Coming up with names for our kids has been difficult for Ema and I.  We’re fairly indecisive people anyway so when you add the stress of “this will be their name for the rest of their LIFE, don’t screw it up Loucks”, name-picking becomes an exercise of tense exploration. I resolved to just throwing my hands in the air and calling him “Brutus”. Ema didn’t go along.

My daughter (Nora Denise Loucks) was named after my mother; Denise.  Nora’s initials match mine (NDL) and my father’s.  We happened to be at a wedding when Ema was pregnant where there was a baby named Nora and my wife (and eventually myself) fell in love with the name.  Two years after her birth, she’s very much a “Nora”.  It’s funny how you can debate and stress over your child’s name and then it takes a certain evolution into being “them”. I can’t imagine her a Sarah, Rebecca, or Gwendolyn. She’s Nora.

Finley Jay Loucks.  We first noticed the name Finley in 2007 when my wife was pregnant with Nora.  As embarrassing as our discovery of the name might be, it’s the truth; we saw it in the movie the Notebook (Kevin Connolly’s character).  Finley caught our attention and we decided that if we had a boy, we would keep it in consideration.  Throughout the last nine months, we talked about different names but my wife was always fairly sure that she was carrying a “Finley”. I’ve always held the belief that one of the given name’s should have some sort of meaning behind them. Finley is named after my uncle; Jay. Jay and I have a close bond. He’s my uncle, friend, pastor, and my very own personal Mr. Magoo.

So, that’s the story behind my kid’s names.  What about you?  Any specific reason as to why you named your children what you named them?