- William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet
I know the same is true for my sweet Elsie Jane. However, her name still holds meaning.
Miles and I worked on picking a name for a long time. Early in our relationship, Miles told me that when he had a girl, he wanted to name her Hazel after his great grandmother. I told him not to hold his breath cause I wasn't necessarily sold on it. Years later, the name had grown on me. However, there were two *loud* dissenting voices. Both of his sisters said they wanted to use the name as well. While we weren't ready to give up on using the name, Miles and I promised that we would make a valid effort to search for other options.
So just as we had done for Owen, we read through each and every name in a baby name book and wrote down anything that might be of interest. When we finally got through "Z" our list was about 30 names long. We narrowed it down to 15 and eventually I (without much help from Miles) narrowed it to my top five names:
(listed in no particular order)
Hazel
Elsie
Charlotte
Daphne
Scarlett
Miles seemed ok with the list, but I knew he was leaning toward the first two. However, once again as with Owen, we wanted to wait until she was born to decide.
Once she arrived, I was pretty anxious to name her. However, the time Miles and I had together at the hospital was often spent with other people and we didn't have a lot of time to discuss. Finally, as our 48 hours was drawing to a close, I told him we had to name her. I didn't want to leave the hospital without a name, and I was feeling anxious about her not having a name besides, "baby girl," or other love names. But I was struggling to decide on which name fit her best. After talking it over and looking at our sweet baby, we decided to go with Elsie. When the nurse came in, I told said, "We decided on her name. It's Elsie Jane." Miles looked at me and said, "Oh really? Jane, huh?" I said, "Yep." I guess I didn't really give him a chance to weigh in on the middle name. But that seems to be how it goes in our family - he chooses the first name and I choose the middle. Typically there is more discussion involved on both counts and we both have to agree, but I wasn't budging from Jane.
Now neither of these names were random choices. Elsie is the middle name of Miles's paternal Grandmother, Elaine Elsie Wright. We absolutely *LOVE* and adore her. She is such a wonderful, kind, thoughtful, giving, hard-working, gentle, spiritual woman. As I've mentioned before, I have no living grandparents, so I have 100% adopted Miles's grandparents as my own - and they have 100% adopted me. :) It feels so good to be in a family where blood relations are not necessary to be accepted as their own. Our baby Elsie could not have been named after a more wonderful woman. I hope that she gets to know her and have fond memories of her and even take after some of her many, many amazing attributes.
As for her middle name, it was a two-part decision for me. Elsie's due date was October 9th which is my niece, Elena's, birthday. Elena's middle name is Jane. I thought it would be a nice gesture to use it in recognition of her. (And we have since realized that both Elena and Elsie have the same initials - EJW, which is kind of fun.) And the most meaningful part is the actual meaning of the name Jane: God is gracious or Gracious gift from God. As soon as I read that, I felt so connected with it - for God IS gracious and has given me the most incredible gift ever - the gift of motherhood. I not only have a son, but now I have been blessed with a beautiful baby girl. I could not ask for more. My Dad said that my grandpa told him, "You're a rich man. You have a son and a daughter!" I feel extremely rich in love and happiness. So, while in the eternal perspective of things names are not that important, there is definitely significant meaning behind Elsie Jane's name. I hope she holds her head high and wears it well.
Here are some pictures of Elsie with her namesakes.
Elaine Elsie:
And Elena Jane:
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