What's in a Name

So I often get asked (and I love asking other mom's) why or how did we choose the names we did for the girls. So I thought I'd share with you (whether you care or not!) how my girls got their names.

Olivia Ruth~

Olivia was definitely not our first choice! We bounced around several names before we even found out she was a girl, (We didn't find out that she was a girl until 2 weeks before she was born). I wanted to name her Emerson, but Beau was addiment 'No!' I really liked Abigayle, Beau liked Erin (after his sister), but we finally settled on Graceanne (One of the little girls Brooke used to nanny for was named Graceanne) and I just loved the name. We thought we'd use a family name for the middle name and choose Olivia after my great-grandmother. We had Noah Carter picked out for a boy. I thought Beau and I were both on board with the name, when all of a sudden he started saying we should just name her (if the baby was a girl) Olivia. I really hesitated with this suggestion because Camilla had always told me she wanted to name her first girl Olivia and I just couldn't 'steal' her name! Anyway, the name kept pulling on me and then Beau's Grandmother Ruth passed away in Jan. of 2003 just two months before Olivia was born, and I started thinking Ruth sounded like a nice middle name.

We went for a routine Drs. visit, talked the Dr. into giving us an ultrasound and found out our little baby was a girl! Which I knew all along by the way ;) On the way home I just couldn't get rid of this feeling that Olivia Ruth sounded like the perfect name for our little princess. What a great combination of both our families. I mentioned it to Beau and he was sold! I called Camilla the next day and asked her if I could have her name. She so graciously told me yes. I still was having a hard time letting go of Graceanne, but when our pretty little girl was born Beau looked at me and asked 'so what is she?' Through the tears I said 'She's an Olivia!' And of course she was, she's the perfect Olivia Ruth! The name just fits. I do have to say though, had I known that Olivia was going to be such a popular name I never NEVER would have named her that!

Taryn Ryleigh~

Beau was still trying to push the name Erin (which by the way I think is a lovely name) but I have a rule no naming our kids after anyone that isn't dead. I know lame you say, but well we all know I have issues so.....I was still trying to push the name Emerson, but the answer was still NO!

We finally decided on the name Paris Rose. But for obvious reasons, although we liked the name alot we kept thinking maybe it wasn't a good idea. We definitly wanted something that wasn't very common (after naming our first daughter the 3rd most popular name of the year!). I like very diffrerent names, Beau likes more common names so we had a tough time agreeing on a name. So even though we chose the name Paris we always kept an open mind for a different name. I liked the name Ryleigh, which Beau said no to because his Uncle had a dog named Riley. He liked the name Paige. I also like the idea of Irish names since Beau's family has a lot of Irish in it.

We were in Vegas visiting family when we went for a walk in Ceasers Palace. There happened to be a shoe store there called Taryn Rose (Apparently she makes very expensive shoes). I had mentioned the name Taryn before to Beau when I was pregnant with Olivia. I thought it was a nice compromise for the name Erin. He didn't like it then, so when I mentioned it this time it was half a joke because I knew he didn't like the name. To my surprise he loved it and right then and there her name became Taryn! As for a middle name, I wanted to keep the Irish thing going and gave him the choice of either Delaney or Ryleigh. He didn't like either, (he wanted to keep Rose) but he hated Delaney so Ryleigh it was!

Kerrigan Rose~

Then came girl #3. Emerson was still out and Beau was throwing out awful names like April. I still liked the idea of staying with the Irish thing but wasn't finding any names I liked. I had always liked the name Keri and it just so happened that my 2 best friends when I was in Elementary School were twins named Keri(lyn) and Erin. I thought since we had a Taryn, which is close to 'Erin' that Keri would be a perfect name for our next little girl. Beau liked the name too, but we had one big problem. There was a girl from Beau's past who's name is Carrie. This didn't bother me because I don't have a problem with anyone from my husbands past because that's what it is, his past, however we knew it wouldn't go over well with his family so we couldn't use that name.

We happened to be in St. Augustine Fl on a weekend away form the kids when we doing some window shopping downtown we came across this cute little Irish shop and took peak inside. They had coffee mugs with Irish surnames on them. We found Hussey and were looking at the other ones when we came across Kerrigan. We both loved the name and even though I wasn't even pregnant at the time we knew that Kerrigan would be a strong contender if we had another girl. When I got pregnant and we knew we were having another little girl I liked the names Tierney, Emerson and of course Kerrigan. Emerson was of course out (I thought third time was a charm) and Beau thought Tierney was too close to Taryn, so Kerrigan it was. Rose just seemed to fit and since we didn't use it for Taryn and since both Olivia and Taryn had middle names with R we just kept it going.

So there you have it! That's their story. If we have another girl I don't think she will have a name because we've exhausted all of our compromises! I do have a few names I like a lot right now Annistyn, Bristol, Harper, Ezree and of course Emerson. Let's just hope that when we do decide to have another baby that it will be a boy so he will have name!