Sunday, October 12, 2008

The Name Game

After we found out we were having a boy, we were excited about deciding on his name. It only took us a week to decide on Allison's name after we found out she was a girl. I realize that many people don't even decide until the baby comes out what to name him or her, but we seem to make this decision pretty quickly. We had a couple names we were thinking about, but none of them were the obvious choice.

One night, I was watching a Hallmark movie called The Russell Girl. In the movie, the main character's boyfriend was named Evan. The first time the main character, actress Amber Tamblyn, said the name "Evan" it immediately caught my attention. Later that night, I mentioned the name Evan to Cory to feel him out and see what he thought about it (I didn't tell him I heard it in a Hallmark movie!). He seemed to like it, but didn't do any jumping jacks or anything for it. So, I just let it be and didn't bring it up again for a while.

A couple days later, Cory mentioned the name Evan to me again. I remember asking him if he really did like it better than the other names we had talked about. He said that it had been really growing on him ever since I mentioned it. That made me really happy because I was beginning to really love the name Evan. We still had not made any decisions, but we talked about possible middle names. Andrew is Cory's middle name, so it was a clear front runner.

When we were deciding on Allison's name we had a great book called the Baby Name Wizard. It gives you all kinds of facts about names and even suggests possible brother and sister names for names you might like. About a week after Cory mentioned he was still thinking about the name Evan, I looked up Allison's name in the Baby Name Wizard book. One of the suggested brother names for the name Allison was Evan! I took this as a sign and decided to tell Cory that we just had to name him Evan. Cory agreed and we were ready to announce that we had decided on the name Evan Andrew Lieder.

We love his name, and Cory is so proud that Evan has his middle name too. After we lost Evan, some people told me, all with good intentions, that maybe I should not have named him until after the he was born. What I realized is that I don't regret naming Evan before he was born. His name is Evan Andrew, and that name was meant for only him.

"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations."
Jeremiah 1:5




4 comments:

The Safrans said...

But of course you named him. He is Evan Andrew....your son. How wonderful that you were able to call him by name both while he lived here on Earth and now that he lives with our Father in Heaven! He is not a nameless child who was lost; he is Evan Andrew who lives in Heaven and can never be lost.

jj said...

I totally agree with lindsay. I think it's great you were able to call him by his name from very early! He will always be your Evan Andrew, even when you are with him again in Heaven.

Unknown said...

I agree with the other commenters. I think that Evan having a name only serves to remind us that he is a real person, a child who is loved and remembered. How special that he has a name that was with him not only while he lived inside of you, but that he could carry with him into the next life. ((hugs))

Julie said...

April- I found your blog after seeing a comment you made on my niece's caringbridge site (Jordan Flint) and through other Zeta blogs. I am so sorry for the loss of Evan Andrew. I love that you are writing about him and your story. Thank you. I will be praying for you and your family.
Julie Flint