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I'm Shay! I’m a cookbook author, lifestyle blogger, travel agency owner, wife and mama who loves making every day special for my family.

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Mix & Match Mama

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Show & Tell Tuesday: Names


Happy Show & Tell Tuesday!  I’m linking up with Andrea today and we’re discussing names.  
Me oh my…I love talking about names :).  I am a compulsive namer…it’s an addiction really and I should probably seek treatment.  If I know someone who is pregnant, I think about what they should name their baby more than they do (my brain just can’t turn it off).  I love names, I love meanings and stories behind names…names are a hobby of mine :),  Needless to say, I’m going to really enjoy reading everyone’s posts today on names!
Let’s start with my name…
I was born Shay Lynn Lowe.  I’m the first born of Jay and Sherry.  Yes…if you take the first two letters of my mom’s name and the last two letters of my dad’s name, it makes my name.  They didn’t really do it on purpose but once they realized this, I’m pretty sure it put them over the edge.  They heard the name first, realized that it was a combo of their names and went with it.  If I had been a boy, my name would have been Jonathan Paul Lowe Jr. (because my dad’s real name is not Jay).  My mom and I share a middle name…so that’s where Lynn comes from.
I have a younger brother (in case you’ve missed that fact…because you know, you’ve been on Mars or something) and his name is Sean Thomas Lowe.  Well, my parents just knew he was a girl the entire nine months my mom was pregnant…so they were going to name her Aubree Anne.  And since they were so convinced it was a girl (who knows why???), they didn’t think of a boy’s name until they were driving to the hospital with my mom in labor.  At that point, my mom started fearing it would be a boy without a name, so she threw some options out at my dad.  When she first said Sean, he said it was too similar to Shay and then my mom was like “no, think of Sean Connery” and then he was sold.  Thomas is the first name of my dad’s dad and the middle name of my mom’s dad…and so, Thomas is his middle name.
So, that’s how we got our names.  Bonus fact…if you’ve read this blog for a while now, you know that 13 is my lucky number.  Everything good happens to me around the number 13…and in order to have 13 letters in my name, I had to marry a boy with a five letter last name…S-H-U-L-L did the trick…
Shay Lynn Shull…the perfect 13 :).
So, that’s us…what about these three…
Forgive me if you’ve heard this the other 18 times I’ve blogged it…but I have to keep with the prompt today, so here we go…
Back in 2006, Andrew and I went to London for the first time together…
…ahhh, what babies were are here!  (We’re 25…but still, I feel like it was a million years ago…).  We were in the middle of trying to have a baby here (I’m so glad I didn’t know that it would be over 2 years from then before that actually happened!), so baby names were on our brain.  I had been to England before but Andrew had not, and he was smitten and sold.  After one week across the pond, we knew this little place on earth would always hold a special place in our hearts, so we started talking about naming our first born a British name.  And while we were out one day, we went to…
…Kensington.  
We knew right away that we needed a girl named Kensington.
Kensington Kate was born on September 15, 2008.  We picked a nice common British middle name to accompany her first name (starting with a K because I love alliteration!).
Well, seven months later, we realized we were having another baby, so we picked a new British girl name and then would use our original boy name we had picked out for Kensington had she been a boy…and on January 18, 2010…
 …we got to use our favorite British boy name when Smith William was born.
Smith is a common surname in Britain and William is a very common first name.  Two things about William: he is named after my grandfather William who passed away a few years ago.  We were extremely close and I wanted to honor him.  Second, our kiddos were both born before William and Kate were even engaged, so the fact that my kids’ middle names are the same as their names is just a fun coincidence (which of course, I love!).
Now, the third time around, we knew we were having a girl :).  So, we were able to use the girl name we had selected if Smith hadn’t been a boy…

…and Ashby London joined our family.
Ashby is a common British surname and London…well, London is where it all started.
So, there you have it.  That’s how we got our names.  I can’t wait to read through and see how everyone else picked their names!!  
Next time on Show & Tell Tuesdays, we’re showing our favorite parties!  And to see posts from the past…
Favorite Vacation Ever
Most Embarrassing Moment
Favorite Room in my House
How I Met My Mate
My Groundhog Day
(I was in China for the first two, so I wasn’t able to participate.)
Up next…
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Comments

  1. Full Time Wife Life says

    How fun that you were able to use the other name you had for the previous child! We always "retire" the name because we still see the meaning behind it in each child, so unfortunately, we have three names that we love that will never be used 🙁

  2. Macy Strozier says

    Your kids have the CUTEST names and I've always wanted to know where they came from. You whole family is so precious and gorgeous.

  3. Karah says

    I love talking names too. It's one of my favorite topics. Our first daughter is Mary Kathryn. I've always loved a double name. She is named after my Nana and mom who are both Kathryn and I had a great aunt named Mary Marshall so that's where the Mary comes from. We just had our second daughter and her name is Bankston Claire. Bankston is my husbands grandmothers midden nsme. I've always loved the nsme Claire and felt like Bankston needed a girly nsme to go with it. :).

  4. Erika Slaughter says

    Love your kiddos' names!! I remember hearing Smith's name at the hospital for the first time. Such a sweet sweet moment. 🙂

  5. Anonymous says

    Great post! I love all the meaning behind the names! What about Andrew's name though? 🙂

    • Mix and Match Mama says

      I asked his mom and she said "she just liked it" :). His name is Andrew Christopher…no family significance… she just liked it.

  6. violinista says

    I'm having my first baby–a girl–in a few months, and have waited forever to have her (no fertility issues, just wasn't God's timing for us yet in other ways). We had both picked out a girl's name years ago: Madeline. I suspect my husband was agreeable to it because he never dreamed we would have a girl, or at least that she would be the firstborn! There are NO girls on his side, so sweet Madeline was a pleasant surprise (not that boys aren't sweet, too). We decided to use his grandmother's name for her middle name. Her name is going to be Madeline Viola :). And if Maddie turns out to be a boy (hey, those sonograms can sometimes be wrong) then it'll be Max!

  7. Farryn says

    I'm 31 weeks pregnant and we're having a baby girl! This is baby #1. We tried for quite some time and also endured fertility treatments. Her middle name will be Faith , because of the all mighty faith we have had in our Lord, Jesus Christ. He blessed us with this little miracle at the most perfect time. Here are our choices for a first name:
    – Annabelle ( my great grandmother was Anna)
    -Annalyn
    -Eilyn
    -Gabriella
    Help us out!

