When Ed and I found out we were going to become parents, I remember it being a scary yet wonderful time. Besides all the normal anxiety of pregnancy, choosing a name for your child can be overwhelming and terrifying. What if you choose the wrong one? Will your child be forever burdened by the name you settled on?
I've never been one to follow a trend. I was certain that I wanted to find unique and original names for our kids. But, I really had no idea how to do that. I bought several baby name books and Ed and I would both go through them and highlight our favorites. Needless to say, we had chosen way more than we needed. For each of our four children, Ed always wanted the same name. It's a unisex name that could work for a boy or a girl. He wanted the name "Jessie". He didn't care how it was spelled. He just really liked the name. None of our kids ended up being named Jessie. But I have to say Ed never wavered from what he liked, whether we used it or not.
For our oldest, we were looking through Ed's family bible and saw the name, "Bryce" and really liked it. At that time, over 25 years ago, there were very few with this name. Until about three weeks before our son was born, we thought we would have a "Bryce". Then, one Monday night, Ed and I were watching football on TV. The Denver Broncos happened to be playing and Ed mentioned he liked one of the players names. It was Tyrone Braxton. I had to ask if he meant Tyrone or Braxton! So, Braxton Edward was the name we decided upon for our first son born October, 11, 1990.
Our second pregnancy, we didn't have an issue with the name. On the Belobrajdic side of the family, the name Blaze had been used for several generations. My great grandfather was named "Blaz" and has had many male Belobrajdic's named for him since, although the spelling of the name varies. My other great grandfather was named "Paul" and this name has been used for other generations, as well. My dad actually has a combination of both names as he's "Paul Blaise". I have a cousin "Blase" and a second cousin "Blaze". I also have a cousin "Paul". So, Ed and I decided to name our second son Blaize Paul. Born May 26, 1992, our Blaizer holds heritage from both my great grandfathers within his name.
Our third pregnancy brought a third son. We went back to the baby name books because I saw a pattern develop with the naming of our first two that I wanted to break. Both older boys had names that began with the letter B. When our kids were being born, there was a big fade of naming all your kids with the same first letter of the name. An alliteration, of sorts. Using the letter J was very popular. I was determined I was NOT going to do this. Braxton's name was a name we fell in love with and Blaize had such a strong connection to my family that we never thought that both began with the letter B until long after we named them. Saying their names together flowed off the tongue so well. A third son with a different first letter didn't sound right. Darn that alliteration! When we found the name "Brody" in the baby name book, we both loved it. So, that was it. Brody Scott was born December 20, 1993.
Even though we had decided we might wait a little before trying for a fourth child, God must have had another plan. We were quite surprised to find out we were expecting another baby...and our first daughter. This was a time we could have used a name that didn't start with the same letter as the boys but we had run across a name when we were searching for boy names that we had liked for a little girl. We decided to use it. If I ever had a daughter, I wanted her to have a name that we could shorten...a nickname. The name "Bentley" was perfect. Her nickname would be "Beni". So, our baby and only little girl, Bentley Lynne, was born on September 1, 1995.
All the kids have middle names that are after family members. If they grew up and didn't like their first names, they could use their middle names. But, all of our kids have said they liked the fact their names are unique. They were the only ones in their classes with that name. Now, as they've gotten older, I have noticed many more kids with our kids' names. Just a sign of the times.
I have never once regretted the names we have chosen for all four of our children. It's amazing, really, because the babies become the names they are given, don't they? I couldn't imagine our kids with any other names than the ones they have. Their names truly fit their personalities. Even though they were called the "B kids" or the "Killer B's" when they were growing up, I don't think they minded.
My Grandpa Belobrajdic was an avid Wall Street Journal reader. He lived to see all three boys born. As we were choosing names, he told me about an article he had read in the WSJ that said if a child is named with four or more of the same letter (using his first, middle and last name) then he was bound for success. I have to say that I did keep that in mind when naming the boys. I have to confess, I did add an 'e' on the end of Bentley's middle name to give her four e's. Good old Grandpa.
I figured out all of our names once. Now, I can't remember who was supposed to be successful and who isn't (except for Beni, of course-wink, wink). Guess I'll have to try it again and see how accurate Grandpa's article was. Four of the same letters or not, I love each of the kid's names. I bet Ed would be happy to know "Jessie Stewart" has three S's and three E's without even adding a middle name. Hhmm...maybe we should have named one with a J.
It is what it is.
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