Naming our children is always a challenge. Katelyn’s naming came quick after she was born but for years before we had a different name picked for her. For Abby, we never even discussed the name Abigail but it’s what we decided on three days after she was born. Because everyone has their opinion about names, Devin especially likes to play games with people. We often referred to Jacob as Orville while I was pregnant. Some reactions were great.
A couple weeks before our bundle arrived, Devin had an inspirational moment where he came up with a name he really liked. When he told me I looked at him trying to figure out if he was serious. He was. I loved the name, too. But I knew something Devin forgot–we have a nephew with the name we loved. My sister just happens to get boys and so the lovely name Bryce was already taken.
A couple days before delivery, I made a list of about a dozen names. During our evening family walk we discussed the list. He quickly vetoed about half the names and we were left with five or six that we both liked, though we didn’t necessarily love any of them. It was reassuring, however, that we had a few we could go with.
On my side of the family, it’s tradition to give the first born son the father’s fist name as their middle name. I like this tradition. But Devin doesn’t like his name. So depending on the first name, we decided that his middle name (Brandon) would be just as meaningful.
When we started the name discussion, I first suggested Jacob Brandon as Jacob was a name I always loved. Devin liked it as well so the discussion essentially ended there. We wrote the full name on the white board to make sure it didn’t look silly.
And so it was. Jacob Brandon Collier. We haven’t figured out what he will most commonly be called but at this point Jacob, Jake, and Jakie are our favorites. But who knows–he might prefer JB or Jay. Time will tell.
Of course Devin couldn’t let the naming process end without more fun. For kicks and tricks for my parents, he wrote “Breken Brandon Collier” on our board. Completely random. The trick didn’t last long.
Katelyn and Abby took to the name right away. (Although they still call him Baby Brother much of the time.) My dad, however, continued to offer suggestions over the next few days as if it were an open discussion.
So here is our precious Jacob.
