We have had this name picked out for quite some time and I am absolutely in LOVE with it.
Suzanna Grace Moore
Try it...with a deep southern accent. I melt! We are going to go with the full double name, Suzanna Grace. Not Suzanna, not Grace (though both alone are still beautiful)...and no, Geoff and Reno, not Sue...beautiful Suzanna Grace.
First of all, I have prayed for this season of life for as long as I can remember. Praying that the good Lord would bless us with children and that God willing somewhere in the mix there would be a daughter (and then maybe another so that she can have a sister...)
Suzanna is in honor of my mother and her SuSu, Suzanne. I have the Anne in my name because of ole Suzanne and was actually born on her 28th birthday. While Suzanna Grace will miss the shared birthday she will have that special tie to her maternal grandmother. What an honor for Kyle and me to be able to name our daughter after such an outstanding woman. She is one of if not THE most selfless, Godly, and positive people that I know. My Momma, y'all, she is the oldest of 5, mother of 4, and dear friend to all. She has taught me everything that I know about being kind and motherly to everyone. When I go back home and someone realizes that I am "Mrs. Ray's daughter" they tear up with a story of how special she has been in their child's life as their teacher or in their own personal life. She is quite popular...and for such special reasons. She has never met a stranger.
She chose to stay at home with four kids for 15 years and has told me before that during that time we lived on love, though we would have never known it. She was Pinterest before there was Pinterest, using cookie cutters to make boxed ice cream into the shape of hearts for a Barbie themed birthday party...creating timeless matching, handmade outfits for my siblings and me for every holiday from birth until my pre-teen years...and the list goes on.
We (MA, Rob, and Duff) thought that we were the luckiest kids in the world because we had a backyard that was perfect for slip and slide parties, a pool that we lived at during the summers right there in our neighborhood, and then later a front yard that hosted a pond with lots of fish and a paddle boat. My Momma drove the same station wagon until the pedometer flipped back to 0 (this is no joke...we have it on VHS) and then the same big blue van that carted 20+ teenagers each Friday all around Madison until the air went out and the windows stopped rolling down/popping out. She only decided that she HAD to get a new vehicle when I got engaged and she realized that MA and I would have to ride around in the hot van when we came home for wedding planning.
My Momma and Daddy have sacrificed our whole lives for us to be able to know what blessings really are and that the simple things are the best things. I could not think of a more perfect name to give our first born as we pray that we will be able to emulate these teachings in our own parenting.
Rob shared this version of "Oh Suzanna" with us over Thanksgiving and I cannot stop listening to it. A dear friend, Krista Shows, was learning to play the guitar and was just playing around when she recorded it but I think it's beautiful.
Grace is in honor of Kyle's dad, Mr. Jim, and in memory of his late mother, our Grandmother Grace. Though I did not have the privilege of spending much time with her, Kyle has memories of her playing poker with her grandsons in the back of their camper and their time together every Christmas.
Most important to us is that Grandmother Grace is the woman who raised our Suzanna Grace's Big Jim, a man who we admire more than words can express. He, along with Kyle's Mom, have supported us in all that we have ever done. When Kyle got the opportunity to play soccer at Northwestern they both spent tireless hours doing research, saving for, and encouraging him to venture out to Chicago. Growing up, Kyle says that he remembers his Dad coming straight from work, changing in the car, and watching or coaching every soccer game he and his brothers ever played. That in addition to working tirelessly as a lawyer to support their family of five.
Something that I too love about our Big Jim is his love for spending time with us, his family. I have spent many, many family vacations with The Moore's and have enjoyed the adventures that he takes us, and really whichever friends want to go, on throughout the years. Whenever we are together, Kyle and his brothers, to this day, spend hours telling stories about these trips. We know that this love for your family is first instilled by your mother which is, again, a reason for our wish to honor Big Jim through our "Grace".
When it comes to words of wisdom, we have quoted and lived by Big Jim sayings and so have our friends. As I was starting grad school he told me, "Two years is going to pass no matter what...in the end you'll either have your masters or you won't but the time will still pass..." He told the same thing to Kyle as he contemplated his decision to start at Kellogg. Such an obvious statement, yet so true and exactly what we needed to hear and be reminded of. When my sweet and modest Kyle decided to move jobs and received a heartfelt and encouraging email from his former boss I forwarded it on to Mr. Jim. He replied with how proud he was of BOTH of us, reminding me that behind every successful man is the woman who has and continues to support him. He also went on to remind me that his father had three kids while he put himself through graduate school and that Kyle and I could do this same. Just like his other suggestions and boosts of confidence, I took those words to heart and told Kyle that it was time to start our own family.
