Coffee Dharma

What’s In A Name?

Posted on 17. Oct, 2007 by Rob in All, Musings, Older, Parenting

As we are expecting our second child my wife and I have been trying to decide on names. Names are significant to me as the meaning and resonance are a powerful aspect of what a name is. I am proud of my own name and it has been a difficult decision to place a permanent name on our children. With our first son we went with Kellen because it was a strong sounding old German name and went well with his middle name of Andrew (my father’s name). We have since discovered the true meaning behind the name Kellen is an old Germanic word meaning swamp. While this is somewhat discouraging at first it is nice to note that his mother is an earth sign and I am a water sign, so swamp is actually logical.

For our second child we have two names we are considering. If it is a girl she will be Emma June and if it is a boy he will be Daniel James. The reasoning behind these names is pretty simple. Emma (old Germanic meaning All Embracing, Universal) sounds good with June (from Junos, Queen of the Gods and also my grandmother’s name) and our last name. Daniel (Hebrew meaning God is My Judge) works well with James (Hebrew meaning Supplanter and also my father in law’s name) and our last name.

Names are an important factor for me. I have always been proud of the meaning behind my name (Robert, meaning Bright Fame) and I would love to pass down a well meaning name to our children as well. Of course, we may change our minds, as we have been known to do, and go with something completely different in the end.

Tags: Emma, Kellen, Life, Musings, Parenting