What's In a Name?

Alot apparently. At least according to my husband. Who, as it turns out, is very opinionated about naming his children.

Naming Andrew wasn't quite as difficult or time consuming. Basically, we (Rob) just had to decide if he wanted a namesake. A Junior. Which, after only a few weeks debate, he did. So, Robert Andrew Ward, Junior it was. And because I didn't want to have a Rob and a Little Rob (because that is what he would have become and stayed until well after he was little) we agreed to call Andrew, Andrew from his middle name. End of story.


When we found out #2 was a boy, Rob threw out a name that he considered when we were naming Andrew.


Samuel Edward. It's a nice name. I have no problem with the name. Except that my husband didn't want to call the baby Sam or Samuel or Ed or Edward. Nope, Rob wanted to call his son......Sam Ed.


Now do you see what I have been dealing with? Why it has taken us this long to decide on a name for #2. Because my husband wanted to name his second son Sam Ed.


Oh, and neither Samuel nor Edward were from my side of the family. While Andrew was named after Rob and his family, I wanted a name that included my family names as well. I tried to compromise with Rob. We could name the baby Samuel and have a middle name from my side of the family. That was met with a resounding "No. I don't want to have a son called Sam if I can't call him Sam Ed".


I tried to paint him a mental picture of how our Christmas cards would look: " Merry Christmas! Love, Rob, Christy, Andrew and Sam Ed". Which name doesn't belong?


However, he remained quite determined to have a son named Sam Ed. So I quit bringing up the name issue. Maybe time (and alot of prayer) would change his mind.


Actually, it turned out to be his mom (and no doubt prayers) that made Rob see the light. I think it was when she actually wrinkled her nose and said that she didn't want a grandson named Sam Ed that finally convinced Rob to rethink this name. She also mentioned something about backwoods mountains and rednecks, but I am sure that she wasn't referring to the name Sam Ed when she spoke of these.


So we were back to square one. I still wanted to have something from my family in #2's name. We both really liked Lee after my mama and Rob's dad. Both had/have L-e-e as middle names. Rob really couldn't see Lee as a first name, though. He wanted a name that could be longer and more formal as well as shorter and more casual. Like his name, Robert. He can be Robert at work and Rob at home. Drives me crazy, but he seems to like it. And it is important to him. Obviously, because it only took us 31 weeks to decide on a name for #2.


So (drum roll, please). We have made a decision:

Benjamin Lee Ward.


We will call him Ben for short. And he can be Benjamin at work. You know in 25 years.


As already stated, Lee is from both sides of the family. And we just loved Benjamin. And especially, Ben.


Of course, now Rob says we can "mix it up a bit". You know call him BenJAMin.


Yes. I married this man, ladies. And he is all mine. All mine.