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Tuesday, February 1, 2011

what's in a name?

Random, but I've never posted my kids' name stories on my blog. I thought I should.
So here they are, the short version.
Tempe Joann
Tempe is named after Jason's mission in Tempe, Arizona. He served full time for two years starting when he was 19. His mission made a big impact on him and we wanted to honor that. It's also family tradition. Jason's dad served in Texas and named his youngest son Austin; Jason's brother served in Madagascar and named his daughter Maddy. We were so convinced that we were having a boy that we didn't even bother to discuss a girl's name. We had talked about Tempe as a name before I was pregnant, so when we were surprised with a girl, Tempe fit the bill! It is an unorthodox name but fits our spunky little girl perfectly!
Joann is after my maternal grandmother (Joanne) and Jason's paternal grandmother (Joan, but she pronounces it Joanne). We wanted to honor them both so we chose a "neutral" spelling.
Helena Louise
I wanted to find out what we were having the second time around, so I told Jason he could name the baby if we found out. Big mistake! He did a great job but it was torture for me to have no say in our baby's name! Jason wanted something somewhat old-fashioned and he kept coming back to Helena (which we pronounce huh-LAY-na, by the way). And yes, this is the first place we heard the name. Best video ever. Still mad it didn't win a VMA in 2005.
Louise is my paternal grandmother's middle name and my only sister's middle name. I actually liked it enough for a first name, but remember, I didn't get any say!
Juno Kate
Juno has been my favorite name since I was pregnant with Helena. And for the record, I saw it on a baby name board before I saw previews for the movie! I love that Juno is so close to a very common name (June) that it's not completely out there, but it still has a fresh little twist on the end. It's June with a party on the end of it. I love the "O" ending. I considered other names, but Juno was the frontrunner and it won out!
Kate is, obviously, after me :) Jason picked it. Isn't he sweet??
I wish I could name other people's kids. I think we're going to be done having kids before I get to use all of my favorites.
And when the heck are we going to have a boy??? I had over 40 names on my boy list before we found out Juno was a girl!! COME ON!

5 comments:

Christie said...

Question. Has Helena seen her namesake video?

Stephens Family said...

Cute stories! Q and I had a boy name picked out before we were even married - maybe that's why we have 3 GIRLS! So fun though, isn't it?!

Kate said...

We plan on having Helena learn the dance from the video to perform at her 16th birthday party.

Carly said...

So what are the names on your boy list??? We are having the hardest time finding a name for our little guy!!

Candice said...

Despite the fact that I abhor everyone else's name choices, I actually like yours. A lot. Especially Tempe. And I like that they have more "traditonal" middle names. Thumbs up from me, Kate.

That said, if you name your next child Sophia, Bella, or Emma, you will lose your credibility :-P

PS--You guys are going to have MORE than three? Oh girl.

PPS--I know we've talked about this before but I think I deleted the email. Can you shoot me a FB email when you get a chance about the AFLAC rider that you use to pay for your deliveries. We are just getting around to look at that stuff b/c we have private insurance with no maternity coverage. Any help would be much appreciated! :-)