These three questions are I would say top the list of questions asked of every pregnant lady I know. I know I heard them often during my pregnancies and I definitely have asked them myself. I suppose it's a mix of genuine curiosity while not being super personal questions which makes them safe. I've been thinking a lot about names lately and how we chose them for our children. We have a number of close friends/family expecting right now or who have recently had babies and names come up a fair bit. It's interesting to talk to others to find out how they picked names for their children, and what they found important.
For both pregnancies we kept our name choices to ourselves. It's hard to say why exactly, but I suppose it was fun to keep something just between us. We knew Zoey was a girl so perhaps it was nice to also have that surprise left for others. There was also always the chance we might change our minds so not telling others meant not fielding the question, "Wait I thought her name was..."
I always find it fascinating to discuss with others what was important in choosing a name for some it's the sound of it, the meaning, originality, etc.
Zoey means Life in Greek and that resonated with us. We felt that was a fitting and powerful meaning to give her. A friend shared something that has stuck with me, she said that giving a blessing as a name means everyone who speaks their name is automatically speaking blessing into their life. The meaning of Zoey's name solidified the choice for us, but admittedly initially choosing her name was less profound. I've always been a fan of the actress Zooey Deschanel and what appears to be a spunky and warm indivual. Even though we changed the spelling (I still really do like the double 'o') to us it captures a spirited little girl with a huge heart and I think it will carry on for her as an adult. So far she has owned her name and made it her own.
Sy or Sylas we had picked since we were first married. Initially we wanted his name to be just Sy. We knew someone who's name as far as we knew was just Sy and we both thought it was original and he was a really easy going and confident guy, some of the characteristics we hoped our son would have. As we matured further in our faith we liked the idea of a Biblical name for him as well so we decided to expand the name to Sylas (Silas). Silas in the Bible showed great faith and trust in God and we pray daily that both our children can live their lives like that. Even though Sylas means something along the lines of Wood Worker we think the Biblical meaning is strong and we think he already suits his full name and nickname very well. He comes across with a bold personality and people comment regularly on his smile and cheerful disposition.
Middle names for Henry and I, was a place to add names with strong meaning and use names that perhaps we wouldn't have used as a first name. Zoey's middle name is Faith and Sy's is Josiah. It's tricky to find names with meaning that also work well together with the first and last name. Faith we felt was something we want for Zoey, we've had to have faith from the very beginning as we started our journey into parenthood. Our faith in God the only thing that keeps us a float and we wanted Zoey to have a reminder of that. Josiah was a king during Biblical times and we really liked the name itself but also we loved a name that carried a history of faithfulness as well. Since he became king at the age of eight, only faith and full reliance on God would allow for success.
There was a lot that went into the names we chose for our children. It's a big job choosing a name your child will grow up with and the goals for everyone are different and can change once you meet your child. But these are a few of our reasons we chose your names Zoey and Sylas, we hope they bless you.
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