Blogging From A to Z: Names

I figured I would share the meaning behind each of my children’s names this week! There are no elaborate stories behind any of them, but I always find it interesting to see why people name their children what they do. 

Mikaela LeeAnn 

Mikaela was a name that I heard when I was in high school, and I thought it was the prettiest name I had ever heard. I told myself I would name my first daughter Mikaela, and when I found out she was a girl I knew I wanted her name to be Mikaela. LeeAnn was the name of Rod’s sister. She passed away in a car wreck when I was still pregnant with Mikaela. She was my age at the time – 17. We named Mikaela after her to remember her. 

Elijah Paul

We went back and forth with Eli’s name when I was pregnant. We considered the name Enoch Elijah since they were the only two men in the Bible who never died – God took them to heaven alive. We eventually decided that we liked Elijah as a first name, but were torn on Peter and Paul as middle names. They were two of our favorite Biblical characters. The day we left the hospital we finally decided on Elijah Paul! Funny story – we called him Eli almost all the time, except when he would be in trouble I would call out “Eli – jah!” We were discussing middle names when he was around 7 or 8, and he said, “I have a weird middle name – Jah.” I had to explain that Jah was not his middle name! 

Mercie Renee

I don’t remember how we decided on the name Mercie, but I remember that it didn’t feel natural to me until after she was born! I liked the spelling with an -ie at the end because that’s how my sister Ashlie spells her name. Renee is my middle name and my mom’s middle name, so I wanted to pass that on to my daughter as well. 

Silas Bruce

Silas is another Bible name that we loved, and Bruce is Rod’s dad’s name and Rod’s middle name. We found out that Silas and Bruce mean “man of the woods” and “from the forest”, which was pretty neat! Silas does love the woods and hunting, so his name is fitting.

Titus Rodgers

Again, Titus is just a Biblical name that we loved! Rodgers is my dad and his dad’s middle name as well. Their names are Jimmie Rodgers Sr. and Jimmie Rodgers Jr.  Jimmy Rodgers was a famous country singer years and years ago I’m told! I also like that Rodgers is spelling with “Rod” in it, so it feels like he is also named after Rod. My dad doesn’t have any sons, so I did feel good naming one of mine after him.

Rodrick Ezekiel

We loved the name Zeke, but I wanted to continue the Bible name tradition for our sons so we went with Ezekiel, calling him Zeke. Rodrick is Rod’s first name, and I wanted Zeke named after him as well since Silas and Titus had part of his name in their names. Zeke will not say his full name though – he says, “I’m just Zeke!”

Zoey May

Zoey isn’t born yet – she has about a month to go! But I still want to share her name. When I was pregnant with Zeke, I wanted twins so badly. I wanted a boy and a girl – Zeke and Zoey. I thought those names went together really well. Zeke was a singleton, so I didn’t get my Zoey. I wasn’t planning to have any more children, and Zoey was a surprise! When we found out she was a girl, there was no question as to what her name would be – Zoey. May is a name we have always loved as a middle name. Rod’s grandmother was Johnnie Mae, and the kids all called her “MaeMae”. Now Daniel calls me “MayMay” (I spelled it differently) and I wanted Zoey to have the name May as her middle name. 

I’d love to hear the stories behind your children’s names! Link up any “N” posts below!