Baby Names

Maybe I’ve shared this before, but I know I haven’t dedicated an entire post to my kids’ names so I wanted to share the meaning behind each of their names.  My first and middle name is Maranda Renee’ and while I’ve grown to enjoy my name, it’s not always been my favorite.  I think we all probably wish we were named something different at some point or another in our lives.  The main reason I wanted a different name was because I’m not named after anyone…strange reason, yes, but I’ve always wanted my name to mean something.  My parents just really liked my name and so they went with it-reason enough, I suppose!  However, I knew when I had children I would name them after significant people in my life. 

a Paige was a name that Stephen and picked out long before we were even thinking about having children.  I think we may have even picked it out before we were married!  You’ve all done it, I know you have…having a lighthearted discussion with your future husband about kids’ names.  It’s a fun part of looking into your future together.  Honestly, Paige was the only girls name we could both agree that we liked.  I had some crazy names picked out from when I was in High School (Rayna being one of them…which totally doesn’t suit me or my daughter now!  Ryann was another that we tossed around because Ryan is Stephen’s middle name and we weren’t sure we would ever have a boy!).  We had originally picked out the name Paige Ann Banning because several people on both sides of our families carried Ann as a middle name.  Stephen’s mom has Ann as a middle name as well as my maternal grandma and my aunt, who is also my godmother.  Paige Ann was our name for a girl, but we never shared it with anyone…honestly didn’t think we needed to claim the “Ann” because we assumed everyone else in Stephen’s family was done having children.  We were WRONG.  About 6 months before our wedding, Stephen’s brother had his 3rd daughter and named her Parker Ann.  I was devastated.  Ann was my name and even though I hadn’t shared it out loud, I had laid claim to it and I was very upset that they used it, as well as using the exact same initials as our future daughter!  Eventually I got over it, but being my Type A personality I needed to have another middle name in place…and fast!  So we began to think about other possibilities that went well with Paige.  I honestly don’t remember any of the other middle names we threw around, but we finally picked Allison after my only sister Leslie.  Paige Allison…I like it even more than Paige Ann now.  It’s completely appropriate that she’s named after my sister because Paige and Leslie are eerily similar.  If I hadn’t witnessed Paige’s birth, I’d swear she belongs to Leslie.  The problem for Leslie now is that she owes me a child named after me!  She’s well aware and has started planning accordingly. 

I’ve had my son’s named picked out well before I even met Stephen.  It was going to be Ryan Clark come heck or highwater!  I honestly didn’t care what my future husband thought about it.  Seriously.  I’ve longed for a son named Ryan Clark as long as I’ve know that was what I would have been named if I had been a boy.  My parents just liked the name Ryan and Clark is my dad’s middle name, as well as his mother’s maiden name.  Imagine my thrill when I met Stephen and asked him what his middle name was…It was Ryan!  That was honestly one of the first times that I seriously thought that Stephen was the one for me.  Silly as it sounds I absolutely knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that one day I would have a little boy and his name would be Ryan Clark…and when I found out that the guy I was dating had Ryan as his middle name, I was elated!  So now Ryan’s name has a TON of meaning behind it and I couldn’t be happier about that. 

Even though we are done having children, I still have baby names picked out just in case.  These are the ones that we’ve thrown around for the “what-ifs” in life.  Since I know we’ve taken precautions to not have anymore children (unless God has bigger plans), I’ll share our short list of names we have agreed upon at some point:

GIRLS:  Meredith Elaine (Elaine is my mom’s middle name), Rachel Olivia (Olivia is after our most favorite softball player Stephen has ever coached), and Blaire Elaine.  If Ryan would have been a girl, he would have been a Blaire.  Blaire Banning…I just loved it! 

BOYS:  Timothy Aaron (after Stephen’s 2 best friends from High School), Landon Michael (after Stephen’s brother), Bryce Allen (my maternal uncle is Bruce and Allen is my godfather’s name and my cousin’s middle name), and Bo Daniel (Bo is my paternal uncle and Daniel is my cousin’s middle name).  My cousins are honestly more like brothers to me.  There are only 4 grandkids on my mom’s side and my oldest cousin is only 9 days older than me.  We grew up basically as brothers and sisters. 

I love baby names!