Friday, January 25, 2013

What's in a name?

Names are important. They shape us and they give us roots to our family. It's not a simple task to pick a name for a baby, it requires a lot of thought. There were nights where Scott and I would converse for minutes at a time saying nothing but names.

"William?"
"No"
"Jackson?"
"Ashton?"
"Nah, Aiden?"
"*head shake*"

And on and on it would go until one of us tired first. Then there's the decision about the name origin; Will it be a family name? A famous name? New age or retro? A made up name?! There's also the big debate on WHO gets to name the baby- Will mom and dad take turns (which makes for an unsaid agreement that there will even be a second baby)?, Will one parent pick the first name and one parent pick the middle name?, Will one parent get all of the naming rights?

Soon after we found out we were pregnant, Scott called "dibs" on naming the baby. Those were his actual words. "I call dibs."
"On what?" I asked.
"On naming the baby"
My response? "You can't call dibs on that!!"

We didn't really discuss name possibilities for several weeks. We didn't even talk about the concept of names. And then we learned the sex of the baby. It's a boy- let the games begin! And so, after much deliberation, a name was chosen.

Lincoln was one of the very first names (possible even THE first) that Scott suggested. I really, really liked it, but it just felt wrong deciding on a name so early on, without exploring the possibility of other names, so the game continued. There were a few others that we liked, but we kept going back to Lincoln (English in origin, meaning Lake Colony- obviously we did not choose it for its meaning!) and it just felt right. It was not a common name, but not one that was 'out there' like Thunder or Espn. It felt like a strong name and sounded good with LaCoss. We were on our way home from from Baltimore, throwing names around and the name Lincoln Jackson came up, I suggested Lincoln Jay instead and Scott said, "OK, that's it! That's the name!" and so it was done! Jay is my fathers middle name. My father, like all of our parents (we are pretty lucky!), is a great parent and person, and an amazing grandparent and I really loved the idea of our son carrying a piece of my father with him. Now our son would have a piece of everyone, Lincoln from me and Scott, Jay from my side of the family and LaCoss from Scott's side- carrying on the LaCoss name for another generation.

Once the name was officially decided upon, it was too hard to keep secret! We lasted a few weeks but the excitement was just too much for us. It feels really nice saying and hearing the name and we can't wait to meet Lincoln, our precious baby!


27 Weeks Preggo


Do you have a neat or funny story about how your name was chosen? Let's hear it!










3 comments:

  1. So My parents were HUGE Young & The Restless fans. Every single day in college they and my Aunti Di gathered in a dorm room to watch. Even planning their classes around the show! Nikki Newmans sisters name was Kacey & She was a doctor (they had high hopes lol) so there it was...KACEY from Y&R and "Marie" because its my grandmothers name...Kacey Marie ;-)FUNNY THING: I DVR and Watch Y&R every single day. I dont miss it! Ive watched since I was little. When I was off school my highlight would be getting to watch Young and The Restless. Chris is even into into it now so watching every night is just part of our Routine!

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  2. You were a fan from the very beginning- literally! I don't watch it anymore (Carrie still does) but we started watching Days of our Lives when we were young because that's what my mom watched. I remember too, loving having off school and getting to watch Days!

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  3. When I was born my parents didn't find out the sex. Rightfully so they didn't think they had to. 9 generations of boys born into the family makes for a pretty good pattern of repetition. They had picked out Logan Stuart for the little boy they thought they must be having because as we all know assuming is a great thing to do. Well, we all know where this is going... My parent's were suprised at their little girl. They hadn't even picked out a name! They thought about making me Diana Lee like my mother. But mom didn't want a big Di and a little Di. SO they switched it around and called me Lee giving me my mom's middle name and dad picked Anne. Though in true southern style these are actually two first names and are listed as such, not a first and middle name. Kinda cool!

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