  9. Jami says

    We are from Indiana and a huge Peyton Manning fan. Shortly after the Colts won the Super Bowl in 2007 I found out I was pregnant, a few months later found out it was a boy. I didn't necessarily want Peyton because it's hugely popular now in Indiana, I started thinking about his family and came up with Cooper. My husband's middle name is Andrew so we named him Cooper Andrew.
    Out second son is Cameron Scott. Scott comes from my brother in law and I honestly cannot remember how we came up with Cameron. I think we were throwing around C names, with Scott as a middle name, and it stuck and I loved it.

  11. Sara P says

    Love that you have a story to go along with your kid's names. My husband and I, we named our first born, Hunter Bradley. Hunter was a name we decided we sorta liked while on a roadtrip shortly after we got married. Two years later, my husband's grandpa came to us and said he had a name for our son (we didn't have one! lol, nor, were we trying at the time). The name was Hunter. His grandpa said he had never heard that name before until he saw a professional ball player with that name, and he really liked it. Hunting is a pastime for the men in his family. After that, when we found out we were having a boy in 2013, we decided we needed to name him Hunter. His grandpa was so tickled, he repeatedly kissed me on my forehead and thanked me for letting him name our son. It was so very sweet. And, Bradley was my grandfather's middle name. Hunter means "one who hunts," Bradley means "broad meadows." Thought it fit together nicely 🙂

    • Samantha Anderson says

      My sons name is Hunter Bradley too! Hunter since I liked it & thought it would be cool since my husband is a Hunter, fisherman type of guy, and Bradley since it's my husbands name! Love it!

  12. Ashley Thompson says

    Our son's name is also a combo of my husband's and my name – Cash (ours being Caleb and Ashley). Cash came early at 28 weeks and weighed 1 lb 15 ounces so we chose Wyatt as his middle name as it means "little warrior" (and after 58 days in the NICU our little warrior came home 2 weeks ago!). Also my husband's and his dad have the same initials of CWT, so we chose a name to continue with the initial tradition!

  13. Kathleen says

    So that picture of you and Sean in the tub – you look IDENTICAL to Smith!

    Love all your babies' names!!!! So cute!

  14. Sheaffer {Pinterest Told Me To} says

    All good stories! And all of your kid's names fit them perfectly!

  15. Tiffany says

    I adore all of your children's names! Love the story behind them too. Naming our children was a lot of fun, yet challenging because I just wanted the "perfect" name for them each. Our children's names are Cole Michael (middle name after my husband), Chase Lee (middle name after my dad and brother) and Chloe Grace (no family significance, I just love Grace). We didn't set out to do all C names but after the boys were both C I felt an obligation to stick with it!! Chloe was always a name I loved anyway and it fits my daughter so well! If I ever have another baby though I'm allowing you the pleasure of choosing a name because you pick good ones that I never would think of, but love!! 🙂

  16. Jersey Love says

    I love the name Kensington and it fits her so perfectly (from what I know of her via your blog!) It's so pretty and girly. Maybe I'll get your help on naming a girl because the boy name I have down! A girl on the other hand….clueless!!

  17. Natalie Zambreski says

    Love these sweet stories! I just happen to share Lynn as a middle name with my mom too, so funny! I always thought it was so cool, so I plan on carrying on that little tradition with my little girl!

  18. Kelly @ Familiar Joy says

    I'm with you! I love baby names!!! And even though I already have 4 kids, I want more, just to name them. Well, not really, but you know what I mean. I just finished writing this same blog post. My favorite in the series, so far! By the way, Kate is my fav middle name! I have a Molly Kate! =) I love all 3 of your kiddos' names. Just perfect!

  19. Alicia Rowland says

    I love British names too! Our little girl's name is Tilly. 🙂 I'm already crazy brainstorming for baby #2, even though that won't be for awhile. Haha! We have some boy options from family names, but no girls. Any cute British girl name suggestions to go with Tilly? 🙂

  20. Kerry says

    I LOVE how your kid's names are all unique names, yet not so different that they cross over to weird! It's also special how they each have meaning behind them. We named our daughter Kinley Rae… I wish it had deeper meaning but I just found it online after searching for something unique but not weird! We call her by both names because my Mom's family is from the South where they all go by 2 names and we liked the tradition. Now I am 25 wks pregnant with a BOY! We're so excited but can't come up with any names at all! Any ideas would be greatly appreciated!

    • Anonymous says

      Cade
      Declan
      Kyren
      Penn
      Beckett
      Hudson
      Miller

      just some of my favorites!! I'm a teacher and see so many great names but not a lot of these so I know they aren't too popular yet! : )

  21. Leigh says

    I love baby names!!!! I have a list of girl names I may never get to use. But at least I'm prepared! I have two boys, each with their own unique first name that we picked because we liked it. Their middle names are family names.

  22. Jaylyn Bond says

    I don't have kids yet but talking names is one of my fave things too! My favourite names for girls are Vivienne & Stella and for boys Grayson & Daxton 🙂

  23. rebekah says

    so i dont have a blog but here goes my name and my kids :)… my parents -like yours-insisted that i was a boy – until i was born. They didnt have any girl names picked out, and i was also a surprise pregnancy, like my mom was 41 and my siblings were 18,17 and 15! So from the hospital, my dad called my oldest sister and she named me. Dont know where from other than the Bible and she liked it- Rebekah Elizabeth. My daughter is Elizabeth Shaye- named after me and my sister (now passed) that named me, and my son is Walker Boyd- my maiden name and my father in law's (and grandfather in law) name. love your "British" names 🙂 happy tuesday!

  25. clatk says

    Baby names are my FAVORITE!!

    My name is Carly, and my parents saw it on a magazine (thanks, Carly Simon) when my mom was pregnant. It's more common now, but I didn't know a single Carly when I was younger. And, you couldn't find a single monogrammed pencil or mug. I hated it. I love it now, but it had to grow on me ;).

    My oldest is Lucy (just a name we love) Cate (husband's grandma's maiden name). My son is Miles (name we love) William (My dad's middle name) so we have a William and Cate too ;)!! Our youngest is Sadie (name we love) Nell (named after 5 women in our families!!!– my mom, husband's mom, my grandmama, my great grandma and my great aunt. Only one is still alive to know her and it is the biggest heartbreak that they can't see their spunky namesake in action.)

