Baby Name Story: The Hershey Family

Our latest name story tells the tale of three beautiful names, and includes a fascinating-and-frustrating snag with German naming laws!

The Hershey Family: Bonnie, Cal Roman, Bella Joy, Alece Edelweiss, and Brian

Meet Bonnie Hershey, wearer of many hats. Married to her best friend, Bonnie is mom to three active kids, now ages 9, 7, and 5. In addition to those full-time jobs, she has a passion for health and helping other families as a practical nutrition advisor and business owner through her website, ProvenNutritionForKids.com. Bonnie writes:

Our family's story is a bit unique because of how we started off, and our children's names capture bits of our history. My husband and I met over in Germany, where we were both serving American military families. Three years later, we were still in Europe—now married—anticipating the birth of our first child, a daughter.

Brian and I decided that we wanted each of our kids' names to reflect someone who deeply impacted our own lives and also the location of their birth. So, with our first child, my husband gave me the honor of naming her from someone in my life first. I chose a close friend who is giving her life away to the people of Africa as a lifelong Christian missionary. "Alece" also means truth and noble.

Our daughter's middle name would then reflect her place of birth in southern Germany, near the Austrian border—"Edelweiss." We fell in love with the symbolism of this little white alpine flower, representing purity and nobility. It was not only commonly worn by Austrian monarchs as a symbol of royalty, but it was also a symbol of utmost love and devotion. Many would-be suitors would climb to treacherous heights in the Alps—some to their deaths—to retrieve this rare flower to win the heart of their true love.

We hope that our daughter Alece Edelweiss will one day embody all of these qualities of truth, honor, love and devotion.

Our second daughter, Bella Joy, was born a bit further south near Naples, Italy and gets her middle name from my mother-in-law. I love that my husband has such a fond affection and respect for his mom. And our daughter has truly become the embodiment of an overflowing, "Beautiful Joy" in her life.

The funniest part about Bella's name came as a surprise to us once she was born. As we would stroll through town or visit the market and coffee shops, all the Italians would see her and say in their flamboyant way, "Bella!" (Accent the first syllable while raising your hands in the air for proper Italian affect.) Our little girl was quite confused as to how all these strange people knew her name. :) But we loved it.

Our third child was finally the boy we had been hoping and praying for. Between my husband and I, it was always understood that I would get to name our first girl and he our first boy. Cal Roman was also born in Italy, just 2 hours south of Rome. "Cal" comes from my husband's close friend, Chris Caliguiri (who also went by "Cal" for short), who mentored him in college and has remained a dear friend ever since.

And though Cal was not actually born in Rome, we liked the distinguished sound of "Roman" much better than Vesuvio, Napoli, or Ravioli.

The "Edelweiss" Obstacle

We had settled on our first daughter's name early on in my pregnancy. Indeed, we had grown to really love it, even though it sounded a bit long at first.

Well, with Alece being born in a local German hospital, the initial response to her middle name was not a warm one. I remember writing her name down on her birth form and happily handing it to the German nurse. A short time later, three nurses (or hospital administrators) returned with the form and flatly said, "You cannot name her this," shoving the paper back into my hand. (Imagine a gruff German accent.)

"Excuse me?" I replied, astonished and not quite sure I heard them correctly.

"This is the name of a flower. You cannot use this."

Upon seeing my determined look and growing frustration, they said I would need to call the city office number (which they placed into my hand) and discuss it with them.

Call, indeed. I was a bit flustered and upset, still not sure what was going on.

We soon learned that, under German law—apparently a law that has carried over from Hitler's regime—Germans are not allowed to name their children after flowers, cars, or anything else. They even have to sign a paper saying they will not name a boy a girl's name and vice versa. This law would have carried over to us had we decided to grant Alece dual citizenship.

So a call to the local city hall was made, and the kind gentleman on the phone quickly realized, "Oh yes, you are Americans. You can name your child whatever you wish." So, to this day, our daughter's fully flowered name is written in the German city hall birth record.

And when our German neighbors and passers-by inquired of our sweet baby's name, their smiles always turned to honest stares of bewilderment…as though we had truly broken the law. Deep down though, I like to think they were just a tad bit jealous that they could not use the names of flowers themselves.

What Our Kids Would Say

I believe our kids are proud of their unique names. We have often shared with them the stories behind their names and what each of them means. They also know the people personally whom they have been named after, and that's important to us. Their names carry a key part of their history—their beginning—and gives them a unique sense of identity.

