What's in a Name?

 

What's in a name?

Well a lot actually. I know my name, Alyvia Cecile has caused years of psychological damage. I mean try being a four year old writing 6 letters in your name correctly and then once you finally do someone calls you Sylvia instead of Alyvia.

I have 4 sisters whose names start with an "A" and the first "i" is changed to an "y". Confused? Let me give you examples: Allyson, Annye, Audra (she got away without the "I" rule) and Aryn. My parents wanted an Olivia, hence, Alyvia was born. I have spent half my life going around saying like Olivia with an "A". Then I will often hear "oh, I get it now. What an interesting name." I laugh about the time I put my name on the dry erase board of my patient's room and he asked me, "is that the bacteria growing in my belly?" "No sir, that is my name." The Cecile part comes from my great-grandmother who was native French.

When I had my first daughter I promised myself I would not put her through this drama. Amelie (think Emily with an long "a" sound) Cecile it was. You can imagine my dismay when they called "Ammmily" at her 1st pediatric visit. And so the vicious cycle continues. Sorry hun. We will pay for the therapy.

My mom's name was Claudette Olive Wright. We teased her initials were COW and she even had a brief period wherein she decorated the kitchen in cows in tribute. I always thought her name was so dramatic and perfect for just her. She often teased that no one would ever name a child after her. On her death bed I promised we would name our third child after her. Truth be told, we going to even if she was dying or not. She was a great woman and her named should be passed on. At the time Olive was becoming more popular and we thought we might use that for a daughter and Oliver for a son. We had wanted Henry our son's middle name to be Oliver but as soon I ordered the monogrammed diaper bag I knew I didn't want to walk around with the word H.O.E. (Henry Oliver Elliott) spelled out. He instead is Henry Hudson Elliott.

As soon as I told my mom we were naming the child after her, she said "Oh no one wants to use Claudette!" I knew right then we were going to have a daughter and name her just that. 

After we confirmed indeed we were having a baby girl I look up the meaning of Claudette...

Claudette \c-lau-dette, claud(et)-te\ as a girl's name is pronounced klaw-DET. It is of French and Latin origin, and the meaning of Claudette is "lame" or "dies young".

Yes that is right the meaning of our daughter's name is lame and by most definitions "dies young"! What were we to do? We couldn't give a little baby a name like that. I still loved the name and wanted the tribute to my mom, so we decided to find a good solid middle name, hence...

Elyse \e-lyse\ as a girl's name is a variant of Elisa (Hebrew), Elissa (Greek), Elizabeth (Hebrew) and Elysia (Latin), and the meaning of Elyse is "God's promise; from the blessed isles; God's promise; God is my oath".

God's promise seemed like the perfect offset to dying young. Little did we know we couldn't have picked a more fitting name.  Our perfect little Claudie lived up to her first name and died young, too young just like her grandmother in which she was named after. But her middle name also lives up to its definition. God IS my oath. God's promise HAS guided us through this journey and continues to allows for HIS Glory to Meet My Suffering.

This long winded rant (at 1am might I add) is to share with you a name change to the blog. It will no longer be named Livy Cel (an affectionate nickname my sis Ally Jo gave to me) but will now be Claudette Elyse, a name that means so much more than I could have ever imagined.