I’m a longtime lurker on Nameberry who finally joined up.
On [name]July[/name] 20th, we welcomed a new son into our family–[name]Josias[/name] [name]Alasdair[/name] [name]Emmanuel[/name] M.(in case you are wondering how to pronounce his name, it’s jo-[name]SY[/name]-as [name]AL[/name]-as-der Eh-[name]MAN[/name]-yoo-uhl)–weighing in at 8 lbs 4 oz and 20 inches in length. He has a 6.75-year-old big sis named [name]Cecily[/name] [name]Juliana[/name], who thinks he has the most kissalicious cheeks. His name was truly a family affair, as we all picked a name to bestow upon him. I chose [name]Josias[/name], the Greek variant of the Hebrew name [name]Josiah[/name], because of its meaning, “The [name]Lord[/name] heals” and because of the powerful example of [name]King[/name] [name]Josiah[/name] in the Old Testament (our family is [name]Christian[/name]). During my pregnancy, our daughter came down with a violent and extended illness, so for much of his gestation “healing” was the prayer on our tongues (and she has since healed, in case you were wondering). My husband chose [name]Alasdair[/name] for its meaning, “protector,” as well as to honor our Scottish heritage (and it’s a name that I’ve loved for a long time, having heard it quite frequently on BBC Britcoms–my guilty pleasure). [name]Cecily[/name] got to bestow the final middle name, and at the very end we had it narrowed down to either [name]Crispin[/name] (after St. [name]Crispin[/name], whose feast day is [name]October[/name] 25th, which is close to when we found out we were expecting) or [name]Emmanuel[/name] (for its meaning, “God with us,” as well as the composer [name]Emanuel[/name] [name]Bach[/name]). After he was born, we let [name]Cecily[/name] decide which she wanted and, in her words, “he just looked more like an [name]Emmanuel[/name]” so [name]Josias[/name] [name]Alasdair[/name] [name]Emmanuel[/name] he became. Had [name]Cecily[/name] been a boy she would have been [name]Gareth[/name] [name]Emmanuel[/name], so this name is a deep connection between them, and even more so since [name]Josias[/name] looks exactly like [name]Cecily[/name] as a baby (we joke that I had twins six years apart!). I also love the connection to [name]Emanuel[/name] [name]Bach[/name], one of my favorite composers, since [name]Cecily[/name]'s name is related to St. [name]Cecilia[/name], the patron saint of music, and we are a very musical family. All in all, we adore our little baby boy and love how special his name is to us.