---

Between the European-influenced names, the decisions we all think think about in honoring a loved one with a name, and the name-that-almost-wasn't, I absolutely love this story. Thanks to +Bonnie Hershey for sharing it! 

If you'd like to submit your own baby name story, please contact me. Feel free to browse more naming stories here.

How a Name-Obsessed Writer Named Her First Baby

I've got to be honest—naming my child was not an easy process. Some people find this hard to believe. After all, when my husband and I were expecting our first baby, I was five years into writing Nameisms, I had begun a little blogging and editing for Name Candy and The Baby Name Wizard, and I was deep into writing my baby name book. On top of that, being name-obsessed was my reality for most of my life.

But even though I was surrounded by names and had been making lists of favorites for years, I was careful. I didn't want to name imaginary children before becoming a parent was a possibility. Choosing a name before we were pregnant would have felt, in my book, too hasty. I resolved to wait until a baby was in our definite future. After all, our naming styles evolved as our lives changed and time passed.

And I especially didn't want to choose the name by myself, without input from my husband. I wanted naming my baby to be an organic, creative, fun process that my husband and I delved into together. The clouds would part, harps would play, and magical sunbeams would envelope us as we chose our perfect baby name.

Almost 11 years into our marriage, the big moment arrived. I was 19 weeks pregnant when an ultrasound revealed that we were having a baby boy. We were thrilled, and as far as names were concerned, glad that we had managed to avoid serious name discussions up to that point, so that half of our potential choices were eliminated on the spot. Pretty soon it was time for my naming dreams to come true. We each sat down with the electronic version of my book (it hadn't been published yet) and separately listed our favorite choices. This was it—we were carefully considering names we could actually imagine proudly giving our son.

Then, we eagerly compared our lists. Cue the harps! Our styles were similar enough, and we had common ground on two names that sounded great together. Logic would dictate that we had just named the baby; we could use the two names we both picked as a first and middle name choice. But logic failed us. The two names we liked on paper suddenly didn't feel right.

We decided to make a master list from the two we'd created, after considering each other's choices and using veto powers when needed. It came to 47 names. We tried to let these names soak in for awhile. One November evening, the right name seemed to stand out and we were both thrilled with it. This is the moment I'd been waiting for. We had just named our baby.

The only problem was, the bliss I felt didn't last. Days later, I spent an afternoon making a pro/con list about the name. My sudden hesitancy was hinged on what other people might think of it. Would they assume we were a certain type of family? Did my son's name sound, to some people, like the name of a sexy vampire? An Amish kid? A creepy villain from a horror movie? What would our parents and grandparents think of it? Would people mispronounce it constantly? Does it not flow well with our last name? These are the questions that would race through my mind at 2:00 in the morning.

One day I felt head-over-heels for the name we'd picked, the next I was in a panic, telling my husband it may not be the baby's name after all. It probably helped that I was carrying his son, but he was very patient with me. He agreed to pick out a "safer" back-up name and keep an open mind until we met the baby. We also didn't share the name with our friends and family, to keep the decision between the two of us. (I have a tendency to be swayed a bit too easily; even an offhand comment about the name could have made the decision much more difficult.)

Still, I got lots of comments from friends and family to the effect of, "Your baby's name is going to be amazing! You're writing a name book, after all!" Expectations were high.

I researched and debated and flip-flopped until the moment arrived. Our son was born on a brisk March morning nine days after his due date. A very long birth experience and one c-section later, it was time to make it official. "What's the baby's name?" A nurse asked, her pen poised as though we were ready to announce it that second. Even though there were several times when I thought we had named our son, this was the only one that counted. "What do you think?" My husband asked. Despite the exhaustion and drugs, this was a very lucid moment. I smiled as I agreed on the name we'd chosen last November. 

There's something about becoming a parent that puts everything into perspective. Expectations, like the kind of birth experience I may have or the way my baby would be named, didn't have any value in comparison to holding my healthy newborn son. He mattered more than my visions of naming perfection. Choosing a likable name was important to me, but in the end it was up to us to determine what that meant, and no one could name him like we could.

And that's how a name-a-holic like me finally named her first baby. It took me awhile to feel confident about our choice before he was born, but once our little miracle arrived I knew we had chosen a wonderful name for him. It was cool and historical and meaningful and lyrical and masculine all at once. I realized that most people would agree, and for those who didn't, I wouldn't let it bother me. Even if they thought our naming style was Sexy Amish Vampire.

