Names are kind of a big deal to me.
As a young girl, I loved seeing the name plaques my parents hung on the walls of our home. Each plaque featured our first names in calligraphy, with its meaning and a related verse of scripture beneath.
I appreciated knowing I was named after my mother’s dearest childhood friend, and that “Susie” meant “beautiful one”. I committed to live up to my namesake and embody the characteristics that my name depicted.
It didn’t hurt my teenage ego to know that my name meant “beautiful”, that’s for sure.
We selected each of our children’s names carefully, owing to my personal experience of feeling tied to my name. Once I found out my firstborn was a girl, I spent her last five months in utero calling her by name in the hopes that my husband would agree with my selection.
He didn’t know what hit him. By the time I was pregnant with our third daughter, he knew the drill. So he put his foot down, saying, “I get to name this one”. Thankfully, I agreed with him.
We didn’t find out the gender with our fourth. So although we had a name picked out for each gender (Adam and Eve, interestingly enough), we failed to put the time into choosing a middle name.
Consequently, we left the hospital giving her a biblical name (as we’d done with the others) and all was well. Until we figured out that if we’d given her my mother’s name as her middle name, her initials would spell out her first name. Eve Valerie Egbert.
Not willing to pass up such cleverness, we forked our the cash and went to court for an official name change.
That’s how important names are to me.
All of our kids names are rich with meaning. Each child shares a name with either a parent or grandparent. We gave them names of our favorite Bible heroes as well. Hopefully, the stories between these characters in scripture and family members will inspire each of them as their knowledge of them grows.
To enrich my kids’ understanding of their names, I designed a few plaques of my own. Not like the handwritten calligraphy ones of my childhood. Graphic design, in true 21st century style.
Today I framed and put them on display.
Instead of a bare wall on the landing, now we have a reason to pause and reflect on the meaning behind each of our names. I caught each of my kids doing just that after they arrived home from school today.
I hope the trend continues.