We often get asked how we chose our kids names, are they family names, do they mean anything, or what are they short for (an assumptive close). Let me first say this: We didn't share ANY of our names before our kids were born - neither of us wanted input from parents, friends or strangers, nor did we want to hear about your uncle's best friends daughter who had that name and was a total bitch. Let's face it, associations are real and we all have em'.
So keep them to yourself, mk?
BAYLOR BOONE
We knew off the bat that we didn't want to use family names, as both of us have huge families and it was too difficult to try & make it even on both sides. We heard the name BAYLOR originally as a last name and fell in love with it as a first name. We love college football, so that was an added BONUS. As far as the middle name, Collin's family is notorious for nicknames, and his has always been Boone or Boo-head (he used to carry a "boo"-burp cloth around as his blanky). We thought it was the perfect middle name for our first boy, an ode to his Daddy without being too obvious.
FUN FACT
we didn't know if Baylor was going to be a boy or girl, but had he been a girl, he would have been "Summer" ... seems so strange to think about having a Summer now :)
BELLAMY RUE
We first heard Bellamy on an old BRAVO show "Nine by Design" about the Novogratz family. They were amazing, creative and had a slu of adorable kids, one of who's name was Bellamy. We floated a few other names for her, but ultimately stuck with Bellamy. It means Beautiful Friend. Her middle name was purely chosen because it's french and sounds great with Bellamy. Ps... we also didn't know what we were having when Bellamy was born, but we didn't have an official boy name picked out. Guess it was meant to be! ;)
FUN FACT
Bellamy actually had a different middle name when she was born (Love), as we weren't really sure what it was going to be. We both liked Rue, but Collin was worried that people would think we named her after Rue from the Hunger Games. Crisis averted, we changed her name before we left for the hospital. Bellamy Rue, it was.
WINNIE WILDE
Winnie Cooper is as badass as they come, which was our initial inspiration for her name. We also watch Jimmy Fallon every night in bed and loved that he named his daughter Winnie. It's fun, quirky and spirited, which just so happens to fit the tiny one perfectly. We wanted something to mix well with the other kids names, which is why we chose Wilde - it worked well with Baylor Boone, and added a bit of edge to her name. We knew well ahead of time the gender of this baby, so her name had been solidified long before she was born.
FUN FACT
Her name was almost Gwyneth, but we'd call her Winnie for short. Then we thought - why bother with formalities, let's just go for it!
Would love to hear your names and why you chose them ...
always such an interesting conversation topic!
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LOVE all of your kids' names!!
Amiya Lynn, my sweet 15 year old. I was only 20 years old and didn't find out I was pregnant until I was 5 1/2 months along. "I Didn't Know I Was Pregnant" is a totally real thing! I went to the doc and told him I was dying of cancer because I felt like death. Doctor took a test and said it was an ulcer and anxiety. Well, that first kick was not "gas"! Haha. I hadn't even seen her dad in 4 months since we had gone our separate ways. Anyway...I didn't know it was a girl because she was too big to detect at that point. I came up with Amiya from the Real World even though that chick was nuts! My mom's middle name is Lynn. When I had her I didn't even ask what the gender was and had no boy name picked out so that worked in my favor! I had so many dreams of walking down the street with a girl with pierced ears and so did my best friend.
Palmer was supposed to be Kollins Elizabeth from The Blind Side because I loved the idea of KK initials. Elizabeth after my middle name which is my great grandmother's first name. A week before we found out it was a girl we watched Just Go With It and Palmer Ann popped in my head and for some reason I just knew she was going to be a blonde (my natural hair color). When we found out it was a girl we all looked at each other and I said "Kollins Elizabeth, right" and we all simultaneously admitted we liked Palmer better. Ann after Anthony's mom's middle name. She was going to be Keston Dawn if she was a boy. I had Keston on my boy baby name list for years and Anthony totally loved it and Dawn is Anthony's middle name. Total girl spelling.
With Sloan we planned on Callie Dawn for a girl and Miles Anthony for a boy. Since Anthony hadn’t gotten his boy yet I decided no matter what we’d tie in the middle name. When we found out it was a girl I pushed for Sloan instead. Anthony told me he needed a week to think about it. I convinced him that she was going to be a brunette and the hot chick from Entourage totally pulled it off. So Sloan Elizabeth is was! And Daddy didn’t get a middle name in there because Dawn just didn’t flow with Sloan.
We don't plan on having any more children but if it does happen we are still strongly holding on to Miles Anthony. Because Miles is a BA boy name and his initials would be MAK which ties into my nickname growing up, MAC. Maybe we'll get a dog and name him that.
