The Name Game

The Story of Flynn Lathan:

Clif and I thought we should be prepared with a boy's name, just in case, as we waited until our sonogram that would tell us if we were having a boy or a girl.  In the beginning we really wanted a girl, were scared of the concept of having a boy, and had been prepared with a girl's name for years.  Boys names, however, were a big challenge for us and we spent several nights pouring through name websites and lists, trying to find even a few that we both liked.

Flynn was at the top of my list, and had been since high school.  I'm fairly sure it took root for me when I heard it in a favorite song one day.  I suggested it to Clif, and followed up with Lathan (two friends have this name; one as a middle, the other as a last - I just thought it was nice and unique), and he pretty readily agreed.  Little did I know at the time it was really only because he was SO SURE we would have a girl (I was convinced otherwise)...

Sonogram day came and low and behold we find out we are expecting a boy.  Clif and I do not do well with secrets or keeping exciting information, at least that is ours to tell.  We are notorious, eager sharers and were ready to announce our baby as soon as we found out.  The trouble was, now faced with the fact that our first was a he, Clif wasn't so sure about our name selection any more.  This broke my heart, as I had been so excited about the name.  He wanted to decide quickly!  Right then! Announce the gender WITH our chosen name!  But I wasn't ready to give up on my dream of having a Flynn quite so fast.  I said I needed time to mourn my name and try to open myself back up to other options, but Clif, ever so eager, I suppose wasn't ready for me to adjust my brain and semi-reluctantly agreed with our first choice.

It's pretty funny, looking back, at how silly the whole path was, but now that we have him I couldn't imagine Flynn by any other name, it's perfect!

The Story of Tobias Hunter:

After the drama of Flynn's name, I thought we better be prepared out of the gate for having a second boy and get ahead of choosing a name so we didn't have Drama: Round Two. Truth be told, I was convinced our second would also be a boy just because we had wanted a girl so badly (I was now on Team Boy and ready to have another), and because we struggled so much with boy names. 

One evening Clif and I were back to our ritual of pouring over baby name lists, trying to find some that matched.  We were more casual about it this time, and had only tossed out a couple of options when I suddenly burst out, "What about Toby?" (admittedly thinking briefly of a favorite childhood movie...).  Clif, without skipping a beat with, "How about Tobias"?  Perfect, I said!  Clif then followed up with Hunter and we both loved it.  What a different experience than we had with trying to pick Flynn's name.  It was quick, easy, and just clicked into place.

Not long after we had dinner with Clif's parents to share the name we'd picked.  After telling them our choice, I remember his mother giving us a thoughtful look.  Flynn was a very unique name and they had wondered how we came up with it, I thought maybe they were wondering the same about Tobias.  A few days later we saw them again and she exclaimed that she remembered why that name had struck her as so familiar. When they were preparing to bring Clif home they had narrowed their choices down to two names: Clifton and Tobias (which had been selected by her brother).  They chose Clifton because it was more universally pronounced, while Tobias had a range of pronunciation variations. Since they traveled internationally so much they thought Clifton was the better option.  Clif had never heard that story, which made the name so much more special to us.

The Story of Kaileigh Samara:

Clif and I have had this name chosen since not long after we started dating.  In the years we've been together, any time we talked about having children we would day dream about Kaileigh.  I can't remember which of us came up with the first name, but I knew I wanted to spell it like that so we could call her Kai.  Clif offered Samara, the 'nature name' of a friend of his from college.  Samara has several meanings in different cultures, but it is also the name of any winged seedpod, like maple 'helicopters'.  We've loved the name for almost a decade and were excited to learn we would be able to use it for our sweet girl.