  26. Therese says

    I love naming stories. My family is big on family names. I am named after my mother and grandmother (dad's mom) and love that connection. My maiden name is quite unique (German ethnic sounding) so I always preferred more common first names. As much as I like my name, having to spell and pronounce and correct people with my French first name and German last name has gotten old.

    So, when I thought of baby names (well before being married or pregnant) I leaned towards very common and plain. John and Mary are my favorites and also happen to be family names. Then I married a man with the last name Smith and was heartbroken. I of course love and adore my husband but had to give up my names because I just couldn't name children John and Mary Smith.

    Our son is Jackson. Everyone told me if John was my favorite boy name to just name him John and call him Jack. I didn't want to name him one thing and call him something else so we decided to just go with Jack. Since our last name is Smith we decided on Jackson as we felt "Jack Smith" seemed like a little boy and "Jackson Smith" was more adult. Depending on who he's with, he currently goes by either name. His middle name is Fitzgerald. It's long and sometimes it feels a bit pretentious but I loooooove family names. My dad "Gerald" died 32 days before Jack was born and Fitzgerald means "son of Gerald" and I wanted to honor my daddy so I did!

    Our daughter is Olivia Catherine. Again, I love family names and my husband could care less. We had a super hard time agreeing on anything with her. He kept coming back to Olivia as his favorite girl name. I had nothing against Olivia so I told him if he could agree on a family name for her middle name then it was a go. I gave him a list of choices and Olivia Catherine it was.

  27. Katy Worthen says

    I may need your help on our 4th baby name lol my husband has one picked out but I am totally not sold on it for a girl name. 🙂 I usually am so good at having a bunch of names picked out for biy and girl but I am just stuck!!

  28. Burnett Family says

    I have a Kate Elizabeth, I had always LOVED the name Kate but it took some convincing for my husband. It was also way before Kate and William. I love how classic and timeless it is, I chose Elizabeth because I liked the way it sounded together. We also have a Brody Moore. We were living overseas in Venezuela and the only english channel was playing the Little League World Series. We heard the name and knew if we ever have a boy that would be his name. Moore is my husbands and his grandfathers middle name. Its funny because now those names are so popular when before you hardly ever heard them.

  29. Jennifer Gillund says

    I have a 6 year old girl named Addison Janele. We picked Addison because 6 years ago Grey's Anatomy was our favorite and we loved Kate Walsh as Addison Montgomery. Also, as you are a huge Red Sox fan, we are huge Cubs fans and Wrigley Field is located on Addison and Sheffield so that also sealed the deal for us! Janele is a combination of both of her grandmother's names. My mother in law (who passed away 10 years ago 🙁 ) was Janet and my mom is Melanie so we combined them and got Janele! Love your kids names as well – so cute!

  30. Three Gals and a Guy says

    Too funny! My name is Shay Lynn, too! My mom just randomly saw it and liked it so it doesn't really have much meaning beyond that. But my middle name, Lynn is after my Grandmother and Aunt. I have found Shay, to be a great name ! 🙂

  31. Mandi says

    My number one rule for naming my babies has always been…don't name them something and then call them something else (even a middle name). This rule came from the fact that my mom did this very thing to all four of her kids (Kimberly is called Kim, Timothy is called Tim, Samuel is called Sam, and me – Amanda has always been called Mandi). The older I get the less this bothers me, but when I was in school I always hated that I had to "train" each new teacher to please call me "Mandi" rather than Amanda. So, my baby naming rule began.

    When my husband and I got married, we knew we would have children fairly soon (we were both 29 when we married). So we quickly began talking about names. We agreed right away that a middle name for a boy would be Max, because his dad's middle name was Max. So we began looking for first names (that we would call a son) that sounded good with Max. My husband, being the good country boy that he is, grew up watching and going to rodeos, and one night while at a rodeo being announced by a man named Hadley we both just knew. Hadley Max. That was perfect. And then we got pregnant…and we found out we were having a boy…so Hadley Max it was.

    Fast forward five years and we were once again pregnant. We had thrown around names off and on over the previous five years, but didn't have anything set in stone. I once suggested that I would like to use my maiden name (Griffin) as a first name (probably for a boy), but that was just mentioned in passing. When we found out we were having a girl we really couldn't settle or agree on any names. And then one day, out of the blue, my husband says, "Yeah, Griffin is really growing on me as a name for this little girl." What?? I wasn't completely convinced at first, but after about a month of thinking about it and saying it out loud we both agreed that Griffin fit. A middle name came pretty easily. Since our son had the same middle name as my father-in-law, we decided to give our daughter the same middle name as my mother-in-law. So, Griffin Jane. Perfect.

    I love everything about my kids names…and they totally fit each of them.

    Now…if we decide to have one more, I have no idea where we will go with that name!

  32. Melissa Sexton says

    My firstborn is also a girl, Olivia June. My grandmother's middle name was June. My husband's and my family's heritage are both very Irish, so when we found out my son was coming, we knew we wanted a Celtic name. My beloved grandfather passed just weeks before I found out I was pregnant, so we decided on Ian, the Gaelic form of John. Good thing too because that little boy has a head full of copper red hair, freckles and blue eyes! My very own little leprechaun!

  33. Erin says

    Love this! Did you guys keep any of Ashby's birth name? We debated so hardcore if we should change our child's or not. Love the sweet stories of each name 🙂
    -Erin (No Bohns About It)

  34. Anonymous says

    My second son was eight weeks old and we changed his name! Even though we loved the name it just didn't seen to "suit" him. People thought we were nuts but his new name is much better for him. Funny though looking back at the congratulations cards, hospital tags and announcements which all have his 'old' name

  35. Anonymous says

    Love the stories behind the names! Our oldest is Sarah Madison, Sarah because my husband loves the movie A Little Princess and always wanted to name his daughter Sarah. Our youngest is Noah Grayson, I picked out Noah as a name forever ago not knowing how popular it would become. Their middle names were chosen because we liked them and they are both counties in Texas. I was named April because yes, I was born in April

  36. Jenna Sorensen says

    I just had a baby boy and his name is very special! My husband, Konstantin, was born in Russia then moved to Israel when he was 1 until he was 11, when they moved to the states. Konstantin is Jewish and received a Jewish name of Koby. This is what he went by in Israel since Konstantin was a little too hard for people to pronounce! So, our baby boys first name is Koby. Konstantin also had a best friend pass away from cancer in high school, and instead of getting a tattoo (his mom wouldn't let him!) he promised to name his first born after him. So, we knew if it were a boy or girl, the middle name would be Ryan. So, now we have our little angel, Koby Ryan Posherstnik. Our last name is complicated enough, we need to keep the first names simple 🙂 I love name stories and love having my husbands Russian/Jewish culture continue as Koby is the very first Posherstnik born in America!!

