Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Whats in a name?


So, I have been thinking about my Grandpa Jack a lot lately. I have a picture of him holding Ethan at the piano in my bathroom and it made me sad to realize that I will never have a picture with him holding Gabriel. You see, most people probably assume that Gabriel John Enfante is named after his daddy, and that is partially true. I had wanted to name him Gabriel Henry, since my grandpas middle name is Henry. Nobody liked it. Then I remembered that even though we called him Jack, his real name is John. John Henry to be exact. Thats how Gabriel came to be Gabriel John. He is named after two of the best men I have ever known. Oh, and we just liked the name Gabriel, Isabella would have been Gabriel had she been a boy.
Speaking of Isabella Marie Enfante, she is also named after family. I had wanted to name her after my grandma Mary, but Isabella Mary just doesn't roll off the tongue very well. I thought Marie was close enough to Mary, and my moms middle name is Mary as well. Then John told me his moms middle name is Marie so that settled that, she was Isabella Marie Enfante, named after three important women in our lives. Oh, and I always loved the name Isabella. Its such a classic feminine name.
Ethan was easy to name. I think John heard the name somewhere and we both liked it so we said if this baby is a boy lets name him Ethan. What's funny is that back then we thought the name was not very popular. Little did we know it was in the top 10, and it hasn't left the top 10 since then. His middle name, Michael, is after my dad. I don't even think either of us had to think about it much, I said lets name him Ethan Michael after my dad, John said, OK, and that was that. Good thing he was a boy because John had some funky girl names picked out. I wont say what they are because I will be sure to offend someone.
So, whats in your name? Or should I say, who's in your name?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi, love the new pictures...and I cried to see the one of Dad and Ethan. I didn't realize that Gabriel was his name sake...Thank you so much!

Michelle said...

Hi Carina,I love that picture, have seen it many times but it tugged at my heart a bit to see that right at the top when I opened the page. I'm glad I was able to get a picture with Carissa and Grandpa at the piano, although she was crying :(

Our grandparents were very important people in our lives. Carissa Pearl of course is named after grandma Pearl. I still miss them all. Love, Michelle