Her Name is .........

Believe it or not at work I have been called the naming police. I know, one of many things I am sure that they call me (All in love I am sure). But a name is so important. I think that you are born into a name and it is a matter of your parents getting it right the first time.

In my family all the girls names start with the letter 'J'. Not so many 'J' names out there that we have not already used. I am a rebel after all. When I thought we were getting a boy I thought great I do not have to buck the system. I can pick any name I want so of course I wanted Gerard which of course he hated. Joshua Thomas was my very favorite name when I was a little girl. All my baby dolls were named Joshua Thomas. Plus when I found out the meaning 'God rescues' I thought that is perfect. Nope he did not like Joshua. I loved Jeremy too. Again another perfect meaning 'God will raise you up'. Nope he hated that name too. We settled on Daniel Gerard. Love the name, love the meaning 'God is my judge' and for Gerard 'Strength of the spear' So for many months that was the name. I practiced spelling it and writing it. I LOVE that name.

We only briefly talked about girl names because remember I was getting a boy. So I loved the name Olivia Beth after my Father's parents Oliver and Betsy, he hated it. Mary Grace was one of my other favorites. My Mother is Marion and his is Marie. I thought it would be nice to name her kind of after both of them. I will tell you neither of them liked the name. So back to the drawing board.

Are you seeing a theme? I really like traditional names or names that have a family tie. Gerard is named after his Father and I think he has his Grandfather's name as his middle name, I am named after my Aunt Joyce and Aunt Eleanor on my Father's side. Confused yet? So after I was shot down for both of the girl names then I in passing mentioned Catherine. So Catherine was it he refused to discuss another name because if we got a girl that one was perfect and how can you mess with perfect?

Catherine was my Mother's Mother's name and also my Aunt Catherine Ann's name. Catherine was Gerard's Grandmother's name on his Father's side so I already knew it would work with both our last names. To make a very long story short many in my family are named Catherine, I have a very dear friend named Katherine as well.

When I got the call the Director of the agency asked me if I knew of an one in my family named Anna? I was stumped. No I do not think so well maybe then it was YES I do. Gerard's Grandmother on his mother's side was Ann but maybe it was Anna. I was not very sure. So I called him and we talked about it and just like him he did know whether his Grandmother was Ann or Anna. He just kept saying she was Grandma.

Thank goodness AM (his sister Ann-Marie, yes we call her AM like I am going to the store) knows all about the family history. So I asked her in passing because I was still a bit undecided about if that was the name I wanted for her. So under the pretense of I need it for her baby book she told me it was Anna not Ann.

Bingo! That was it her name would remain Anna. I still loved Catherine so we changed that to be her middle name. So that's the name....

Anna Catherine,

hence Little Banana, or Anna Banana.

The name Anna comes from Hannah which means gracious, merciful. So I got me Grace and Catherine means pure. Is there anything more pure then a baby?

Just an additional piece of information about her name Gerard bless his heart loved it because it spelt the same way coming and going and is a very "Even name" 4 letter, 2 A's, 2 N's and if you draw a line down the middle it is a mirror image. That is why he is convinced that she will be VERY neat and not hap-hazard like me! After spending the time I have with her I fear he is right. Just do nto tell him I will never hear the end of that.