Show & Tell Tuesday: Baby Names!

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It's been quiet in Making Sure To Laugh land.  But today, I got the urge to write in my blog.  Andrea at Momfessionals has a fun prompt for her "Show & Tell Tuesday" series today: How you got your name/how you named your kids.

So here's what I know about my name: I was going to be Bryan/Brian if I was a boy.  My mom liked Rachel, but apparently my dad didn't for some reason... I don't know how they arrived at Amanda, but my middle name is Marie, after my paternal grandmother.  And apparently I was thisclose to being called "Myrtle Marie" -- or at least I'm told that's what my parents called me when my mom was pregnant with me.  That was a close one...


My sister's middle name is Elizabeth, after my maternal grandmother.  What's funny about my sister's name, Sara (not Sarah!) Elizabeth, is that after she was born & named, my dad found out he actually had an aunt Sara Elizabeth... so not planned. 

When it came to naming our kids, Jerry and I started early.  As in, about 5 or 6 years before we even thought about having kids.  We knew we liked the name Emily.  

I had a great aunt Emily, who I didn't know very well, but had really fond memories of visiting her and my mom's uncle Lou at their beach house and eating Fig Newtons :)  

Jerry also has a cousin (or second cousin? first cousin once removed?... cousin) named Emily (shout out to Emily Lupita Studio who is having a baby TODAY!!)

For a middle name, we chose Jane, after one of Jerry's great aunts.  Many, and I mean MANY of the girls in Jerry's family have Rose for their middle name, as this was his great grandma's name; so we decided to go a different route, and Emily Jane happened.

Emily Jane

During both pregnancies, we knew if we had a boy he would be named Charles Ryan or Charles Andrew, after Jerry's uncle Charlie who passed away shortly after we were married.  We found out the gender of both of our girls, as I am pretty anti-surprises... for some reason I felt like I would "know" my baby more when they were born if I knew whether it was a he or a she, and I could call him/her by his/her name :)  That doesn't make any sense, I'm sure, but oh well.

We knew Emily would be a handful from the start.
Somewhat difficult birth, horrible colic, did (and still does!) everything her own way.

When I was pregnant with Caroline, I was sure it was a boy.  When Jerry and I went into the sonogram and saw what we saw, we both couldn't believe it and were so happy.  We would've loved little Charlie just as dearly as Caroline, but we both really wanted another girl :)

Caroline Elizabeth

Caroline's name is a mashup of a few family names.  Her first name is for Jerry's grandmother Carolyn,  as well as my cousin Carrie (who passed away in 2005), and since my mom's name is Karen, I just liked the "Care" sound at the beginning for all of them -- does that make any sense?! Ugh.  For her midle name, we settled on Elizabeth, after my grandmother (who often called herself Batty Betty).  I like to call her Betty when she is being particularly contrary or when her hair looks like this: 

This is SO going in her high school yearbook.

When we told my family what we were planning to name our second daughter, my dad pointed out that everyone would immediately want to sing "Sweet Caroline" to her.  And that he couldn't think of the name without singing the song :) But, that's ok.  I like the song; Emily used to sing it to her EVERY time she cried as a baby (which wasn't as much as Emily cried as a baby, but still enough times for it to get annoying and FAST).  We still sing it with her -- she likes to do the "bum bum bums" :)

So basically, Emily is named after aunts, and Caroline is named after grandmothers -- and my cousin ;) 

I love that their names (and the spellings) are sort of "old fashioned" and timeless.  Some of the names people are coming up with these days are a little out there for me.  Some names are really pretty and cool, but I just can't imagine anyone saying "Happy Birthday Grandma Britney!"  or "Hey Uncle Viggo!"  But that's just me.

So.... tell me about your names and/or your kids' names.  I love to hear the meanings of names and the reasons they're picked! :)