Rachel Joyce

I thought I would start things out by talking about why we named our daughter Rachel Joyce.

Joyce was a no-brainer. My grandmother was Maxine Joyce, my mom is Debra Joyce, and I am Kelli Joyce. I love that we all have this connection, especially with my grandmother. We are all the first-born children of our parents, and we are all Joyce's. And now Rachel joins that group. She is the first-born child and she is a Joyce. There was absolutely no question in my mind that my first-born daughter would have the middle name of Joyce. I don't even remember having a discussion with Brent about it... it was just assumed. And while it's an older name (you don't meet very many 2-year-old Joyce's, or 20-year-old Joyce's for that matter), I love that it's not common. I am dedicated to using family names as middle names, and using older names isn't that big of a deal to me because, while the middle name is extremely special, it isn't what the child is going to be called (usually). So... Joyce was set.

The first name didn't come as easily. I am married to a man who could care less about baby names. I have had names picked out ever since I can remember, and Brent just didn't see the need to discuss any names before we were even pregnant. So, after I became pregnant, I wanted to talk names. He said he wanted to wait until after we found out the gender. "Half the work," he said. :) Well, we found out it was girl in August of 2005, and didn't actually decide on Rachel until October. That's a long time for me to not know the name of my baby folks. :) Ironically, the name Rachel was "set" early on my pregnancy. We were driving somewhere one day and I asked him what his favorite Biblical girl name was. He said that he didn't know and asked me if I had one. I said, "I've always liked Rachel." And he said, "That's a nice name." So, technically, it was the first (and only) name on our combined list. All the other names I brought up he either didn't like or we both weren't completely comfortable with. I love nicknames (I would suggest Charlotte with the nn Charlie), but Brent doesn't like nicknames. Of course, while the name Rachel doesn't have any official nns, she can be called Rach, or as in the case of my daughter, Ray-Ray, or Ray Jo. Brent doesn't seem to mind, probably because she is still considered Rachel... those other names are just terms of endearment. ;) The only other name we were seriously considering was Elaina. But it turns out Brent has a cousin by that name, so it worked out best in the end that we chose Rachel. We were on vacation in Tampa, Florida, swimming in the pool of our hotel, when I turned to Brent and said, "So... do you want to go with Rachel?" And he said yes.

So, our daughter became Rachel Joyce. And from the moment we finally decided firmly on that name, I have loved it more and more. Some say that Rachel is boring and safe, but if you ever meet my Rachel, you will think differently. I am a firm believer that the name does not make the person, but the person makes the name. So, if you like a name that some people find "stuffy" or "old," use it anyway. Once they meet your special little one, they will see the name differently. :)

There's my story. How did you come up with your children's names?