What's In A Name?

So, how exactly did we arrive at our names? It might be the question I've been most asked so far. Especially since we were so secretive with our names.

As most of you know, Luke and I took the naming process very seriously, and we had very different ideas as to how a baby should be named. Fortunately, we both agreed that the names should be meaningful, more than anything else.

Actually, when it came down to it, the conversations we had about baby names are some of my favorite memories from my pregnancy. Luke spent a lot of time researching names on the internet. Both names were technically chosen by him. We spent several nights at the fire pit discussing/bargaining names from our personal favorites. Our final names were chosen on a day trip to the Florida coast.

ANNELI MAE
I grew up loving L.M. Montgomery's character Anne. I had many names on my list which could be shortened to Anni or Ani, so I could have my own "Anne-girl". Luke had a derivative of Anne that he liked on his list, which we eventually were able to trace back to it's original spelling...

The name Anneli is a traditional Scandinavian name (representing the heritage of both families). It is pronounced with the same flow-of-tongue as the word "melody", not as "Anna-Lee". It means "God was gracious" or "God has shown favor".


Mae was given in honor of Luke's maternal grandmother.

(The pic shows Anneli in her fave sleeping position, looking like a little elf. Quite appropriate as she is the mischievous one in the nursery.)

ELLSA JANE
Elsa was Luke's favorite name from the start. Also a Scandinavian name, it's traditional spelling would have looked like our English word "else", so we opted to take a more modern form. The final spelling was my birthday present this year from Luke. (This was a very big deal.) I thought Anneli was just different enough to warrant another name that was different. Plus, I wanted parallel formatting for their nicknames, Anni and Elli, which required the double-L. Ha!

The name Ellsa means "God's promise" or "God is my oath".

Jane was given in honor of my maternal grandmother.

(The pic shows Ellsa in her signature sleeping position, the frog. She always has one leg sticking up in her sleep.)