  37. Katelyn Magerko says

    So I just had my first baby December 15, 2014 and we named her Kensington Joy! I follow your blog faithfully and fell in love with the name and when I threw it out their to my husband he agreed that it was her name. We had the toughest part with a middle name (I wanted something short and Christmasy due to her birthday and my obsession with Christmas). I was so against using my middle name of Joy but after much talking in the hospital room we realized how cool it will be for her to say she got her middle name from her mom 🙂 If lucky enough our boy's name will be Colt Robert!

  38. Anonymous says

    I love names too! My daughters name is Maren (my mom's maiden name) Rochelle (my mother in laws name). My name is Carey-Jane which is a combination of my dads name (Casey- they just changed the S) and my mom's name, which is Jane. I love my name now but when I was younger I was always sad I could never find my name on those cool name keychains in tourist stores 😛 🙂

  40. Kim. M. says

    I love this Shay! We had our first son in 2008 and named him Landon Thomas. On one of our first dates in college we were at the Clemson, USC game and there was a catcher named Landon Powell. We both looked at each other and commented on how much we loved the name. (Though it was a little to early to be talking baby names at that point, ha!) As a baby we put Landon Powell's baseball card in our son's room. Then in 2013 we had another boy! We named him Luke Edward. Edward is my Dad and grandfather's middle name and Luke was born on my grandfather's 100th birthday. We both loved the name Luke and liked that it started with an L like Landon. Love the three names of your little ones and love hearing how people come up with baby names!

  41. AllySivewright says

    I have a Smith of my own…he is Smith Thomas. Smith is my grandmas maiden name and I always thought it was a cool first name. Thomas is my husband's middle name and my dad's first name. We just welcomed Sadie Elizabeth 4 weeks ago. Sadie just because we love it and Elizabeth after my mom.

  42. Noel M says

    So I'm pregnant now with our second, but our first was a boy and this is a girl! Before knowing what our first was I suggested the name Poppy for a girl and we both loved it. Now that we are actually having a girl my husband doesn't feel it fits well with our son's name (Henry James) and I'm a little crushed. I personally really think Henry James and Poppy Grace sound cute together.
    I'm now on constant alert for other great names to put on my list. We will compare lists in about 2-3 weeks and see what happens! Wish me luck!

    • Deon says

      I think Henry and Poppy go great together! What about Perry, Piper or Paisley? Oh, and I'm looking for any boy name suggestions if you have any 🙂

    • jeanna says

      I adore Henry and poppy together! Love that!! Henry was on our list but we went with Wyatt. I still love Penelope with poppy as her nickname! 🙂

  43. Rachel - Floral and Fudge says

    Such beautiful names!! I love their uniqueness and how they're all tied together 🙂

  44. Anonymous says

    Our first daughter is Stella Violet. My husband can't remember where he heard Stella or why he liked it but his grandmother was Violet. Our second daughter is Hazel Marie…his great grandmother was Hazel and my middle name and my grandmother's middle name is Marie. We love the old fashioned names that can't really be short formed and will never go out of style! My grandmother was Avis Marie and if it weren't a car company I would have used it 😉 Love reading your blog!

  45. V @ X-tremely V says

    I just love those sweet British names! Originally my husband and I tried to think of Scottish or Irish names have our heritage, but could never agree on anything. We were dead set on the sweet southern name Savannah after our honeymoon, but ended up with a little boy 🙂 I decided to go with something from Ohio….Xavier University….hence Xavier Michael 🙂

  46. Stacie Young says

    I love your kids names!
    My oldest daughter is Lorelai Chastain. Chastain was my grandmothers maiden name and I was very close to her.
    My second daughter is Eden Rose.
    I lived in Paris for a while before I got married and Eden was the name of the little girl that lived in my apartment complex. I've loved the name ever since and it also reminded me of my time in Paris. Rose is my favorite flower and also the flowers we had in our wedding.
    When Eden was 5 months old I was in a very bad car accident. It was very long recovery and I wasn't sure if I was able to have any more children. When I found out I was pregnant and found out she was going to be a girl we decided on Bella Grace. She is our beautiful grace,only by the grace of God were we able to have her.
    Our fourth baby we had was a boy,Chance Alton. Chance after my husband who's middle name is Chance and Alton after my dads middle name. 9 months after my son was born my dad passed away in a car accident. I'm so thankful that he was able to hold my son and get to know him and I have many pictures to show my son one day.

  47. Karre Havey says

    I love names too and read every single comment because I'm weird and nosey.
    We had a girl first and her name is Clover Catherine, Clover because we saw it in a movie years before we had kids and Catherine after my husbands sister that died at 16 from leukemia. Middle name was a no brainer.
    Our son came next and he's Shannon Michael Jesus. Shannon because we love that name, Michael is my brother's middle name and we are close, also because he gave his firstborn my middle name. Jesus is after my husband's uncle that passed right after our daughter was born.

  48. Anonymous says

    Great post! Love hearing how parents come up with names. Funny enough, my husband actually came up with both our children's names – although I definitely had the final say 😉 Our son is Calvin Grey. My husband loved the Calvin and Hobbes comic strip growing up and our Cal came out a little tow head. Grey is my maiden name and I liked it as a first name too. Our daughter is Liliana Linda. I know a lot of L's! She goes by Lily – was born 5 days after Easter. Linda was my favorite Aunt's name, who passed away after a courageous battle with cancer before Lily was born. We had to honor her – I always said my first daughter would be named after her. Thanks again for sharing!

  49. Jen says

    We like to travel and my husband travels a lot for work so we name our kids after airports (USA only). Since our last name starts with a W it automatically narrows the choices down. I don't have an airport name, but my husband does. DFW for him (David Francis W) my son is Chicago-Midway (MDW- Maxwell David W) and my daughter is Charleston, WV (CRW- Colette Reese W).

