When we decided on Olivia's name, it was such an easy process and we immediately came to an agreement as soon as we found out she was a girl. Olivia Maeve, the perfect name for a sweet baby girl. But technically there was no significance or ties to the name besides the fact that we just liked it.
This time around, the name process was not as simple. I thought once we found out the gender, we would be able to agree on a the perfect boy name. Nope. Instead we each proposed at least 20 different names and we seemed to get further and further apart. For example, I suggested names like Quinn, Declan, Liam and Henry. Sam suggested names like Kellan, Grady, Louis and Luke.
But the name that really stuck with me from the beginning was Graham. When we found out we were having a baby boy, I wanted to find a way to honor my dad or at least in my mind make a connection between the two. Unfortunately my dad's name is Gerald. Baby Jerry just didn't have the ring to it I was looking for. So I decided that maybe a name starting with G would be an option. Let's just say some of the "G" suggestions we received were a little off the mark (Gisseppe, Gustave, Geraldo). I kept coming back around to the name Graham. Plus both my dad and Sam's dad have the same middle name, Edward, so it all started to come into place in my mind.
Graham Edward...G.E...Gerald Edward...James Edward. The same initials as my dad, same middle names to honor both his grandfathers. Pretty good compromises. And although we aren't going to be calling him "G.E.," the significance of the initials is close to my heart considering that my dad's pen name was G.E.Murray and that's how he was known in the literary world. I could only hope that our Graham has as many wonderful qualities that both his grandfathers have. The gift of writing and love of literature, humor, smarts, etc.
And for our little guy, there is actually a nice link back a few generations to the men in our families. My grandfather was Gerald Edward Murray Sr (G.E.M), my dad was Gerald Edward Murray Jr (G.E.M), and my cousin is Gregory Edward Murray (G.E.M). On the Elsener side, Jim's father, fondly known as "Whitey," was George Elmer Elsener (G.E.E) which will be our guy's initials too. This may all sound a little looney to focus on people's initials, but anybody that knows me knows that I love a monogram so it actually makes sense in my mind.
Now the only glitch was would Sam come around to the name because he was hesitant at first. I had started to give up and tried to focus on other name options because I didn't want to force any names on him. Then at Christmas, there was a miracle. Under our Christmas tree, there appeared an unlabeled wrapped gift of graham crackers. It appeared that Santa was weighing in on our baby naming debate and was sending a message.
So after months of debate, it was jointly agreed upon...Graham Edward Elsener. And I think we can agree that it's the perfect name for our sweet little boy.
