What's In a NAME?

How did we decide on the name Caroline Faith?

Well, this was actually a really easy decision for us. We chose the name for our daughter right after we began the adoption process to bring her home. I wanted to "announce" her name in a fun, creative way. And since we had our annual family beach trip approaching, we decided to write her name in the sand and then post it on the blog to announce it!

So, on June 8, 2010, we announced her name...


CAROLINE FAITH!!!

Okay, so HOW did we choose her name? Well, most of ya'll know that all of our kids' names start with the letter "C" (which was planned). Actually, they all begin with "Ca", which was not planned...but we like it! :)

We are really big on the meanings of our children's names. And yes, we are Southern, so we like family names too (and double names!). All of our children have a family name within their name. Also, we like Biblical names or traits to be in our children's names.

So, we named all of our children with these 4 characteristics in mind...and of course, it had to be a name we both liked and agreed on! (which sometimes was a challenge!) With our first three children, we kept their name a surprise during the entire pregnancy...no one knew but us, and God, of course! It was so much FUN that way!

But this time around, we really wanted to go ahead and tell people our baby girl's name, so that she could be prayed for by name!! And it's just FUN to be able to refer to her as Caroline Faith too! :)

Well, Jody was actually the one to bring up the name Caroline. We were standing in the kitchen one day, and he said (very matter-of-factly), "We are going to name this baby girl, Caroline!" Perfect!!! I LOVED it!!

My Dad had wanted to name me Caroline, so it had always been a special name to me. (But my Mom wanted to name me Alison, and I think it's obvious who won that decision!) It's also a family name...my great grandmother and my aunt are named Caroline.

Well, I always knew that I wanted our baby girl's middle name to be Faith. This adoption journey has been such a huge FAITH journey, and I felt that Faith would be the perfect middle name! So then I said, "I think her middle name should be Faith!" And Jody loved it!

So, there you go...definitely the quickest name decision that we ever made! Caroline Faith meets all our name characteristics...it begins with "Ca", it includes a family name, it include a Biblical trait, and we LOVE the meaning of her name!

Caroline means "beautiful woman", and Faith means "faith"...and our prayer is that she will be a beautiful woman of faith. Faith in her heavenly Father who created her and loves her so. We pray that her inner beauty, that comes from her faith in God, will radiate from within her!

We also may add her Ethiopian name. If so, then she will have four names! I think that it would be really special to include the name her birthmother gave her!

Can't wait to see what her Ethiopian name is...and the meaning of it!

"Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." Hebrews 11:1