What's In a Name?

Being the oldest of four girls, I spent a lot of time playing with my sisters. Some of our favorite "games" were school, house, and yes, even church. That's what happens when you grow up as a pastor's kid. Apparently I liked to preach sermons, sing and I couldn't have a church service without passing around the offering plate to my little sisters. In our play times we would often make up new names for ourselves.

The name I always wanted to be called was Julie. Blame it on watching The Sound of Music over and over again, but I had a fascination with Julie Andrews. How could I not as I watched her twirl around singing "the hills are alive with the sound of music," or seeing her portray the practically perfect in every way nanny to two precocious little children? If you would have asked me then, I would have told you that Julie was my name.

Now I have grown up a bit, my love for the name Julie has faded, and it's never been in the running for our top baby girl name. Favorite names were a topic of random conversations during the first few years of our marriage, and before Jon and I found out the news that we were pregnant we had already (mostly) settled on our two favorite names. With us keeping the gender a secret (even to ourselves!) we decided to have mercy on our parents and at least reveal our top name choices. After a lot of discussion here is where we stand.

Baby Boy Groves:

Aiden Samuel Groves

Why do we love this name so much? Well one thing that attracted me to the name Aiden was that it was the first name of a theologian Jon and I have both grown to love: A.W. Tozer. The Knowledge of the Holy just one of his many phenomenal books, and if you have never read it, stop reading this post and go pick it up! Whatever Happened to Worship?: A Call to True Worship is another one of my favorites. I also couldn't help but notice that Aiden also means "Little Fire"...how appropriate for a little red-headed boy! Even if a little red-head escapes us this time, this name is still our front-runner should Baby Groves be a boy! We want each of our children to be able to look up at least part of their name in Scripture and see an example of God's faithfulness, and so his biblical middle is Samuel. Not only does it mean "God hears," but it's also in honor of Jon's Dad, whose middle name is also Samuel.

Baby Girl Groves:

Ainsley Elizabeth Groves

Let me first note that we didn't plan for both our boy and girl names to start with A. We just fell in love with these two names. Unfortunately one of the other girl names I hope to use at some point in time also starts with an A, but we're not letting that stop us. Jon came to love this name when he heard it on one of his favorite TV shows, The West Wing (the character is pictured above). He's always loved the name, thinking it both unique and beautiful, and I can't agree more. Her biblical middle name, Elizabeth, is a reference to John the Baptist's faithful mother and it means, "God is my oath."

So, of the myriad of things we don't know and cannot control in this pregnancy, here's something that's a sure thing: our baby will either be Aiden Samuel Groves, or Ainsley Elizabeth Groves. Either way, we can't wait to see our little baby Groves and call him or her by their name!