What's in a Name?

Matt and I had decided that we were going to wait to name our son until after his birth. We thought we should get a good look at him before we made such a permanent decision. That all changed when he was diagnosed with CDH. Matt put it best when he said "Anyone who is getting an MRI should have a name". I agreed and then we spent many hours on many days trying to determine the best name for our son.

Right now there is not much we can do for him, but we felt that giving him a strong name was something that would prepare him for the battle ahead. With that in mind, we first named him William Robert Morgan. William has two root words. The first meaning will or desire and the second meaning protection. This name has a long history in the Barber family and the meaning could not be more perfect. Our son is going to need a strong will and much protection. Robert is Matt's father's name. For those of you who do not know Matt's dad, he is an extraordinary man of strength and honor and our son would absolutely benefit from sharing his name. It was actually one of the most positive ways to spend our time because there is not much we could do for a son. Ensuring that he was prepared with a strong and meaningful name seemed productive.

We were so excited to finally have our son's name we called all of our close family to let them know. A few days later Cindy (my sister) called and ask me if we had thought of the nick names our son might be taunted with in school. Of course, that had completely slipped our minds. I told her that we had not even taken nick names into account. She told me that we had named our son Billy Bob. I went into hysterics. I laughed until I had tears. I immediately told Matt and we began working on a new name for our son.

Ethan had always been at the top of our list and it means strong. Strength is needed just as much as will and protection so we finally had our son's name. It is official - William Ethan Morgan.