What's in a Name?

There is something so special about choosing a child's name.

I have loved naming all my babies!  It hasn't been hard for Steve and I to pick names we both love.  Thankfully, we have similar taste in names, so it's been very easy for us to pick names together.  Before I reveal our newest sweet babe's name, though, I thought I'd share some thoughts and reflections of our other children's names and how they came to be.  After marrying into the Gonzales name, I was drawn to names with Spanish and European roots.  We also have a tradition of choosing a family name for our children's middle names.

Elijah Shawn Gonzales:  We both really liked the name Elijah (meaning "my God is the Lord") and after we learned our son would not live long, the name Elijah seemed even more appropriate.  He is named after God's prophet, Elijah, who was simply whisked away to heaven one day.  

"And Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven."  2 Kings 2: 11

His middle name, Shawn (meaning "God is gracious"), is Steve's middle name, so he is named after his daddy :)

Isabella Anne-Louise Gonzales:   Isabella is a name with Hebrew, Italian, and Spanish roots and means "consecrated or devoted to God".   Anne (meaning gracious; merciful) is my middle name and my mom's middle name as well.  Louise (meaning warrior) is Steve's Grandma G's name.  Isabella was due on Grandma G's birthday (of course, she came a week late).  Grandma G passed away before Bella was born, but she is very special to Steve and I am thankful for the time I got to spend with her too.  We love that Bella's name honors two of her grandmas.  Our prayer for our beautiful Bella is that she may live a life devoted to God; may she be a "gracious warrior" for His kingdom.

Sophia Rose Gonzales:  Sophia means wisdom.  Her name has Greek roots...as well as Italian, Spanish, and German.  I like the German connection because my dad was born in Germany.  Sophia's middle name comes from Steve's mom, Heather Rose...we are thankful to honor Steve's mom in our daughter's name.  Rose is Latin and English in origin and the rose is a symbol of love and beauty.  Our prayer for our sweet Sophia Rose is that she may live a life marked by our Lord's "beautiful wisdom".

One interesting note is that both Isabella and Sophia have really grown in popularity...I think they were the #1 and #2 names for girls last year.  They were definitely not uncommon names when we chose them, but wow, who knew they would become so popular.  Neither of them had made it into the top 10 yet when we named our girls...at least we were slightly ahead of the curve :)  Our newest daughter's name doesn't even show up on some baby name lists.  I did find it on one list...the most recent info was from 1880 when this name was ranked #869...it's slightly less common than her older sister's names :)

And finally, introducing...


Gracia Kathryn Gonzales:  Gracia (pronounced gray-SHAH) is the Spanish form of Grace, meaning "the freely given, unmerited love of God".  Grace also means elegance and beauty.  And we have continued our tradition of choosing a family name for our newest one's middle name by naming her after Steve's Aunt Kathy.  We love the name Kathryn (meaning pure) and we love Aunt Kathy...a perfect fit!  Pure Grace is a wonderful name to describe how we feel about God's blessing upon our lives by giving us another sweet babe :)  We pray her life is marked by God's grace; His pure, beautiful, elegant grace.

And there you have it...our newest little critter's precious name and a little bit about our other critter's names as well.  I enjoyed reflecting and remembering how God led us to choose their names...thanks for "listening"~

God bless~
Rachel