Lately I've been thinking alot about names. My name is and always has been unusual and my kids have very different names too, not to mention they all start with "S". I often wonder about the other names we had on our lists and if they would have been better. I even wonder about what my life would have been like if I was just another Jennifer like my 5 friends in school named Jennifer. I decided to do a little research on all of our names and share some background on them.
Benjamin- Means Son of my right hand. He thinks this is pretty awesome and means he's the favorite, lol. I'm pretty sure his mom was thinking more about King Benjamin from the Book of Mormon but we'll let him think what he wants, right.
Taryn- I've found several different meanings for my name over the years, "rocky hill" or "combination of Tara and Erin". It's also found more on boys lists. Back in the 80's there was a made for TV movie and later an actual soap opera titled "Paper Dolls", about models. One of the characters, in the movie played by Darryl Hannah, was named Taryn. My mom just absolutely loved it and said her first daughter would be named Taryn and she didn't even know if she would have a girl. It's taken me years to absolutely love it. In school, no one could pronounce it right and I eventually went by "T" since it was easier to yell down a basketball court. My grandma used to say that it better never be used as a verb. As an adult, I have come to LOVE and appreciate my different name that sets me apart from the rest. I love that my mom had an appreciation for unusual names and had faith that I would be strong enough to carry it off. I only hope I can continue to do justice to my amazing name.
Stryder- Today I found, for the first time, any sort of meaning for his name. It is not listed on any baby name lists I've found but I stumbled across one today. It's very close to a Dutch noun that means warrior or someone who never gives up. I absolutely LOVE that I discovered this. My Aunt Joan was the one who first suggested the name. It's from Lord of the Rings and we immediately fell in love with it. I didn't even know I was having a boy yet and it just seemed to fit. About 10 weeks before he was due I went through a crazy, pregnancy, hormonal phase where I stopped loving the name but that only lasted a few days and after he was born I just knew. He was my Stryder J and now with this new found knowledge about his name I love it even more.
Shelby- means an estate on a ledge and is also popular as a boy name. Shelby is the name I often think I would like to change but nothing fits her quite the same way. It was by complete coincidence that her name started with an "S" too. I had no intentions when I first thought of the name Shelby, of continuing with all the same letter. She's been called "Shebber" or "Shebby" and we even tossed around "Shelly" at her request. I like her as my southern belle, Shelby Rae.
Soren- is Danish and refers to Thor, the God of Thunder and if you know my Soren, you know how appropriate this can be at times. With him we had to make the decision of whether we were going to fully commit to the "S" or not. Not many names were sticking until we came across Soren. It's a family name too and both of us have Danish blood so it just seemed perfect. I've joked that we should start calling him "Ren" like Kevin Bacon's character in Footloose but he's Soren to the max.
It's still not certain if we will be adding anymore names to this list but it's fun for me to now have this written down.
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