Greetings from one Biblical Studies Scholar to another, and congratulations on your miracle baby!
I donât typically think that changing a babyâs name is a good idea, but I think itâs definitely something to consider in your case. A long prayed for daughter with a name that feels wrong every time you say itâunless youâre husband is opposed to it, I would go ahead and change it to something you love.
Some gentle girl Bible namesâ
[name]Abigail[/name]
[name]Anna[/name]
[name]Damaris[/name]
[name]Elizabeth[/name](might have special meaning for a mama who has long prayed for a baby)
[name]Hannah[/name] (another woman who waiting a long time for a baby)
[name]Leah[/name]
[name]Lydia[/name]
[name]Mary[/name]
[name]Magdalene[/name]/[name]Magdalena[/name] (I really love this one for you for some reason)
[name]Miriam[/name]
[name]Naomi[/name]
[name]Priscilla[/name]
[name]Rachel[/name]
[name]Rebekah[/name]
[name]Ruth[/name]
[name]Sarah[/name]
[name]Selah[/name]
[name]Susanna/name (one of my favorites)
[name]Tabitha[/name]
Or maybe a virtue name like [name]Faith[/name], [name]Grace[/name], [name]Hope[/name] or [name]Mercy[/name]?
I think the idea of keeping [name]Ryleigh[/name]/[name]Riley[/name] as her middle name is a great one. I hope you can come up with the perfect name for your precious little girl.
Again, Congratulations on your miracle baby! 12yrs is a long and lonely road. Her name should.reflect yourjoy.
Since youre worried about names being taken, but want a biblical name, do you want unusual Bible names?
[name]Love[/name] the suggestion of Cana [name]Riley[/name] or Cana [name]Ryleigh[/name]!
Cana seems too symbolic to pass up! Wandering in the wilderness for years searching for the promised land! Im getting emotional writing this and its not even my situation LOL
Another idea is [name]Seraphina[/name] [name]Riley[/name]. [name]Seraphina[/name] is soft and of course angelic. And with loads of nicknames.
On one hand, i think its hard to know when a name âfitsâ a baby. i found it harder with my girls. Names are like outfits. Girls have unlimited styles and outfits they can wear.depending on their mood. Boys styles and outfits are.definately more limited, they all kinda look the same. I definately doubted both my girls around the same age when their personality begins to develop. Now that they are older, even the Trendy middle nam spelling i really dont like, fits her, because now that shes.starting to have a.peer group, i realize her.trendy name fits her because she is.trendy! I realized a great parenting lesson here. [name]Love[/name].them for.who they are, not what you want them to be⌠i always said she named herself because.its.not a name i really even like. But it fits her. Its totally her. Im proud of her name because.Im.proud of her. I dont have to love her middle name.because i love her. Give her some time, she might surprise you.
But flipside, name story is.everything. Its all how you present it. Its the first gift we give to our children. My mother told me my name was a compromise. They couldnt agree on anything, and this name was the Only one they both could live with. So i cant stand my name. it doesnt fit me at all. Im not attached. I ended up going by a different nickname that fits me better, one im attached to.However, my middle name is after my aunt. Tho im not particularly fond.of the style, I love it because it has thought and meaning.
So basically, I would say look around some more to try to find âThe [name]One[/name]â (please.choose Cana! ) But if you dont find it, keep it the way.it is and change your naming story around to something like⌠it doesnt make any sense why we named her this, it doesnt match our style, she named herself! And enjoy watching her grow up and see.how it will fit her later on. Whatever you decide, make sure you present Ryleighs naming story to her with grace.and love just like how.you love on her every.day
[name]Happy[/name] naming! you are doing a great job, mama!
hahaha as soon as i wrote that i realized i was mixed up. [name]Canaan[/name] is the promised land. LOL whoops.
Cana is the place of [name]Jesus[/name]â first miracle. haha That could also work for you too
I havenât taken the time to read through this whole topic so I may just be saying what others have saidâŚ
With my first baby [name]Scarlett[/name], DH and I had had her name chosen for nearly a year before she was born, and when she came along, [name]Scarlett[/name] just âfitâ her and she has most definitely grown with the name. When we decided to have a second we thought that if it was a boy we would âreuseâ the name we had chosen if [name]Scarlett[/name] had been a boy, [name]Thomas[/name], and so we spent no time on thinking of names for him, when he was born he didnât feel like a [name]Thomas[/name] but we had no other options and we didnât want to go home without hime having a name, he was nameless for 3 days before we just decided to put [name]Thomas[/name] down. [name]Thomas[/name] just didnât fit our baby boy and so after 3 months of âlivingâ with it we decided enough was enough and we just had to change his name! Now [name]Felix[/name] [name]Atticus[/name] suits our energetic, fiesty little six year old.
If you believe that [name]Ryleigh[/name] doesnât suit her then I firmly believe you should change it!
[name]How[/name] does your husband feel about changing her name? If heâs not for it ("name doesnât matter, itâs just a bunch of letters ") then Iâm not sure if fantasizing about what you âcouldâ name her is a great idea. I hope he does understand how you feel, or that you do feel so strongly about it and he is supportive of a change, but if he isnât, Iâd personally focus my energies on using her name more often, and perhaps a more fitting nickname could come out of it. What if you call her [name]Leah[/name] as a nickname for ryleigh (i also knew a girl named [name]Leigh[/name]), it would work so nicely without having to change anything.
I just wanted to thank everyone so much for taking the time to write such lovely, thoughtful responses. I deeply appreciate all the thoughts and will definitely be updating this thread as soon as I find some time thatâs not 3:43 AM! My little nameless eflkin woke up in the night for the first time in months and we had a little heart-to-heart about how Mommy thinks she messed up naming her. It was exactly the moment I needed to sort of move forward and make a decision.
[name]Will[/name] definitely be back with an update!
I agree with changing [name]Riley[/name] to her middle name with that spelling. I also like the suggestions of [name]Lydia[/name] [name]Riley[/name] and [name]Anna[/name] [name]Riley[/name]
[name]Just[/name] for some support in the name-change department: My parents didnât like what I was called as a baby, so they changed it. In the course of your dear daughterâs life, being called a different name a few months in the beginning wonât taint her forever. Sheâll feel unique that you took extra special consideration in giving her the perfect name. I still think itâs funny to look back at pictures of me as a little infant, and on the back of the picture is written my old name and my age.
I echo what the others said about using [name]Riley[/name] as a middle name and either using [name]Ariana[/name] or a biblical alternative as a first.
Could I suggest [name]Hanna[/name] [name]Riley[/name]?
In the bible, [name]Hanna[/name] prayed many, many years for a child and was granted a precious son who became one of the greatest leaders of his people.
