He who shall not be named…?

We have such fun and challenging time naming our children. But at one point this time around I thought… will we have a name… or will he be “he who shall not be named…?”

Here’s a post “What’s in a name?” about naming our first born son – Cashel Rock.

Read about how we named our second son – Camper Phog – in “The Naming Game.”

You know what is really funny… in trying to come up with a title for this blog I found a post I started to write months ago and I literally proclaimed the name. Wrote a post and had it ready. FAIL! We chose something completely different. Crazy. But the intro still works. so here it is…

Naming this time around was still tricky (little did I know just how tricky it would ultimately be) especially since we have so many goals with our names; but at the same time easier. (I spoke too soon on that statement) While we realize that naming is so important we also know, after having our first two, that kiddos become the names they are given. We’ve learned that “just picking” can be okay. And this time around even had options for boy and girl names.

In terms of our criteria we have wanted familial connections, names that connect to our heritage, names that go well together – suiting the other boys names – and we definitely have an affinity for the /k/ sound. (***smile***).

That being said we try a lot of things to help us know if a name is the right fit for us. One thing I do is sing the name into the “Happy Birthday” song. I figure I will be singing it in the song for many years so it better have a certain ring to it. We write it out, try it out in our minds, and discuss nicknames a great deal. I usually call Cashel by his full name, but often shorten Camper’s so I’ve wanted to be able to have flexibility. Plus we want names that we can use for nicknames that we like as much as the full name. We also practice the name with the middle name added – a lot – as we use middle names on a daily basis. Only a few names have made it through all these tests.

That being said we have stayed with some traditons. We’ll start with some hints…

– We will remain the abc’s if you can believe that.

– His first name is of Irish tradition, a place he can visit there in Ireland. (Momma’s family)

– His middle name is a tribute to the Kansas Jayhawks. (Papa’s family)

It also passes the tests…

– Sounds great in the Happy Birthday song.

– First and middle have a great ring to it (we did realize we have an affinity for 2 syllables coupled with 1 syllable in the middle – who knew?)

– Great full name and nicknames.

– Full of family tradition and rich meaning.

Now to share the story. We actually started with a middle name – a tribute to the Jayhawks from Lawrence, Kansas just like his big brothers.

We had the middle name first, and then we had to find the perfect first name. It came to a final 2 names several times – and at this point Corban was not even on the list. Then the day of our maternity shoot, in early October, Benjamin threw us a curveball. He added a name to the list. It seemed to be the one. As Benjamin tells the story he looked up as we were driving and saw Corban on the side of a building as we drove past. He shared it with me, and when he looked back the word on the building it wasn’t Corban at all. It said “Columbia.” Divine inspiration… maybe? As we looked further into the name, its spelling, and the meaning we really did fall in love.  Corban Lane is in County Kildare in Ireland, and is the small street that the St. Corban Boy’s National School is on. The location and school has a rich tradition. Then we looked up what Corban means and it couldn’t be more beautiful. A true bonus is that it is Biblical – it is only mentioned once in Scripture in Mark 7:11. It means a gift or offering consecrated to God. I love thinking of our third boy as a “[gift] dedicated to God.” It seemed perfect!

Just as we started to settle, or I thought we were settling in on that one, Benjamin just couldn’t say for sure. We spent a month mulling it over and asking the boys to say the names remaining on our list. This one stuck in my heart, I’ll be honest. I tried to keep my cards close, as I wanted Benjamin to be as convinced. I really did like our other options. I’m glad we took the time. And I was terrible and not revealing my desires. Then…

One day Benjamin came home from going to AWANA Cubbies with Cashel and said – we have a name! When I asked him how he knew it was the one, he said he’d been using it in his mind and then asked Cashel what the baby’s name was and when Cashel responded so clearly, with “Corban Hawk,” it just couldn’t be denied.