---

Are you having a hard time choosing a name for your baby?
Feel free to contact me if you'd like my input!

Baby Name Stories: Cath's Story

I think choosing a name for a baby is a fascinating process. With every parent, the story is unique and comes with its own challenges and fun. In addition to the weekly name features, I wanted to include these real-life tales of parents who faced the world of baby names and found their own unique style.

---

Interview with Cath Oehlman, a.k.a. SquiggleMum: "I was a primary school teacher before becoming a fulltime Mummy (yes, I'm Australian). I've been married for 9 years and have two munchkins."

Lily Jade will be 3 in May; Reuben Lucas is 6 months old.

How did you and your husband choose each of their names? As a school teacher there were a lot of names I just couldn't choose! It wasn't that I didn't like the kids I taught (I loved them actually), it was just that those names already belonged to those kids. I have never had a Lily or a Reuben in my own class. We chose old first names with traditional spellings because they are timeless, but more contemporary middle names. Lilies are mentioned in the Bible in Luke 12:27 (Consider how the lilies grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these!) And in the Old Testament Reuben was the firstborn son of Jacob. His name means, "Behold! A son!"

When I was pregnant with Reuben, we asked Lily what names she thought would be nice for her baby brother or sister. We'll never forget it. She thought that Tallulah would be good for a girl, and Garlic (!!) for a boy! Decided not to go with her opinion.

Did you have a moment when it felt "right"? I was well overdue with both pregnancies and had to be induced, so we had plenty of time to be sure about our choice of names! I think the moment it felt right though was when I first held them, said hello, told them their name and said I was their Mummy.

Were there any obstacles or challenges? One challenge we had when choosing names was being aware of initials. Our last name begins with O, so we had to rule out any names that would give our kids initials like B.O. (or worse...)

Are you happy with your choices? Am I disappointed that Lily has become such an insanely popular name? Yes, a little. But I still wouldn't change it. If I had chosen a different name for her, I would always have regretted it.

We love the kids' middle names, but didn't go with them as first names because they are both a bit "trendy" and will probably date. I like nouns as names and love the colour green - hence Jade. Lucas we just liked the sound of! And besides, it has some great geeky connotations. ;)

---

Email me at nameisms[at]gmail[dot]com if you are interested in telling me your Baby Name Story.

Baby Name Stories: Heather's Story

Meet Heather, a dear friend of mine with fabulous naming style—so much so that this post has become quite popular based on her daughter's names! She wears many hats—mom, wife, associate pastor, and writer. She has three lovely daughters—Una Isabella Rose, Evelyn "Evvy" Nova, and Naomi True. Heather writes:

Naming each daughter was a process that required a lot of mental work—it often seemed
like there was a “ just right” name for a baby and it was just a matter of sorting through
thousands of options and then meditating (for months) on a few before the right names just
sort of crystalized in our minds as theirs. In fact, there was only one time in all our years of
baby-name contemplation that my husband and I actually read a name out loud in a name
book and liked it immediately (that name was Nova, Evvy’s middle name).

Una’s name came from the Anne of Greene Gables series, but I didn’t know that when
we named her. I was reminded of her name while I was pregnant and reading Crime and
Punishment, in which there is a “Dounia.” The letters reconfigured themselves in my head
and I remembered Una, from a book I’d read in childhood (though I couldn’t remember which
one); I could picture a young girl with long, dark hair. It wasn’t until Una was a year old,
when my husband and I had taken her to the emergency room for an allergic reaction, that
a doctor breezed into the room and proclaimed, “Una!! From Anne of Green Gables!” It was
a happy revelatory moment, as I’d read that whole series over and over as a kid (Una was
a character in the fifth book). Rose, Una’s middle name, is her great-grandmother’s. And we
simply just loved Isabella—so we put it together with Rose to make her middle name.

I used to think the name Evelyn was horrible and boring and old. Then, when I was in college, some family friends had a little girl and named her Evelyn. I thought they were nuts to do that to a baby. Then I met this little girl when she was 6 years old. She was zingy and sassy and smart and energetic, and she went by "Evy.” I fell in love with the name because of that girl. And it stuck with me for years before I was ever pregnant with her. Evvy’s middle name, Nova, was a freebie we didn’t have to work too hard for and seemed to fall out of heaven and fit her perfectly.

