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Friday, September 11, 2009

What's in a name?

I thought I would tell you why and how we came about naming Zealand. I would venture to say, most of you don't know...maybe even don't care;) Christian and I both thought our first born was going to be a girl. I desperately wanted it to be a girl, as I have/had no idea what to do with a boy, as I was pretty much raised by my Mom and I have one sibling, a sister. I wanted to name our daughter Zoe. I have always loved the name and it was not that common at the time (or so I thought) I knew I wanted a different name, an unusual but GREAT name. We started thinking of boy names that would sound good with Zoe. There are few Z names all together but Z for a boy is hard. I liked Zion and Zane....Christian did NOT. At the time we were heavily watching McLeods Daughters, an Australian show, taped in New Zealand. I randomly came up with the name McLeod and hubby sternly told me he did not want a last name as a first name, so I creatively said Zealand? Which in turn took us to the fact that there are no snakes in New Zealand (which Christian is DEATHLY afraid of) and that he had always wanted to visit and even wrote a paper on it in high school. Like every name we tossed around, Christian would test it out by loudly yelling the name as if to scold a make believe child. He wanted to see how easily it rolled off the tongue in intense moments:) He said he would get back to me on it. A day or two went by and I had probably even forgot the name, when he said out of the thin air "yup, Zealand it is" and that was the end of the beginning!
Zealand's middle name is Mac, after Christian's late Father. I suggested that name to him and he was hesitant to accept. I honestly have always wanted my son's middle name to be Danger. The D in Danger sorta hit heads with the D in Zealand and once I offered Christian the opportunity to name Z after his own dad, I couldn't fight for the name Danger.....so I forever lost it;)
I still worry if we made the right decision. Every now and again I will hear a name or think of a name and wonder if we chose the right one. Will it suit him? Will he be able to grow in it? Will he like it? Will it be cool? As an adult, will it be professional? Only time will tell, and I have much bigger things to worry about, so I guess I'll stop here! What do you think....you think Zealand is cool? One thing is for sure, there won't be another one!

12 comments:

Samantha said...

very interesting, thanks for sharing! I totally thought our first was going to be a girl.. so surprised with a boy!

Madison {Life Happens During Naptime} said...

Love the name! And someone will totally steal it an start a trend. Thats always how it works =(

Anonymous said...

That would have been so rad if his middle name was Danger! Peanut has two middle names because we couldn't decide on which one we loved more so she's Avery Ruth Phoenix *lastname*. It's a mouthful but very special.

Betsy Knight said...

LoL! Anyone who knows Z, like I do :), knows that the Danger will be implied- he's a wildman!

Sarah Joseph said...

Great post, can totally relate. Naming a child seemed like so much pressure. It was exciting and fun but man did I worry about picking the wrong name. Boys names seemed to be more difficult too. Why is that? Anyways, love Zealand!

Mrs Mommy said...

I love how absolutely original and unique the name is. I think its fantastic personally. I think its important to have a name that means something to you in some way. Like the way it makes your feel or something it reminds you of...

You did an amazing job namin your babies girl!

Gwenn said...

Love the name! My good friends son has Danger for a middle name...

Jamie said...

I love the name! It's so unusual and cool. I thought my boys names were different until I decided to name them Gavin and Gage and now I hear those names all the time. Zealand is a truly unique name!

TexasBobbi said...

Wow, what a story. I like the name Zealand. Ian is Ian Ruel, so that he can say I Rule. Yes Casey came up with that.

Jaime said...

Zealand is a great and unusual name that will probably be popular in no time. Right now it's great because if you don't know any other Zealands than you don't have anyone to associate the name with someone you do or don't like. Your Zealand is so cute and I bet he is such a great kid that everyone will learn to love the name because they love him!

Eli's Lids said...

I love the name!! I understand about second guessing the name. We almost named Cora Tessa and sometimes I look at her and think she looks more like a Tess... oh well!!
We have a friend who gave the name Danger as a middle name to their son. It is awesome... but he lives up to his name and it is a lot of work... LOL!

brenna said...

What a lovely story of naming your boy! I actually have a friend who recently gave her new baby boy the middle name of Danger too. :)