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Tuesday, April 21, 2015

Show and Tell Tuesday - Kids' Names

Today I'm linking up with Andrea for her "Show and Tell Tuesday" series. Today's topic is all about kids' names and how they came about. 

When we became pregnant with my daughter, we both knew we wanted a traditional name. I also hoped to use a family name b/c I have a family name. We went back and forth a few times on her middle name and I think I ended up changing it in the delivery room. I guess we were cursed b/c we chose to keep the name a secret until the birth. Therefore we seemed to take awhile before fully deciding on the name.


 But back to her first name. We originally chose the name "Cate".  We wanted a "C" name b/c we are both "C's". And I loved the way it looked with a C. But then I started thinking more traditionally and decided on Catherine. I wanted her to have "options" for her name/nickname later in life. My husband would have been content to just name her Cate. I always swore I wouldn't use a nickname, oops! I think she'll thank me later. In fact, she's already gone through a phase asking to be called "Catherine". I'll also note that my husband's grandmother's name is the same only she spells it with a K. 


For her middle name, we were originally going to use Grace. My husband's other grandmother's name is Grace. It flowed well and was a beautiful name. However, I changed my mind and wanted to use a family name from my side. My middle name is Adair and I was named after my Great-Grandmother. I love that I was able to pass the name to my daughter since I sort of "lost" the name when I got married. (I use my maiden name as my middle name.)

Catherine "Cate" Adair was born on November 14, 2007. 



My son's name was a LOT trickier. Well, sort of. I always knew (even when I was pregnant with Cate) that if we had a boy I wanted to name him William after my grandfather. We have a ton of Bill's/Billy's in my family but no one goes by William. So when we found out we were having a boy, i figured it was a no brainier. However, my husband was a bit conflicted b/c he felt that we should stick with the "C" name. I completely understood b/c I would never want my child to feel "left out" or what not. But honestly neither one of us could decide on a "C" name that we liked for a boy. Once we decided NOT to use a "C" name, he made me promise that we could never go back to the "C" for any future children. Of course I was crying inside b/c of all of the adorable monogrammed "C" items I had for Cate. But I agreed. We were back to William, only I wanted to call him Will. I figured Cate and Will sounded cute. He was not on board with Will, and I was fine with William. And now I absolutely love William. It fits him.



His middle name was a challenge for us. We liked quite a few different names, but in the end, we chose another family name. And while I was 100% open to giving him "Curtis" (my husband's name) for his middle name, he did not want to use it. So we went with John, which is my dad's first name. 



William John was born on February 15, 2012.


So that's the (long) story behind my children's names. I'm sure that's way more description than anyone wanted! Ha! And while I do have a major minor obsession with the Royal Family (Princess Diana and Prince Charles were married the day I was born), their names did NOT influence my choices. I had both first names picked out in 2007 and had nothing to do with the Royals. I do think it's funny to see people's faces when they realize I "have a Cate and Will or Catherine and William".

I will also say that I had NO idea how much pressure goes into naming a child!



15 comments:

  1. I absolutely adore your daughters middle name - it's so beautiful and different!! I think you named your children with very strong names, which is what I hope to do for my kids one day...and yes I already have names picked out LOL! xo, Biana - BlovedBoston

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  2. Love the names and LOVE that they are family names!

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  3. I love their names and the stories behind them. I can't wait to see the young woman Cate becomes when she grows into "Catherine". I firmly believe she will use it as a professional.

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  4. I also adore the name Cate. Love how sweet it is a for a little girl, but how professional it can be for an adult when Catherine is used. William is the exact same way. What awesome choices.
    -Erin (No Bohns About It)

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    1. Aww, thanks so much!! I definitely agree - I'm actually jealous of her name options! ;)
      Thanks again!!

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  5. Love Catherine with a C! It reminds me of Anne of Green Gables/Avonlea- have you ever watched that series? A teacher in one of the schools Anne worked at was Katherine with a K, not Catherine with a C, and there was a hole monologue by Anne about the name!

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  6. Catherine and William---what perfect, classic names!! :) :)

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  7. Love the name William, and Catherine too! I noticed that you vacation to Charleston, and we went there for the first time last year and adored it! I can't wait to go back some day!

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    1. Thanks so much!
      And yes, we LOVE visiting Charleston! It's such a pretty place. We've stayed at Isle of Palms before too - such a great beach. :)

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  8. Your kids have fantastic names and I personally love your decision on your daughter's naming, as it's what we did too. Lawter is my mother's maiden name, and my middle name (I dropped my maiden name when I got married so that I could keep my middle), and now, it's our daughter's name. Grace is one of my grandmother's names so we strongly considered using it for a while as Lawter's middle name, but ultimately I felt like the significance of it being a family name would be lost in the trendiness of that name (esp as a middle name) right now- and we used my husband's grandmother's name, Chase, for L's middle name. After she was born, I realized that I loved her name more and more each day and thought it fitting!

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  9. Laughing. We have a Catherine "Cate" Grace and a Mary Elisabeth. However, had Mary been a boy, she would have been... William John.

    I happened upon this blog post searching my daughters name. Fancy that. Cheers!

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    1. HANNAH! WOw! Just WOW! That is so crazy!! So are "Catherine Grace" and what would have been "William John" family names?
      Too crazy! Thanks for reaching out.

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