Love this post, Kendra. I always love hearing how people arrived at their chosen names. You even got me to jump out of feedly to comment! (All the wink face emojis here)
Jon + I are those people that started dating in high school and it was way back then or maybe early on in college that we were watching the Pack play the Chicago Bears and fell in love with the name Cade after Cade Mcnown. Cade's middle name follows a tradition in Jon's family to name the first born son after his paternal grandpa who happens to be named Tom - alas, Thomas. If Cade were a girl, our chosen name was Ava which now makes me cringe to think about because it has become so popular. #blessingindisguise
Dane is a family name (Jon's grandfather was Dane and Jon's middle name is Dane per the aforementioned family rule), which we also happened to love because it worked so well with Cade (single syllable, strong, simple). Dane's middle name, Garrison, is a nod to my dad, Gary. Dane Gary just didn't roll off the tongue so we had to hip it up a bit. If Dane were a girl, our field of names was narrowed to Sloan or Emery, though it was probably good we had another boy because Jon wasn't sold on either name.
Dane was born right after my mom was diagnosed with cancer and at that time, she tried to get the name Eden in the running but I wasn't buying it. When I became pregnant with Eden, her suggestion resurfaced yet again and I still wasn't feeling it 100%. My girl names were all across the board and all out of favor with Jon. I love Elle - a simple moniker in alignment with the boys but he was not on board. When I found out I was having a girl, it just hit me that Eden was the name (again, strong + simple, yet elegant) and it was a wonderful way to honor my mom and her role in the process as her health rapidly began to deteriorate. In fact, when I found out I was having a girl, I started to cry not because I was having a girl (though I was elated) but because I knew in my heart that meant my mom would not be with us much longer, as I had a recurring dream that I would have a little girl and my mom would pass soon after. My mom passed away 10 weeks after Eden was born. It was perfectly fitting that her name meant delight, because her sweet soul brought so much joy and light to those dark and sad days. Her middle name is a nod to my grandma Alice and Jon's grandma Shirley, who both held the middle name Mae. Admittedly, I also liked the way it flowed with Eden. Had Eden been a boy, our name of choice was Grayson Wayne - who we would've called Gray to align with the strong, simple monikers of his brothers. Wayne was a nod to Jon's uncle, who he was very close with but who unfortunately also passed away at a young age from cancer.
Side note - we did share the names of all our kids but had the experience you worried of. In fact, my mom HATED the name Cade but of course grew to love it with the love of her first grandchild. #keepittoyoself #youwilllearntoloveit
With our first child we knew if they were a boy their middle name would be Cooper after a close friend who passed away in Iraq. We were going to do James for the first name, it was a family name on my side and my husband likes the old school names better than the modern ones. If we had a girl her name would be Lily Rose, no meaning behind the name we just liked it. I'm not really sure when it happened but we were really not set on James and decided on Jackson. So our son is Jackson Cooper! Jackson is 3.5
With our second son I wanted to name him Kingston James. My husband liked Johnny and we were having a hard time picking a middle name. We had decided on Johnny Ace for a boy and Allie Kat Grayson if it was a girl. After we found out we were having a boy I was sad my husband would let me use Kingston for the first name and I was telling my friend about it and she was like why don't you use it for the middle name so that is how we got Johnny Kingston! Johnny is 1.5
For our third if we were having a boy it was going to be either Joey Grayson or Milo Grayson we couldn't decide. If it was a girl Allie Maddison. I wanted to name a girl either Oliva or Clair but my husband really liked Aliie, I'm not really sure how we picked out that name. I liked it so I went with it. I wasn't sold on Maddison so when we found out we were having a girl I asked my husband it her middle name could be Grayson...he said no at first but then agreed so that is how we got Allie Grayson! I really like the name Grayson and wanted to use it. Looking back now I might have done Allie Olivia. Allie is 5 months.
Not that we are going to have a 4th but here are the names we have picked...LOL.
Milo James and Olivia Jane...but I kinda like Oliva Wilde :)
We are pregnant with our fourth child and all of ours have "B" names. Brooks Hinton, Blaire Ruth and Blythe Rose. I am pregnant with a girl and we have had a HARD time picking a name. We decided on Blanche, but have gotten a lot of negativity from friends and family so have moved on to another name on our list- Bellamy. We have kind of settled on it and when I went to your blog instead of your Etsy shop on accident tonight, I saw you have a Bellamy! I personally don't know a Blanche or a Bellamy so it was sweet to see your little girl with the name.
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