Baby Names

A topic that often arises when in conversation with a pregnant woman is baby names, of course. At the moment, I'm the fourth of six friends currently expecting their second child and surprisingly the topic of names has only come up twice. I suspect on the odd occasion when we have talked baby names we're all talking about names we like but none are the ones at the very top of our lists. Those are too close to share. 

While I used to love a good chat about baby names (I was the teenager who had her favourite names written down in her journal), since becoming a Mum I've been more tight-lipped. I realise now, just how personal (and somewhat terrifying) it is to name your child. For a moment, you're like Adam in the Garden naming the animals for all eternity.

With Leo, his name was chosen before Joel and I were even thinking about starting a family. We always knew that if we were to have a son, his name would be Leo, after Joel's maternal Grandfather. For a while it was going to be Leo Phinnaeus until one day in our little rental (still long before we started trying) I was sitting at our dining table and Joel came out of our room and said, "What about the name Macarius?" It took a moment for me to register the unexpected topic of conversation. 

"For a boy?"

"Yeah."

"First or middle name?"

"Middle."

"So Leo Macarius?"

"Yeah." 

"What does Macarius mean?"

"Blessed. St Macarius was one of the desert fathers."

"Leo Macarius. Blessed Lion. I like it." 

And that was that. 

When we found out we were having a boy, we didn't even discuss his name. We knew it was Leo Macarius. Since then, and since Leo's birth, we've discovered little coincidences which for me in particular, affirm that Leo was always going to be Leo. 

As is typical Orthodox practice when choosing and naming a child, the Lives of the Saints is referred to for inspiration. Joel and I looked up the Feast Days for St Leo the Great and St Macarius since they were to become special Saints in the life of our family. To our surprise, St Macarius' feast day is celebrated January 19, one day after the repose of Joel's Grandfather. We also found out that St Leo the Great's feast day is February 18, exactly one month after Joel's Grandfather's repose. And just recently we were told that Joel's grandparents' wedding anniversary is February 18. Need I say more? 

I wish I could say there's been similar hints for Littlest's name but there hasn't been so far. We've settled on one name but still go back and forth with another, so perhaps that means something? Call it mother's intuition or wishful thinking, perhaps the latter, but I think when we meet this little one we'll know their name and realise that's who they were all along.