What's in a name...

Several of my friends have posted blogs detailing how their children were named. I thought I might do the same.

Ross Edward
Ross is named for his grandfathers. Jason's dad, Alan Ross and my dad, John Edward (my Dad was named after his grandfather John Eduard). We used Ross first because we wanted a short first name like ours that did not lend itself to a nickname. Also, I wanted my son to have a name that means something, a name to live up to, so he is named after the two best men I have ever known.

We briefly considered John Ross but I decided it would always remind me of J.R. Ewing from the 80's show Dallas. Yes, I watch too many reruns.

Owen Spencer
Well, naming Owen was a bit harder because my grandfathers are named Olden Shelby and Jasper Leonidas, Jason wouldn't go for any of those names.
Jason didn't want a junior and my favorite boy name is Michael (we could not go with Michael Jordan).
We wanted a short name, something not too common but not weird and something ending in a consonant and we needed something that worked with Spencer.
We decided on Spencer before we became pregnant because of a great man we know named Harlan Spencer who gave us a lot of love and some very wise counsel. We both feel that he helped us put our lives in order so we would be ready to be blessed with Owen.
In the end, we finally asked Ross, "If it is a boy, what should we name him?" Ross without hesitation said, "Owen, it is the name of the mouse with a yellow blanket in my favorite book.", which is also called Owen. Well, Jason and I looked at each other and we knew, Owen was just right. So, Ross named his brother and yes, Owen has a yellow blanket and the book.

That is how Owen ended up named for a spiritual giant and a mouse with a blanket.

In case you were wondering, I was named for my mother. Mom was Judith Ann. Daddy wanted to name me Judith Ann too, but Mother said "No way!" because then she would be Big Judy. So they switch it to Ann Judith. Mom was named after her Uncle Julian (who is still alive and kicking in his 90's). The Ann part is a family name on Mom's side. There has always been an Ann, Anne, Anna, Annie, or Annita in the family. My great-aunt Annita passed on a beautiful flower pin that was given to her by my great-great-aunt Anne who got it from my great-great-grandmother Anna who came over from Europe. One day I will pass it along to the next Ann. Isn't that great! ;)