That Big Jim is so excited about his sweet GrandGIRL and we pray that we will continue to learn from he and Mrs. Jeane about what it means to love unconditionally and raise Suzanna Grace in the ways that they have found so successful.
When choosing a name, we wanted something beautiful and a little different, a name that everyone would know without having to ask her last name, though she will be proud of "MOORE" too. We wanted to choose names that would honor those most important in our lives and, soon, our children’s too. Whenever we daydream about our Suzanna Grace we picture every good quality possessed by Kyle and me, as well as by her grandparents, aunts, and uncles. We see her being a friend to everyone...never meeting a stranger and making everyone feel that they are friends with her, because they are. We see her as being a tomboy but also a girlie girl...a perfect blend of a carefree bohemian spirit and a type A personality. We picture a kind-hearted little girl with precious little angel kisses across her nose and slightly wavy hair.
She will be, in our eyes, perfect. Sure, she'll get into a little trouble here and there and she'll throw a fit or two in front of large crowds...she'll probably even embarrass US by doing things that we once said, "My child will NEVER do..." but our precious daughter will be our first...our learning experience. We will make mistakes with her too...but we will live and learn and rejoice in each day that the Lord gives us to be her parents. While she is still "cooking" she has already blessed us in more ways than words can even express. She has already changed our lives.
Most importantly, our Suzanna Grace will be loved unconditionally, taught to love Jesus, and to treat others as herself because that is what her name sakes have taught us.
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When I first found out that we would be welcoming Baby MO into this world I moved all of my "Baby Names" from the Notes app on my phone into a Google spreadsheet (OCD?) and created the following headings: Name, Rationale (family significance, origin, etc), Initial Thought, and After [thinking about it for a while]. A lot goes into a name and, let's be honest, it sticks with you for your whole life...being the first thing that people know about you. They did a study in that book Freakanomics where they end up finding that your name does not have the greatest impact on how successful you are but that people have strong opinions about where resumes with "different or unusual" names go after being received. As my sweet brother in law, Timmy, reminded me, you also have to consider the nicknames, both sweet and ugly, that people will generate from your chosen Baby name.
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Bless him, I cannot imagine that our friend Brad Templin's mother would have ever thought that her son would eventually only go by the name: Toes, Taco, Tac Meat, Meat, Templin, or Temple Toes. I mean goodness his middle name is Axel (a strong contender for Baby BOY Moore by the way Uncle Toes) and that gem of a name isn't even a part of our nickname bank.
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I guess you just have to pray that your child is surround by best friends that care about and love them enough to have fun (and by all means SAFE) stories from which they create said nicknames.
We also had a handsome boy name chosen, and will use it for a future Moore Boy. As soon as I heard Kyle's Momma say it, I knew that we would call our son by the name... It happens to be a nick-name of Mrs. Jeane's paternal grandfather. I won't share it just yet because when Baby BOY MO comes a few years down the line, we hope...for Kyle's sake, we will use this name. It's actually what we, and our families, called Baby MO until we found out that "he" was a SHE.
A few other fun facts about her name:
Suzanna: lily or rose
-In 2012 only 183 girls were named a variation of Susannah. One site also said that less than 5 boys received the name. Bless those poor boys' hearts. That reminds me of the Johnny Cash song, Boy Named Sue. |
- Susannah is one of the loveliest names that, surprisingly, is not in the Top 1000--and hasn't been since 1978-- though we expect that to change as soon as the memory of too many older Susans and Susies fades. Susannah and Susanna seem to have traded place over time as the dominant version. How do they differ? The h-less version feels a bit more streamlined and modern, and might refer more directly to an ancestor named Ann or Anna, while Susannah seems more old-school Biblical and self-contained.
Grace: God's Favor and love towards mankind
- People with this name are excellent at analyzing, understanding, and learning. They tend to be mystics, philosophers, scholars, and teachers. When presented with issues, they will see the larger picture. People with this name have a deep inner desire for a stable, loving family or community, and a need to work with others and to be appreciated.
And of course...one of my all time favorite songs. It reminds me of my PawPaw:
