What's in a name?

Here is the story behind our little Gabrielle Sophia's name. No, we did not use any family names but we didn't just pull them out of thin air either! I am always curious of why people name their kids the names they do. It seems more often than not that the middle name is of family significance or sentimental value and the first name is just a name that the parents like. That is what we ended up with, but just the other way around.

Well, the story behind it is Nick and I started talking and eventually dating when we had Spanish class together. His "Spanish name" in class was Nicolas (Nee-ko-lahs) and mine was Gabriella. Since then, in passing conversation, we always said if we ever had a girl we would name her Gabrielle. When we found out I was pregnant, *it* instantly (if *it* was a girl) was named Gabrielle. As the weeks went on, however, I was second guessing the name, and then Nick was second guessing the name, and then we dropped the name and went through every name in the name book several times throughout the next five months or so. I saw something wrong with every name - it was either too ugly, girly, boring, popular, dated, trendy, endrogenous, cutesy, or didn't go with our last name. Whenever the discussion of names came up, it usually ended with us annoyed at each other. His favorites were Willow, Lucy, or Espn (yes, like ESPN the sports channel....). I liked Gianna, Cassidy, or Adriana. We obviously had different taste overall. I "entertained the thought" of some of his favorite names and his did the same with mine, but we never were really sold on any of them.

When we went to the hospital to be induced she still didn't have a name. That was fine though, because we had decided (well, I asked and Nick agreed) that we weren't sharing her name until she was born anyway. I think we had sort of narrowed it down to about three or so and were just going to pick one once she arrived....we're not as thoughtless as we sound, I swear! Our little princess was finally born and I asked Nick what we should name her. He said Gabrielle Sophia and it was a done deal! We both liked Sophia, though I didn't like the fact that it has been one of the most popular names for baby girls the past few years. I really didn't want our little girl to be one of three Sophias in her class and be known as Sophia T. throughout school. We ended up using our original name from way back when we fell in love (way mushy, I know!) and put our second favorite in the middle. I am very happy with her name and I think it fits her well. I wouldn't trade our little Gabi girl for anything!