@KGRIEPS on Instagram asks: Your kids have such unique names, how did you choose their names? Did your adopted babies keep names they’d already been given before they came home?
Great question. Just recently I was talking to a girlfriend who can not for the life of her come with a name for her son that will be born any day now. I told her I wasn't good at picking unique names and she laughed and told me I had very unique names for my kids. I guess I forget that they are unique, because, well to me they are just my kids names.
None of my kids first names really mean anything. Yet each of them have middle names that are special and important to us, and therefore we hope are special and important to them.
Our first child, Cayden, in my opinion has the least fun name of the kids. We had no idea what we were doing when we became parents in lots of ways and one of them was naming our kid. Now don't get me wrong, I love his name, but it seems to be the “normal” name in the mix of unusual names for the rest of the bunch, if that makes sense. We literally found Cayden's name in a baby book and at the time knew no one with any form of –aden name. Now you have Jayden, Hayden, Aiden, Cayden … I feel like we see some form of his name all the time. His middle name is named after my grandfather, whom I'm also named after.
Then came our next son, Deacon, and if I remember right, I saw the name Deacon in a magazine that was talking about Reese Witherspoon because she has a son named Deacon. I had never heard of anyone named that and loved it. His middle name is after his daddy, because although he didn't have any of his DNA we wanted him to know he was still his Father's son. We had no idea at the time that we would then go on to adopt two more kids.
Next was Amos and his name from his mom in Haiti is Dowensky. We knew that although Dowensky wasn't a name we would necessarily choose for our son, we wanted to honor his momma for what she had chosen for him, and so we kept that as his middle name and decided to name him Amos. We loved the name and also love the prophet Amos in the OT and it has always seemed like the perfect name for him. The only other name I loved was Theo and Aaron vetoed that early on. You are probably thinking exactly what he knew everyone would think which is why he said no. “you mean Theo, like Theo Huxtable” You were thinking it, I know it.
Then our sweet baby girl arrived and her momma named her Magda, which at the time was not a name I loved, but I have come to love it so much now. It is also her middle name. I honestly have no idea where we got the name Story. I wish I had a great story to tell you, and if there was a big moment when we thought of it, I have forgotten the moment. Although I can't remember where it comes from, I love how much it sums up her world. She indeed has a story to tell, and it's fun to watch God write a story on her life.
So, that's where the kids names came from. Thanks for asking!
Do you have questions for me? Leave your question in the comments. Also if you have an awesome boy name for my friend she'd love to know it!
I’m a momma of two gorgeous girls and no plans for a third baby, though I’d love to have a little boy. His name would be Issac – which I think is an underutilized name of the Bible in terms of all names used like Matthew, Jacob, Luke, John, etc. And it means “he laughs / he will laugh.” Born to Abraham and Sara when they were older than comprehensible by today’s standards!
I also love names “C” names like Corbin, Cole, Collin and Caleb.
Emmitt, Zane, Elijah, Declan, Bryce, Brooks, Bentley
Those are some cute boys names I recently heard!
Cute names!
I’m all done at four kids and the name I never got to use is Moses. I love it.
Amos and Josiah were our boy name choices, but we had a girl. Her name is Lucy which means light. 🙂 She shares my grandmother’s and my middle name (my mom, sister, and great-grandma also have variations of the name). We did that for the same reason Deacon shares his daddy’s name.
My sister is expecting twin boys, so I can’t stop looking at names!! 🙂 Here are some of my faves: Tage, Easton, Lincoln, Parker, (those last two happen to be my boys’ names–and I love them. I will share them. 🙂 ) Wyatt, Graham, Reid, Declan, Willem….these are what stick out in my mind right now. I’m pretty sure my sister vetoed all of them…haha! Names can be tricky, but are so meaningful. Best wishes to your friend in finding the perfect name! LOVE your podcast and can’t stop telling everyone I meet about them. My only problem?? I need more in a week! I’m training for a half marathon and have started RElistening to some of my favorite episodes! I just can’t find another podcast I like as well as yours that keep me engaged. Thanks for getting me through my runs! Praying God’s blessings on you today!
I love that you wrote this! 🙂 I am in the process of choosing a name for my two year old that I may be adopting soon. I too want to honor her parents and the name they chose as well, while giving her a new name that represents our new life ahead. Thank you for sharing about your kids’ names!
I haven’t had nor adopted any children yet, but my husband and I are in discussions about both for our future. If adoption is our course, we’d like to adopt from our hometown (our county has the highest rate of foster children in the state). I’m curious how your kids responded to having a different name? We’ve talked about adopting “older” kids, but we have names we’ve loved for years for our future children from our families. I just wonder how a kid (who isn’t an infant and doesn’t realize) would take a change in his/her name.
I too loved the name Deacon, because of Reese’s son. But my hubby wasn’t on board! Still love that name!
I love your podcast. A friend of mine got me hooked on it and now it’s all I listen to at work. My husband and I just brought home our son from Haiti 6 weeks ago.This was our 2nd international adoption. We have a 6 year old daughter from Russia. Both of our adoption stories are incredible. I have no doubt that God chose me to be their mother. I just wanted to say thank you for your honesty and fir sharing your life with us. I would love to share our adootiin stories with you some day.
Last Saturday I drove to Raleigh to visit my middle daughter to help her paint a quest room. While painting she asked if I would mind if we listened to a Podcast. I heard you for the first time and I am hooked! Thanks for your authenticity, I love it! Every time I get a chance to listen I do, and my book list has grown!
Naming kids is such a fun job yet so important! Our boys too have individual first name but a form of a family name for their middle names. We also gave them each the same initials as us. My oldest son, Jameson has his daddy’s initials as well as my fathers and grandfathers middle name (Ralph). Our youngest son, Jace, who is adopted, has my initials and his middle name is my husbands mothers maiden name. So they each have a piece from each side of our family. Kinda of by accident (or a God thing ;), Jace’s first and middle initials stayed the same as the name he was given from his birth family.