What's in a Name?

What's in a Name?

Ok – so by now the news is out. Our beautiful baby girl's name is Amelia Daniele Lisowe. So, how did we arrive at that name? Well – funny story. Let me walk you through it.

One day about 18 months ago, Brad and I were watching some show or movie or something and one of the characters was named Amelia. We both immediately started talking about the name and said that if our next baby was a daughter, we'd name her that.

Well – fast forward to May of this year and we found out we were having a daughter. For Brad, the deal was sealed as soon as the ultrasound showed the absence of man parts. For me, it took a little longer.

Earlier this year I started researching our family tree and in doing so, found out that one of my relatives from back in the day was named Sophia. She was married to "The King" – the same guy all the males in my family for generations have been named after. So, I fell in love with the name Sophia and have always loved the story of "The King."

Well – once we found the sex, Brad mandated that we wouldn't talk about it until July 30th. That was more to bug me than anything else. He also didn't want to tell anyone once we had decided – that was more to bug everyone else, I think.

One night in late June I had had it, and brought up my 2 name choices (Amelia and Sophia) during date night. He said that there was only one name on his list and lucky for me it was Amelia. We toyed with the idea of naming her Sophia as a middle name, but we already had one perfect middle name, or so we thought. So, I tucked Sophia back into the back of my mind and Amelia was born.

Now to the middle name. We always knew that our little girl's middle name would be Ann. It's a family name on both his and my side. That's it – it was settled. Or so we thought. As time wore on, I started thinking more and more about the name Daniele.

Some folks may not know the story, but Daniele was my given middle name. When Brad and I went to the courthouse to get our marriage license, I wasn't prepared to have to decide what my new legal name would have to be. I knew I didn't want 4 names (keeping both my maiden and middle name), but giving either up seemed like a betrayal to my parents. After what seemed like hours, I finally decided my new legal name would be Lauren Benson Lisowe (one of the few traditional things about me). That being said, giving our daughter the middle name of Daniele will always allow her to have a piece of me with her (of course until she grows up and is faced with the same decision that I had to make).

So – what's in a name? A whole lot of thought, family, and compromise, but I think this name is perfect! And if we needed another sign – the main character in the princess diaries is named Amelia. She has the exact same Faberge carousel in the movie that our Amelia has in her nursery, so I take that as a sign that Amelia is the perfect fit.