Our Boys’ Names

 



I have absolutely LOVED naming both of our boys. What a privilege to be able to choose the NAME of a new little person! Stephen and I found out that Nolan was going to be a boy in May 2011. We were completely open to having a boy or a girl, but at that point in the pregnancy, we had only decided on a girl’s name. That summer, I made lists of boys’ names, and Stephen would cross out and veto the ones that he didn’t like. Eventually, the last name on the list was Nolan—and we both loved it! We didn’t know anyone with the name Nolan—so it was a brand new name to us, not associated with any memory or negative thought. It was perfect for our baby boy. We didn’t give him the name because of its meaning, but for trivia’s sake, Nolan means “famous”, “renowned”, and in some languages “champion” or “chariot-fighter”. :)

As for Bruce, Nolan’s middle name was my dad’s name. My dad passed away when he was thirty-three from cancer (when I was almost four). It makes me so happy that my dad’s grandson can carry on a piece of his legacy!

We kept Nolan Bruce’s name a secret until after he was born. He was the first one that we told :)

Again, at the time of our gender ultrasound, Stephen and I had a beautiful girl’s name picked out, but we were told that we were having a second baby boy! For a couple of months, I didn’t know how I was going to pick a name that I liked as much as Nolan’s. We had some criteria for the new name. We wanted it to start with a different letter than S, R, or N. It needed to be two syllables like the rest of our names. We didn’t want it to end in the letter “n” like Stephen and Nolan. And I am pretty adamant about choosing names that aren’t on the Top-Ten-Most-Popular List.

I can’t remember when I first pitched the name Ephraim, but Stephen was immediately on board. I get asked about his name quite a bit, since it’s definitely an older name that people don’t hear often. There are several things we like about it:

1. Ephraim means “Fruitful”.

2. It’s Biblical.  Ephraim is Joseph’s second son. (This also makes him Rachel’s grandson.) Genesis 41:52: “The second son he named Ephraim and said, ‘It is because God has made me fruitful in the land of my suffering.’” Even though Manasseh was the firstborn son, Joseph shook things up by giving Ephraim the birthright. The name Ephraim went on to be the title of one of the half-tribes of Israel.

3. We like that Ephraim has a “ph” in it, like Stephen. I insisted that it had to be pronounced “EE-frem” instead of “F-rem” because Stephen has an E sound, too. I wanted to give him the nickname “E”—from the first syllable. And I like the sound of it so much better!

4. It reminds me of Ephraim, Wisconsin—a quaint beach town in beautiful Door County, Wisconsin where my grandparents lived when I was growing up. (They lived in the town of Gills Rock though, which wouldn’t make for a great name ;)  I can’t wait to take Ephraim up there someday on a vacation!

There’s no real story for “Luke”—but it has been on my baby boy name list since high school :) It means “Light-giving”, and it makes for the perfect middle name for little Ephraim. We waited until he was born before we announced his name, too. :)

There you have it! How did you name your babies? I’d love to hear in the comments :)

 

Linking up with Andrea today!