The Name Game

I love nicknames. I find them very endearing. My brother John has called me "Ayia" since we were very young. This nick name has stuck with me over the years. Ayia has been jazzed up to "Ayia the fiya from the baya." Yeah.... that's me! What can I say... I'm fancy like that!

Kenton also has several alias that he goes by. I call him "Satch." That is my name for him... Why??? Wouldn't you like to know! ;) He also goes by Tootie or Tootie Santchez. The man is German from Pennsylvania so why would he go by a Spanish name? Now THAT is a really good question for my brother John. (AKA Tio Juan) To tangle the web a little deeper Tio is Spanish for Uncle. John is known to my kids as "Tio." Tio John isn't spanish either. He would be Cajun French!

When it came time to naming our children we gave serious consideration to what the potential names could/would evolve into over the years. Here is the story of how Griffin and Roman came to be...

We didn't find out the sex with either pregnancy. That meant that we had to go to the hospital armed with both a boy and a girl name. The first time that was pretty easy. If he/she was a girl her name was going to be "Lucy Katherine" or "Lucy Kate" for short. This was a no brainer because she would be named after both of her grandmothers. Kenton's mother, Lucy, passed away from cancer. We would have been tickled pink to carry on her sweet name. My mother's name is Kathy and we wanted to honor her too! Needless to say we tucked "Lucy Kate" into our back pocket for later use.

Griffin- Welsh- Strong chief, lord or prince.

My grandmother on my mother's side name was Verda. She HATED her name. I mean come on people~ it isn't exactly on the top 100 list for girls names for good reason! I joked with her over the years telling her that I would name my child after her one day. She used to beg me to NEVER do that to another human being. Really she hated her name. Well, I wish she was still with us to know that I made good on my promise. Her maiden name was Griffin.

Griffin has a handful of nick names. The most frequently used are:

Griff, The Griff, Boysie, Wiggles, Toe Toe, Lovey Bug, or as he calls himself, "Pippen"

I read through lists, and lists, and lists of name while pregnant with our second child. She was still to be named "Lucy Kate" if a girl. We just couldn't finalize a boys name. The front runners for the longest time were:

1. Porter

2. Jenner

We go to the hospital.... "It's a boy!" Baby S. or otherwise known as "the player to be announced later" did not have a name for days. We simply could not decide on a name. For a few hours Baby S was going by Andrew, but it just didn't feel right. Vital statistics came into the room for information for the birth certificate so we could be discharged from the hospital.

Me: "What information do you need. I don't have everything, but we can start the process."

Vital Stats: "Baby's name?"

Me: "Ummmm, we'll have to get back to you with that one."

Finally Kenton looked at me and said, "Seriously, what is the problem?" I told him that my heart really wanted to use the name Roman. I just loved the name, but a friend of mine used the name the previous year. I was a little crushed when she picked the name because it was on our list. Over the months I tried to shake the name, but in my mind I kept going back to it. Once I outwardly expressed my feelings on the subject I felt so much better. We discussed and decided to go for it!

Roman- Latin- of Rome:

I fell in love with the name for a few reasons. It is a strong and timeless name and a book in the Bible. (Romans) Griffin isn't exactly the most mainstream name so we wanted something that was not too trendy or popular. AND there is also a pretty cool Saints player, ROMAN Harper. Nothing like a little reminder of our Super Bowl champs!

Roman's top nick names:

Romo, Romeo, Ro-ke-do-ke, Boysie, Romey, Dragon, and Griff calls him Ro-ski

The end...

or

To Be Continued???