I must confess I have always loved my name. Growing up, there were a few things about myself that I wish I could change, mostly the "Cude hips", but the idea of changing my name never enter my mind. So, I must thank my parents for choosing my name for me.. even if I had to endure the occational rendition of the Beatle's song "Michele, my belle" by strangers and G.E. employees that I would meet when we lived in Japan. Since I have always loved my name, naming my children was a big deal to me. I know that in our day some celebrities seem to have taken the idea of naming their children to a new level. I don't know if it's their desire to have their child stand out in the world or their love of fruit that cause them to choose odd names... but who knows maybe they stressed over the perfect name as much as I did when we were naming our children and "Apple" is what they came up with!
Now that my children are getting older I look at them and feel like their names fit them well. I can't imagine Nathan going by any other name. I remember when we sent out the birth annoucements for Nathan, we got so many responses asking how we came up with the name Nathan Reese Anderson. They said a name like that sounded so corporate. We thought that was pretty funny since that never crossed our minds.
Brayden, who's name we thought was so unique at the time, has run into several Braydens as he's gotten older. Since we started off giving Nathan my dad's middle name we had to keep the tradition going so we gave Brayden Grandpa Ray's name as his middle name. I think it was a good choice because Brayden Ray Anderson flows very well and is smooth... just like Brayden!
Last, but not least, is Ryland. Most people know the story of my quest to have a Ryland... and the third time is the charm. Randy agreed,(actually I think he figured I'd keep having boys until he agreed to name one of them Ryland!) Ryland has fit his name since the day he received it. The name Ryland is unique... and so is he! I first heard the name Ryland when my former boss introduced us to her son, Ryland, who was in high school. She later went on to explain that his father was of Irish descent and wanted to find a name for his son that would compliment his ancestral home. I thought that sounded good, my family's ancestors had also come from Ireland so I thought maybe some day, if I had a boy, I could also name him this beautiful Irish name. When I finally looked it up, I found out that it was Old English and that it means "land where they grow rye", so much for the romantic idea of the whole thing...In the end I realized that no matter what it meant I still loved it...as I love all my boy's names!!!