After I had Una and Evvy, I didn’t plan on any more children. But one day when I was dropping Evvy off at preschool, the teacher mentioned her tween-aged daughter, Naomi, and something about that name just grabbed my attention in that moment. I actually had the thought: That will be my next daughter’s name—if I have one! Years went by and my half-brother passed away. After his death I got to know and love his other half-sister, who I’d only met once in my adult life. She was a Naomi. By the time I was pregnant with my Naomi, Naomi felt like a perfect fit to commemorate my brother. Her middle name, True, came from a combination of my maiden name (Truhlar) and a tattoo my brother wore, spelled across all ten of his fingers—STAY TRUE.

Despite their formal, given names, nicknames abound in our house. We have a Una-belle, an Evvy, of course (who sometimes gets called silly things like Evsy Websy and Ev-Web—both plays on our last name), and a Nay Nay.

I’ve been asked if there were obstacles to choosing names. I think my own anxiety about picking the “right” name made it tricky. There’s also the fact that there are already cousins with names that we might otherwise have chosen (had we had boys!). I tend to think parents should name their children without reference to what “other people” are doing, but let’s face it, it’s difficult when there are three Elliots or two Judahs opening presents from Grammy on Christmas morning.

I’m still thrilled with our choices, although once in a blue moon I feel bad that we gave Una so many initials—and not even a particularly nice arrangement of them (U.I.R.W!). I also wonder if we should have just given Evvy the name Evvy on her birth certificate. But then I think that some day, when she’s interviewing for a serious job, she might like to have a more serious, formal name on her resume. We’ll see. So far there’s nothing too formal about her personality—she truly is an Evvy—Tigger-like in the way she bounds through life.

Heather Weber blogs about life, faith, and parenting at www.onravenstreet.com and writes for ForeWord Reviews. She lives with her husband and three daughters in North Liberty, IA, where she works as an associate pastor at LIFEchurch. Her book, Dear Boy, has just been released in paperback and Kindle formats.

Baby Name Stories: Carol Anne's Story

I think choosing a name for a baby is a fascinating process. With every parent, the story is unique and comes with its own challenges and fun. In addition to the weekly name features, I wanted to include these real-life tales of parents who faced the world of baby names and found their own unique style.

© Carol Anne Hartman Photography

Meet Carol Anne, owner of Carol Anne Hartman Photography, co-owner of Hickory Arts, actress, singer, graphic designer, wife, and mother of three. She's an amazing lady with some amazing kids, including twin boys. Her name story includes an honor name, a family name, and as she would say, a "boy named after two females".

Oldest son: Timothy Craig, 7
We each lost an uncle in his twenties and we combined the first names. We went round and round with the question "will this cause our families more grief or honor our uncles?" After speaking with our parents and grandparents it was obvious that all would feel it an honor and not a constant reminder of lost sons and brothers. We put a lot of thought and prayer into it and I think it became most apparent that is was "right" when we continually hit brick walls with what we both liked. Timothy Craig was the one we always agreed on. And we are very happy with our choice!

Younger twin boys, first twin: Coble Alexander, 3, almost 4

We really wanted family names for our boys, but all of the men in both families are William or some variation of that. Coble and Kellen are twins, so we had two boys to name and not one family name that we really liked.  A friend I worked with asked what my maiden name was and I told her: Coble. She really liked that for a name, but when that was your last name for 21 years, it just doesn't sound right as a first name. I finally mentioned that exchange to my husband weeks later. He really like it as well, so there it was. And Alexander is pretty much the only name we both liked that we thought went well with Coble. Silly.

The funny thing about the twins is that my husband wanted the second born to be named Coble. His logic was: that was my last name and he would be (God willing) our last child. About a week before I delivered I told him no. I didn't know why, but that was wrong and Coble would be the first out. When they were born, neither of us can explain why, but that was just ... right. Coble was first, Kellen second. It wouldn't have been right the other way around.

We didn't tell anyone, including the families, until they were born. We didn't want any obstacles or challenges. We worked hard to discover who God was sending us and we didn't want to deal with anyone questioning that.

We are very happy Coble's name. It's unique, but not a "get made fun of in the school yard" kind of unique.

Younger twin boys, second twin: Kellen Andrew, 3, almost 4
We found Kellen's name exploring a book. Poor Kellen is a male named after two females.  We like the name because it was very close to his great-grandmother's - Helen. The Andrew, we say, is for the Anne in my name. It works well together and, for us, has a family background.

We are very happy with Kellen's name. It's unique but not in a bad way, and fits well with his twin brother's name perfectly.

Email me at nameisms[at]gmail[dot]com if you are interested in telling me your Baby Name Story.