  50. Anonymous says

    When I was younger I was under the impression I was going to be named Beverly but when I had to find out where my name was from for a 9th grade project, I found its true origin. My mom wanted to name me after one of her former teachers back in Ghana, Maureen. But, at the time my dad had a coworker named Maureen so he suggested Doreen instead! I'm soo thankful for that coworker because I like the name Doreen a whole lot better haha. My middle name is Addo, which is also my dad's middle name. And it's Ghanaian

  51. balancingbyfaith says

    Beautiful and unique names for your 3 beauties! Love Shay too – very forward thinking for a child of the 80's!

  52. Morgan says

    When I was pregnant we didn't know if we were having a boy or a girl. For a girl, I suggested naming the baby after my grandmothers — Helen and Mary. Hubby was more or less on board. I came to find out that my grandma Helen had hated her name so I had to come up with another way to honor her. She always wore Halston perfume — whenever anyone in the family smells it they recognize it as 'hers'. So, we decided on Halston Mary for our baby — who did end up being a girl. We looooove the name; it's unique but easy to spell and pronounce, and has a ton of meaning for me.

  53. thebusybrunette says

    I love stories behind names, too, and I get like you when people are pregnant. I start researching names and thinking about what fits their family (even if they don't ask me – ha!). Thanks for sharing your stories today.

    The Busy Brunette
    http://thebusybrunette.blogspot.com/

  54. Anonymous says

    In my family we all have british names as well! ….Winston, James, Ethan, Elizabeth, Catherine, Victoria

  56. Audrey says

    Since I am just returning to work from from maternity leave (insert tears here), I am going to share how my husband and I got our sweet baby's name.. Maelee Ann! Mae is my middle name, as well as my mom and grandmother and John's grandmothers. Lee is my sister Holly's middle name as well as my dad's middle name. LeAnn is my sister Sara's middle name while Ann is John's sister's middle name as well as my great grandmother's middle name! Not very often can you take the middle name of yourself and your 3 sisters (not to mention all the other family we were able to incorporate) and combine it to make one beautiful name for one AMAZING God given blessing! 🙂

  57. Pam A. says

    I love all of your name stories! I have just become a grandmother for the first time and my daughter and I can't seem to come up with a name for me to be called. No Nana, G-Ma, or Grammy. I love your Mom's name, Lovie!! Do you have any suggestions for me?

  58. Clareio says

    i love all your name choices! although i have to say i am English and have never heard Ashby as a surname however it is the name of at least 2 separate towns. I do love how all three names seem to fit together so well!

  59. Jennifer Renda says

    My sister and I share a middle name after our father's nickname. It's Lee.
    My sister actually named me. She suggested Jennifer to my parents.
    So I am Jennifer Lee.

    When God's timing is right, and by the means he chooses, with prayer I hope to have a son to give my hubby his Junior. His name is James. So I would like to call our son James, but have him go by Jay.

    For the second Child we like the name Aveline for a little girl, and Ezio for another son.

  60. Slightly Askew Designs says

    LOVE LOVE LOVE this post!!! And your passion for names 🙂 We should start planning our grandchildren's names! hahaha

  61. Jen says

    Love your kids' names!!! 🙂

    How did Andrew get his name, and did you have any "runner up" names for any of your kids that you won't be using? Just curious 🙂

  62. The Lewis Family says

    This is such a fun post. Normally I don't comment but since we are in the trenches with names again, I thought I would. We have 3 boys and I am currently pregnant with a SURPRISE 4th boy. Our first three all have family names as middle names and we plan on doing the same with this one. They all also have biblical names as first names, but that was a total coincidence. The first two are Caleb Seth and Eli Vick so when we had a our 3rd we realized the biblical names and thought "well this is our last so I guess we should stick with the accidental biblical theme." So we ended up with Noah Reid. But now here we are at the same crossroads and I have no idea what to name him. No biblical names that just really stand out and honestly no family names that really stand out either. I need some serious inspiration.

  63. Charlise says

    I'm Charlise Lucrecia. Charlise is a combo of my Dad (Charlie) and my grandmother (Louise) and Lucrecia is my great grandmothers name.

  64. kristinwithani says

    I love names too. But first… 25 year old Shay looks just like her beautiful mama! And baby Shay looks like Smith. Like, whoa. I love seeing family similarities. Pretty sure Ashby has some too.

    Names. I was supposed to be Alexandra (Sandy) after my mom's best friend. My parents couldn't land on a middle name that went between Sandy and Stewart until after my birth certificate was signed. They would have chosen Leigh or Lee. BUT because they couldn't decide, I was named Kristin Elizabeth. Kristin spelled the way nobody would ever spell it correctly but at least that's how it sounds. Elizabeth after my fraternal grandmother. All female cousins have Elizabeth in our names. I love that. Oh, and a big priority for my mom was a pretty monogram. To dispel all Southern claim to monogramming, my mother was born and raised in Boston and we lived there when I was born. She was firm on a squared off monogram (K and E).

    Now I need to go ask what my name would have been if I'd been a boy!

  66. Carrie says

    Totally random, but when I look at you in the pic of you and Sean as kids and I see Smith! He looks just like you!

  67. Deon says

    Okay, Shay, since you love names so much and have picked out such adorable names for your kids, I NEED HELP! I'm due in July and we aren't finding out if it's a boy or girl. We've narrowed down a couple of girl names we like, but we cannot agree on any boy names! And I love all of the British names you've chosen. Can you suggest some British sounding boy names for our baby? Lots of suggestions would be great, because my husband I never agree on any names. P.S. Our daughter's name is Tava (pronounced like Ava with a T) and I tend to favor less common names (like I'd choose Smith over William for a first name). I'd love to hear some other boy names you love!

    • Clareio says

      i think Freddie is my favourite boys name, but if you prefer the 'more unusual/place name' approach how about Aston, Astley, Lincoln, Paignton, Essex, Kent, Bristol or York?

  68. Mya Heston says

    I love this post! Back when I become pregnant with my son I started reading Mix and Match Family and instantly fell in love with the name Smith. After months of discussion my hubby and I decided to name him Smith Greyson. After he was born he didn't really look like Smith so we ended up naming him Greyson Smith. I love the name Smith!

