Don’t get me wrong, naming your kids can be hard. My aforementioned daughter Sophia’s middle name is Diane, after my mother. In all honesty, I wanted her first name to be Diane, but couldn’t come up with a middle name I liked, and gave up too soon. Do I think it negatively impacted my daughter’s destiny? No. Do I wish I’d given it some more thought? Yes. My son Jonah’s middle name is Laton, which is admittedly weird. But it’s my grandfather’s name, and I wanted to name him after my grandfather. My husband nixed it as a first name, because though it’s pronounced “Lay-tun,” it’s spelling has no “y” and my husband just thought it was too weird, no one would say it right, etc, etc. I refused to change the spelling because if I did that, to me it would NOT be naming him after my grandfather, whose name was Laton, not Layton. So I gave up. It’s his middle name. (My first child is Joshua Kenneth. No name struggles there, thankfully.)
All that to say, naming kids is hard. And while we SHOULD put a lot of time and thought into giving them a “good” name, as the Bible says,
A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches,
and favor is better than silver or gold. (Proverbs 22:1)
we don’t need to scratch our heads until we come up with a name that no one has ever heard of.
Bottom line: it’s none of my DANG business what you name your kid. And if you’re naming them after Grandma’s maiden name or your favorite aunt or uncle or WHATEVER, then go for it (I DO love family names, all my kids are named after someone.) But I think, American parents, it would do our kids some good if we put more effort, thought, and passion into encouraging them to be set apart because they are following Christ and have unique CHARACTER, rather than ensuring stand out because we are starting them off in life with a unique NAME.
No matter what I name them, my kids aren’t any better than anyone else’s. They are the APPLE of MY EYE, and I would do anything for them. Like every Mama Bear, I advocate for them fiercely as I meet their needs. But though they are unique, special, and wonderful human beings, they are not more DESERVING of anything than anyone else’s kids. They are equally precious in God’s sight to all the children He has made. Whether they are named Jenny or Kenzeigh. (Kenzie, cute name, the spelling of which I have seen disgracefully butchered, many times.)
So, that’s just my two cents about the latest baby naming trends. Love it or hate it, but I’m a girl who’s spent her life as “Just another Jenny” …and is no less unique for it.
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