What's your name?

One of my favorite parts of having children is naming them.  There are few things you can give someone which they really keep for all their lives.  As fun as it is, giving someone a name always stresses me out also.  The baby, especially since we haven't found out the gender of our last three children, seems unidentifiable and distant for most of the pregnancy.  Here's a rundown of the first four kids and how we settled on their names, and then I'll get to Sully's name.  (Thanks for the idea, Stacy!)

Philip Walker

We thank the Lord for our children and know they are each a gift from Him.  Therefore, Matthew and I decided one part of their name would be somewhat Biblical and the other a family name or something of significance at that time in our lives.  Philip and Matthew are both names of men who were Jesus's disciples.  Thought about Bartholomew, but glad we settled on Philip instead!  Matthew's dad's name is William Walker Brooks, III.  As a tribute to him, we added Walker as Philip's middle name.

Braewyn Faith

With each pregnancy when name-picking time comes, we head to www.babynames.com and peruse the lists.  Many names are mentioned for the funniness or oddity (if a name is on the list, does that mean someone in the world really has that name?!).  Matthew came upon Braewyn which is Gaelic for "brown".  His mom's maiden name is Brown and this was just about the time when the first or second "Lord of the Rings" movie came out with its fairy tale type names.  I told him we were not naming our children after a character from that series, but after some time Braewyn seemed to settle with us.  Faith was my choice as I believe our faith that the Lord is able to do all things is one reason we were personally blessed with children.

Juliet Hope

Since older sister Braewyn had a princess-type name, the name Juliet struck us as similarly princess-like.  Matthew and I were honestly watching two TV series with characters we liked named Juliet ("Psych" and "LOST").  Another criteria for our name picks is that they not be on the top 100 popular lists.  Juliet was not a name we had heard around the church nursery.  Hope was an easy pick as it is often paired with Faith.  I pray these two sisters would always be close, if not in physical location at least through a dear friendship. (Juliet's name had she been a boy was to be Corbin Seth!)

Rylan Judah

During my pregnancy with Juliet and the years since, I have grown to be close friends with my neighbor Greta and her family.  Her's son's name is Kylan so when Matthew came upon Rylan on a baby name list, it became our boy name choice. It was similar without copying exactly.  Also it fit in with our family joke about the first initials of the first three kids' names... P, B, & J... on Rye!  (Not sure if that's a sandwich I'd want to eat but the joke sounds good.)  The year of my pregnancy with Rylan, my Bible study class was reading through the book of Genesis.  Jacob (the grandson of Abraham, the father of the nation of Israel) had twelve sons whom all of the nation of Israel descend.  Judah was his fourth son and the ancestral line which Jesus would come.  The Bible refers to Jesus as "The Lion of Judah."  Funny that Rylan loves to roar like a lion! (Rylan's name had he been a girl was to be Shelby something; never did pick a middle name!)

 And now here's..........Sullivan James!

Again we went to the name lists, and Matthew liked some names which I didn't.  I liked some names he didn't.  While driving around to see Christmas lights with the kids, I read the name Sullivan off the list.  We both thought it sounded good.  Matthew said he liked Sully as a nickname or even as a given name.  Sully makes us all think one think...

When Philip said, "Like James P. Sullivan," I thought Sullivan James sounded good. We've always said we wouldn't pick a name and call the child by the middle name.  Too much explaining to do when meeting people.  Switch this one around and Sully could be his first name with James as a good middle name.  Again James is another of Jesus's disciples plus Jesus's own brother was named James and wrote the book of the same name in the Bible.  My grandpa's name is James also which ties in family and Biblical links.  So there you have it.  Sullivan James "Sully" Brooks.  We are all so thankful to have him.  (Had he been a girl, Sully would be named Charlotte Noelle!)