given name. She prefers Maggie, or Mags, or Bruiser, or Schmeggie. Anything other than Margaret it seems.

    Oh - by the way, dear Miss Maggie had a SLOW heart rate. I was sure she was a boy. Not so much!

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Thank you so much for stopping and commenting!