Today I’m linking up with Andrea over at Momfessionals.com and sharing a little bit behind Hadley’s name and my name! I loved this topic when I saw it a few weeks ago because it gives me the perfect opportunity to answer where we came up with Hadley’s name. A bunch of people have asked, so I’m happy to share our decision-making process with you!
Ever since Jamie and I were dating, we always said that if we had a daughter one day her name would be Peyton. We both loved it and joked for years about “when we have a little Peyton running around”.
Fast forward to 2013 when we needed to officially decide on a girl name for the little human that was actually growing inside of me, and we decided to say goodbye to our hypothetical Peyton. We just weren’t in love anymore, but we weren’t in love with any other names either.
So we started thinking about all the features we either did or did not want her name to have and made a short list of criteria. Our criteria came from things we do and don’t like about our own names + things that my students used to express to me that they disliked about their names (they always used to vocalize this on the first day of school – ha!).
Ultimately, we knew whatever name we picked had to sound okay with the middle name we selected a long time ago, which is Lynn. Both of our moms’ middle name is Lynn (Nancy Lynn and Tanya Lynn), so we both felt strongly that we wanted to honor both of our moms with our first daughter’s middle name.
I ended up writing out a list of about 20 names either Jamie or I liked, and the day after we found out she was a girl I looked at my list and realized that Hadley was the only name that fit all of the criteria. I knew two Hadleys in college – one was a sorority sister and the other was a little girl in the daycare that I worked at. I always thought the name was beautiful, so that’s why I put it on my list.
Once I realized that Hadley worked out, I gave Jamie a call in Afghanistan and mentioned it to him. He immediately fell in love and started calling her Hadley by the end of our phone call. Hearing him say it out loud made my heart flutter big time, so it stuck. Hadley Lynn would be her name. 🙂
And if you’re interested, here’s a little bit about my own name:
My mom originally wanted to name me Rebecca for the longest time, but I’m not sure why they ended up deciding against it. They ended up agreeing on Erica, and that was that. When my mom was in the hospital getting ready to have me, she was watching a new episode of All My Children where Erica Kane was in the hospital giving birth to her first daughter, Bianca. She always thought that was ironic! Here’s a still-shot image I found of Erica Kane giving birth on the show. 😉
My middle name is the better story! My middle name is Lorraine, and I’ve always really loved it. My mom’s mom died three years before I was born from lung cancer, and her name was Lorraine. Not only do I love it because it’s beautiful, but I love the family symbolism behind it.
I didn’t know until a few years ago where my grandmother actually got the name from. Apparently back on Staten Island, NY (where my great-grandmother lived) there was a very high-profile murder investigation going on where the wife killed the husband for insurance money, and the murderer’s daughter was a big part of the story because she was now going into an orphanage. The daughter’s name was Lorraine, and my great-grandmother loved it so much that she decided to give it to my grandmother, who she was pregnant with. I first looked up the news story a couple years ago and was fascinated that that’s the true start of where my name came from. You can read the murder story by clicking here! Below is a picture of Ruth, the murderer (Lorraine’s mom).
So there you have it! I love love love hearing about how people come up with their children’s names, so I’d love for you to share your story with me!
Hi! I’m Erica, and I absolutely adore sharing my life on this website with you! I come here almost daily to blab about all of the things related to being a regular wife and mother in today’s ever-evolving society. I share about our new home, what’s on our kitchen table, what we’re hanging in our closets, where we’re traveling to next, my crazy 5 a.m. work outs, how I make time for girlfriends, our faith, and much more. We always have a lot of balls in the air and somewhat thrive on the chaos. I believe in the power of story-telling as a form of inspiration and entertainment, so I’m here to do both! I was born and raised in north Alabama and recently re-planted roots here again after my husband transitioned out of the Army (he is now in the Reserve and it’s going so well!) I’m a super proud mom to three little girls (ages 7, 4, and 1) who seem to be the stars of the show around here (for good reason – they’re pretty great!) I’m so glad you found me and are here reading! I hope we can get to know each other here on the blog as well as Facebook and/or Instagram. xoxo