  70. Gavan says

    Jaylen Jane, Rosson Drew and Easton Brooks are our 3 kiddos! We both loved he name Jaylen and Jane is my middle name as well as my mom & sister's middle names. Rosson is my great grandmothers maiden name that we always thought would be a great first name and Gavan's middle name is Andrew so that's where we got Drew. Easton Brooks has no family significance but we liked both of those names. Since he was our last baby, we just used them both!!
    -melody

  71. Leslie Laubach says

    I have three kids. Addison Grace was born in 2007 and was a product of my love for Grey's Anatomy, sad but true. Grace is my husband's grandmother's name & her mother's name. Drake Kawel is my second and he is 4. My husband's family is ancestors of Sir Frances Drake. We have some passed down heirlooms and thus that is where we got his first name. His middle name, Kawel, is my husband's name and that was a Jewish surname handed down in his family. My last is sweet Leighton Lee who is 19 months old. We loved the name Leighton after hearing a celebrity who has that name (Leighton Meester) and Lee is my sister's middle name, my grandfather's middle name & my husband's maternal side's last name. Love the story behind names!

  73. Katie Bauer says

    You look just like Smith in the bathtub picture! I never thought he looked like you before!

  74. Stephanie Takamori says

    I have three little ones. When I got pregnant with my oldest, we chose a name for a boy and a name for a girl. When I found out I was having a boy, I moved forward and bought the cute little letters to decorate the nursey with his new name. But for some reason, at the end of pregnancy, I just knew it wasn't him. I took the letters down and went back to the store and bought new letters just days before he was born. I couldn't shake the feeling I had it wrong. Haha! So, now I have my Caleb Naoki who is about to be 8 next month! Just 15 months later, his beautiful brother, Jonah Kai was born. Naming Jonah was much easier. I knew from the get go who he was, and we never wavered.

    Two years later, we were pregnant again and this time I decided not to find out the baby's gender until delivery. So, we chose a couple of girl names and a couple boy names and figured we would decide when we met our baby. When our daughter was born, I was shocked. I convinced myself I was having another boy the entire pregnancy. So, after wrapping my head around the fact that I really had a girl, I had two little girl names that I couldn't decide between. In my mind, one name was fitting for a quiet, calm, demure little girl. And the other name was more fitting for a girl with a little more…let's call it spunk. 🙂 The nurses kept asking if I had a name picked out and I kept saying I couldn't choose. One sweet nurse said that it would come to me, that the baby would let me know what name was right for her. I thought that was a little funny, because so far all this sweet baby had done was slept. Sure enough, something stirred in my girl, because she came to life that night and her personality started to shine through. That night, Sadie really named herself. She is my Sadie Emilia (Emilia is my Grandma's name) and the really fun thing is that Sadie is the girl name I had chosen for my oldest son, 8 years ago. It was always near and dear to my heart, and it truly is the perfect fit for my sweet, sassy, spunky, smart little girl!! So blessed to have these three amazing little people in my life.

  75. Lisa Selan says

    Playing catch up on my reading…..one of my favorite blog entries! I love names – love hearing new baby names and how it all came about. I love my middle name so much that I have used it over my maiden name since getting married. Lisa Brooks….Brooks is after Mary Brooks Pickens who my mom worked with in NYC as a hat designer. Yes, my mom studied millinery design in college in the 50's. My son, Michael (husbands favorite uncle) Christopher (my mom's maiden name) – my daughter, Madison (loved this before I was even married – husband likes it because of the movie Spalsh) Joya ( dear family friend – she's the reason my husband thought it would be okay if we had a girl because Joya was beautiful and athletic). Now I enjoy listening to my kids talk about the names they want to use when they have kids…melts this mamas heart.

  76. Melliedew says

    Love this post. I had wanted to name my first girl Ellison because I read that it meant "my God is the Lord", but my husband didn't like it, so I dropped it and we named her Isabelle. When my third baby was born, we named her Ilya Sue, a Russian boy's name that my husband had seen in a novel he had read. I didn't look up the meaning of the name Ilya, but my stepdad (a nonbeliever) did shortly after she was born and he told me it meant "My God is the Lord" and I just knew that God had done that for me! I love being able to tell people the meaning because it gives me the opportunity to also tell them about Jesus!

  77. Jennifer says

    My daughter is "Georgia" because my husband and I first met on a bar crawl in the Georgetown area of Washington DC. Since I work in an elementary school and lots of kids names remind of particular kids (not always the good ones!!!), it was tough to pick out names. When my hubby first suggested Georgia, I wasn't into it too much. However, at 27 weeks, I was put on hospital bed rest after my water broke early. If you believe in signs, then we got PLENTY of them over the course of the next 3 weeks.
    1 – I had a nurse named Georgia
    2 – My husband's car GPS reset itself to Atlanta as our home and refused to change
    3 – I started a blog to keep our family in the loop and later realized the font was in Georgia
    4 – Georgia-Pacific paper towel holders were everywhere
    5 – Atlanta was on the news nightly because it was a horrible tornado storm season in the south
    Etc. It was crazy and we couldn't escape the name "Georgia" if we tried.
    So, our Georgia Grace was born at 29weeks, 5 days. She stayed in the NICU for 7 weeks and had to have surgery at just 4 days old. As everyone says, "She is such a Georgia!!"

  78. Katie Dang says

    I just read through all of the comments and people come up with the most unique names…I Love it! I'm 19 weeks pregnant with our first right now and we have a boy name picked out, but haven't agreed on a girl name. For the boy, my husband chose Micah (not sure where he got it) and then I chose William for the middle name (my grandfather's middle name). We have thrown out a couple girl names, but can't decide on one (Madeline and Lila). We do have some requirements: a strong name that will also fit them into adulthood, a name that won't have a nickname (I'm Katherine and have always gone by Katie…so awkward in school), and a name that isn't popular. Oh, and our last name is Dang – yup, sounds just like it's spelled!

