In A Name

We knew when we chose to name our first child Wren we were doing two things:  ensuring she would always have to repeat her name more than once because no one gets it the first time; ensuring she would have to spell it before people would say, “Wren!  Like the bird!”  It’s worth it.  Wren is Wren, nothing else will do.

 

With Sammy, Samuel officially, we knew if he ever decided to go by Sam that people who weren’t standing face-to-face with him or who might have never met him could mistake Sam for being short for Samantha and think him a girl.  We still named him Sammy.  He’s Samuel, Sammy.  No other name would work.

We have names for the twins, and I know from seeing them on the sonogram picture that these are their names.  No doubt.  Deciding on them was a process, though. 

Asher-We have loved the name Asher and knew we would use it whether the twins were girls or boys.  D feels it has more of a feminine ring to it, so it worked out that we’re having girls. 

Eowyn-It’s pronounced A-o-win.  Yes, it starts with an E.  And yes, it’s from "Lord of the Rings".  Here’s how this name came about.

I told D when we found out the twins were girls I wanted to get the names nailed down.  I want to stop just calling them the twins; it's hard to imagine two people are going to emerge from my body when we keep lumping them together with one word.  The conversation was long and went something like this:

 Me: Let’s name the babies.

 D:  Okay.

 Me:  Give me a name to go with Asher.

 D:  That’s a lot of pressure.  You put me on the spot.

 Me:  I’ll start.  Felicity?  Fionna?  Lavinia?

 D:  No.

 Me:  Umm, you want to go?

 D:  Pearl? (this is a running joke from when we were dating and is not meant to offend anyone named Pearl.)

 Me:  What do you think?

 D:  What about Bible names?

 I throw out many names from the Old Testament since that’s where we got Asher.

 D:  Those names sound old.

 Me:  They are from the Old Testament.  I really don’t know what you want from me here.

Many more names are discussed.  D starts just not responding if I pick a name he doesn’t like.  I just stare at him when he keeps repeating Pearl.

D:  What about Eowyn? 

Me:  A-O-N?  You want to name our kid initials?

D: Eowyn.  Say it like it flows.

Me:  Eowyn?  Wait, Eowyn.  I like that.  Where did you get that?

D:  "Lord of the Rings".  I think it was the name of a hobbit.

A discussion follows about Sam’s name being that of a Lord of the Rings hobbit, though that’s not who we named him after, even though Sam was a much cooler hobbit than Frodo and was the true hero of the story.  We agree Frodo is lame, and he has an uncle named Bilbo.  Then we laugh for five minutes because deep down, we both have the maturity level of 13 year-old boys.

An internet search proves that Eowyn was not a hobbit, but this character.  D and I are super happy because we love her, and a discussion unfolds about why Viggo’s character didn’t stay with Eowyn, instead going back to Liv Tyler’s elf character. 

D:  Eowyn was much better suited for him.  Why did he need elf love?

Me:  And didn’t those elves just sort of bail?  You don’t bail on Viggo when things get tough and then just get him back.  Elves are weird.  Eowyn rocks. 

We agree that Sam and Eowyn are the true heroes of Lord of the Rings, and though we did not intend to name our kids after them, it’s not awful that it’s turning out that way.  We find other people named Eowyn on the internet, make sure we are pronouncing it right, and decide it’s perfect.  Asher and Eowyn. 

So, yes, we are ensuring Eowyn will forever have to say her name more than once, spell it, and then explain why it is not spelled how it is pronounced.  But I know Asher and Eowyn are the babies in my belly, so those will be their names.  It couldn't be more perfect.