The Name Game

For as long as I can recall, I have known why my parents chose the name Rebecca Maria for me as well as why they chose the names given to my sister and brothers.  My sister's name Danita Jane is a combination of the feminine form of my father's name (Daniel) and my mother's name (Jane).  My older brother has my father's name, so he's a "Jr."  My younger brother's name Jonathan David combines the names of two best friends in the Bible.  I was given my maternal grandmother's first name (Rebecca) and a slight modification of my paternal grandmother's middle name (Marie).  Although Rebecca is a very common name, I think I have always liked it.

I'm sure Jay's parents had a reason for giving him the name Jeremiah Brandon, but he doesn't know what the reason is.  I think I asked his dad about it once, but I don't recall what he said.  I do know that he goes by Jay because his sister started calling him Jay when they were children.

How did Jay and I settle on the name Henley Elizabeth for our daughter?  It wasn't easy.  I know that some people decide on names for their children many years before they have any.  Some think it is very important to use family names.  Others choose trendy names.  Although I like my mother's first name for many reasons and believe it is a good choice for a middle name, the combination of our mothers' names didn't work well.  Since we didn't feel right about choosing just one mother's name, we decided that it would be best to avoid family names.  We also decided that we wanted to select a first name that didn't bring to mind other people that we know, which is quite a task given that we have taught hundreds of students.  We looked through so many lists of names before Jay mentioned to me the name Henley.  I immediately liked it, and we couldn't think of anyone we know personally who has that name.  Its origin is English, and BabyNames.com states that the meaning is "High Field."  We searched the Web to find out more about the name Henley (and its many uses).

Since Henley is considered appropriate for females and males, we decided that a feminine middle name would be best.  Settling on a middle name proved to be the most challenging part.  For a month or two, we thought we had decided on our daughter's full name; however, we never felt completely comfortable with the first middle name we had chosen, and we continued to mention other possible middle names.  My favorite female character of all time is Elizabeth Bennet.  Further, Elizabeth is considered to be a powerful female name.  Early on, we had ruled out Elizabeth as a possible first name, and I thought Jay did not want to use it at all.  One day, he mentioned it as a possible middle name, and it did not take long for us to agree that this middle name would be much better than our first choice.

So, there you have it.  After many hours of careful thought and consideration, we settled on Henley Elizabeth Wills.  Jay and I like it, and we hope our daughter will, too.