  79. Anonymous says

    I have been thinking baby names since my early 20s….but I didn't find my love until later in life. I didn't get married until I was 36 and just recently had my first baby at 38 (i'm 39 now). My husband and I had a very hard time coming up with first names. We had the middle names set early on. If it was a girl we would use my mom's maiden name (Layne) and if it was a boy we would use my mother in law's maiden name (Martin)! Perfect! Now to find a first name. I of course pulled out my list of names that I have been compiling for YEARS!! Of course my husband was not a fan of many of them. And with my new last name, there were many that just didn't sound right. I wanted something unique, but not weird. My husband was only suggesting names that I thought were just too plain for me! We found out pretty early on that we were having a girl (since i'm older, I got to have the blood test, didn't have to wait for a sonogram. Woohoo!!) And we found out we were having a sweet baby girl. I was thrilled since most of my list of names were girl names! ha! So we went back over them again and nothing was working for us. Then I remembered a name that I had seen before we even started trying for babies. I was at work one day and I was looking at a customers account and saw the name Hadley. I had never seen it before as a first name and that it was really cute. Fast forward to present and when I looked at the meaning of it, it said fields of Heather. At that point, I knew that should be our sweet girl's name. I have always loved the name Heather, but wanted something a little different. So that's how we got her name Hadley Layne which I think is perfect!! 🙂

  80. Pearberry says

    I'm momma to Carson Grace and Porter Reid. Carson was named because all of the girls in my family have "boy" names. Porter was my mom's (Peri) maiden name and she is the last of her family with no siblings… so, we carried on the name with our boy. Love your kiddos names… so stinkin' cute!

  82. Kayley Bailey says

    http://www.movingworks.org/project/chloe/

    With all this discussion on baby names, I couldn't help but think about this beautiful story about the name Chloe. This is a story of God's sovereignty and goodness, even when we are going through trials in life. If you get time, please watch!!

  83. Gillin Foreman says

    We have an 8 month old girl. My heart was set on Rose McKenna, McKenna after my late uncle and Rosie for nickname. My husband came to me one day, almost in tears about how he would really love to name her after his late grandmother, his mother's mother. (His mother cried my whole pregancy every time she thought about the baby and how we are honoring her mother) Well, how could I say no to that, he doesn't ask for much especially when tears were involved. Her name was Lillie, spelt that way. I have always loved the name, but it had become so popular similar to McKenna, which my husband had similar issues with, that's why it was going to be a middle name. After giving me some time, we decided on Lillian Kathleen with Lillie as nickname. We wanted her to have a formal name for later in life, if she didn't want to go by Lillie. I loved how his grandmother spelt it so I wanted to kept it the same, even though she will go her whole life with it being mispelled. I have a unique name and still deal with mispellings and mispronouncing but I wouldn't change it as I am named after my late grandmother. She was Kathleen Gillin (her maiden name) and I am Gillin Kathleen. This is where we got Kathleen from and my aunt was named after her mother, so it has great meaning in our family. We love that she was named after two very important woman in both our lives.

  84. Nina Fullerton says

    I may be jumping into this conversation late in the game, but I absolutely love talking baby names! I'm in my early 20's with babies on the mind and it's one of my favorite things to think about! I don't have any kiddos yet but some of my favorite names are:
    Boys: Easton, Landon, Wyatt, Levi
    Girls: Hadley, Parker, Landyn, Kennedy
    I love the pairing of a more modern name with a "traditional" family name for the middle. Great post! So much fun to read all of these comments!

  85. Anonymous says

    I love all three of your children's names!!! When I was 6 months pregnant with my first, my dad passed away. I didn't know what I was having and my dad did know I was pregnant and before he passed, he told me he felt I was having a boy, when he told me that I told him that if it was a boy that his middle name would be Donald, after him. Well he was right and we named our little boy Nico Donald. If my first wasn't a boy I knew I wanted to use the middle name Wynn for a girl. My husband and I were married in Las Vegas at the Wynn hotel and the hotel holds a lot of special memories for us. So this past August when I gave birth to my second born (little girl) we named her Mila Wynn. I absolutely love my babies names!! I love that both their middle names have such significant meaning to us!

  86. Marty says

    I never comment on stuff like this because I'm pretty private…and because my father-in-law says if I put private information out on the inTRAnet, "them no-gooders are gonna steal all your numbers." WHAT? Do you see what I'm dealing with over here? (ha!) I'm a lot older than most of your readers, but I love your blog! When I was pregnant with our first child, we found out he was a boy and we decided to name him, Joshua. I really wanted all of our children to have at least one name from the Bible. My husband was a little concerned that Joshua didn't sound "business-y" enough…ya know, for when Joshua was older and the president of the United States and all…but we both really loved the name. When Joshua was born with Down Syndrome, well…his name could not have been more perfect for him. And we call him Joshua, not Josh. His middle name is Osborne, which is a family name on my husband's side. Joshua is thrilled that he is the one who is carrying on the family tradition with that name. Except that he calls it family "trandition." 🙂 When we found out we were expecting a daughter our second time, we had another family name picked out…but she was due on Christmas, and the other name just didn't seem to fit. About a month before she was born, we changed her name to Holly Elizabeth. We never thought about how her first and last name would sound together, until someone said, "Holly GARLAND?" Yep. Our last name is Garland, but at that point…there was no going back, so that's her name. We named our 3rd child, Jonathan Logan. John is a family name on my husband's side and Logan is my maiden name. We called him Jon-Logan until he started school, and then we just called him Logan. And, yes, it took a little time and effort to explain to everyone that we call him by his middle name, but he made it all the way through school and college and got married last year, and has yet to have a nervous breakdown. 🙂 Our baby boy is Clark. We knew he would be our last baby, and doesn't Clark sound like a period at the end of a sentence? He's the perfect book-end to our family. I think Clark is a solid, strong name. I still love it. Clark was born 12 1/2 weeks premature. When I was in the hospital in pre-term labor, I had plenty of time to read my Bible. We were going back and forth between James (after my husband) and Joseph for his middle name. I read the last part of Genesis where lots of things had happened in the life of Joseph, and he said that man meant it for evil, but God meant it for good. Well, Clark had a lot against him when he was born, but we had a bigger God…and He meant it all for good. So, he's Clark Joseph. And he's 19, and he's perfectly healthy. And he's graduating from high school in 2 weeks! 🙂

    • The Andlers says

      I am Holly Noel and I married an Andler so I get laughed at for being Holly Noel Antler. Good thing I love all things Christmas!

  87. Amy says

    I love baby names! Our daughter is Miller Elizabeth. Miller (my grandmother's maiden name) and Elizabeth (my sister's middle name) were both so special to us. My daughter's initials are MEG & my husband's sister is named Megan, so we were able to honor both sisters.

    We're pregnant with a boy & still working on a name. We're tossing around Price, Jones & Meyer. We love last names if you can't tell 🙂

    • Paige Gibson says

      My two year old daughter is also Miller! She is our Millie Jane and I am certain that I will not find a name for our second that I like as much as Millie's name!

  88. Sharon says

    We love traditional names that not everyone has – not trendy names. Never want people to hear our kids names and be like – oh, you were born in the 2010's ;-).

    So our first born's name is Mack Warren (Mack is my grandfather's name and Warren is his). They were both WWII War heroes and I just LOVE the name Mack. No one has it and it is so masculine. He is our little professor so it's kinda a funny name for him actually. Love it.

    Our 2nd born's name is Cooper Andrew. Cooper didn't used to be a popular name and I have always loved it – and then Andersen Cooper had to go and make it popular. It was our 2nd choice for our firstborn, so he got it. Andrew is my husband's name. Andrew is a great name btw for a boy, fyi, for anyone looking for a name. Think about it. Do you know any Andrew's or Andy's that aren't great guys? Nope :-). But I didn't want it to be confusing so it's his middle name.

    We are adopting a little girl from China (getting her in the Fall) and her name will be Hannah Catherine… We are going to get her this Fall. Trying to decide if we will call her Hannah Cate or just Hannah. Catherine is after my mother in law and Hannah is because that is the only girl name my husband would agree to and I hated that we still referred to her as her advocacy name which was actually beautiful – Alice – but my niece-to-be due in May already has been given that name so we couldn't keep it. So I really wanted to stop calling her Alice, so when he suggested, Hannah Catherine – I was like – great – let's do it! :-). Hannah is way too popular now for my taste, but other than that I love it?

  89. Emily @ Ember Grey says

    I have a similar obsession with all things names 🙂 My husband and I have had "our names" picked out since we were engaged – there were a lot of vetoes on both ends (haha) but we quickly agreed on one for each.

    You look JUST LIKE Smith in that first picture!! Twins!

  90. Brittany King says

    I'm constantly thinking of names! My husband and I picked out our kid's names before we were engaged. They were names I had loved for years and the only ones he happened to like as well. Our son is Kanaan Lee. Kanaan is really Canaan but Hubby wanted a K to match our last name. Lee is Hubby's, my grandma's, my uncle's, Hubby's grandpa, and Hubby's late uncle's middle names.

    Our daughter is Eden Hope. I've always loved Eden and have wanted it for my first girl for years. Hope we just really loved.

    They happened to both be Bible place names. Hubby would only consider those names. Eden was our pick for a girl when Kanaan was born and then when I was pregnant with Eden he wouldn't even consider that we weren't having a girl so we never discussed another boy name.
    I also love Zion for a boy, which fits our theme. But I haven't found another Bible place girl name I love yet.

    My mom had a dream about my name when she was pregnant so that's how I got Brittany Marie.

    Hubby's name is Andrew Lee but he goes by Andy although he likes Drew better. His family has always called him Andy. Nobody calls him drew except his email addresses. I'm not sure how his name was picked, I'll have to ask his mom sometime.

  91. Amy says

    My husband and I really liked the name Bella. This was before the whole Twilight craze. She is not named after Kristen Stewart's character. haha. We wanted her middle name to come from the Bible and we laid in bed one night flipping through the pages. We finally decided we really like Genesis as her middle name. Her name Bella Genesis means beautiful beginnings, which we love because she is our first born and is representative of a beautiful beginning of life together.
    My family is huge on naming all their children with the same first letter. My aunts and uncles are Tim, Tina, Terri, and Tom. My aunt Kevyn and her husband Ken named their children Korey, Kahler, Konnor, Kylie, and Kameron. My cousins are Heather, Holly, and Hayden. Other cousins Michael, Michelle, and Melanie. And my brother and I are Amy and Aaron.
    Haha anyways, I think my husband and I will do the same thing and stick with "B" names.

  92. Mallory says

    My mom is Sheri Lynn. 🙂 She and my dad, Richard Keith who went by Keith his whole life, both had names my grandparents just liked.
    My oldest sister is Holly Nicole. She was born on December 3rd, so my mom wanted Christmas-type names. So Holly for the garland and Nicole for St. Nick.
    My middle sister is Chelsea Paige. Chelsea was for the Chelsea district in NYC and the Joni Mitchell song "Chelsea Morning". Paige was a named my parents just liked with Chelsea.
    And I am Mallory Ann. I was originally going to be named Hillary, but then the Clintons came to fame, and they thought that having a Chelsea and a Hillary would be just too much, even for Democrats. Mallory was the name of a girl in Holly's preschool class and the only other name my parents could agree on. Ann is my maternal grandma's middle name.

    I too have been obsessed with baby names for as long as I can remember. I would sit around coming up with fictional family trees just so I could think of names I liked together.
    I want four kids, so I have four boys names and four girls names picked out. My poor future husband, he'll have no say! 😉 Most of my names are pretty popular, but that's not why I like them.
    Boys: Jayden Matthew (Matt is my lifelong best friend), Tyler Keith, Logan Richard (obviously Richard and Keith are for my dad) and Charles Edward (Charles is my maternal grandpa's middle name who died when I was 2, and I love the name Charlie, Edward is the name of my great-uncle who was the closest thing I've had to a grandpa and helped put me through college and grad school)
    Girls: Madison Claire (the one name on my list that has never changed, no familial connection I've just always loved it, Claire is one of my cousin's middle name but it wouldn't be for/after her), Brooklynn Nicole (Brooklyn for my mom's and my mutual obsession with New York City, two n's for my mom's middle name, Nicole for Holly), Julianna Leigh (the Ann in there for my and my grandma's middle names, Leigh for my younger cousin who is like the little sister I always wanted and never got), and Ashby Kate (I actually got it from your Ashby, ever since you first announced her name I've loved it! so thanks, haha!)

    I know I'm super late commenting here, I just saw this through one of your other link up posts in this series and I'm obsessed with baby names so I read through all the comments and though I would add my own! I love the names of your kiddos!

  93. Laura says

    I always love hearing about your sweet family and how you picked names for the kids! They have wonderful, meaningful names. I'm due with my 2nd in a few months, and I know how fun/hard it can be choosing names! Naming is my area of expertise, so I had to be sure to comment here, since I'm a big Mix & Match fan and reader too. <3

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