The Name Game

Megan asked if I would write something about why we picked the names. I wanted a Biblical name and Megan wanted a name that was unique and had meaning. We threw around many names for a boy and we agreed on Jordan.

Jordan is not an incredibly common name, so that made Megan happy. There is no person named Jordan in the Bible, at least that I am aware of, but there is a river!!! The Jordan is the river that Joshua and the Israelites crossed over to get to the land that God promised them (Joshua 1:2). Also, Jesus was baptized in the Jordan by John the Baptist (Matthew 3:13-17). If God gives us a boy first, and we don't care if baby is a boy or girl, we just want what God wants to give us, we pray that he will be "strong and courageous" like Joshua (and Caleb) were. That our son can realized the life and blessings that God wants to give him, he just has to be strong enough to reach out and grab the blessings. I also threw out Joshua, Caleb, Josiah (the child-king) and Micah to Megan, all of which were shot down. I threw out another name that she liked and we will probably use it for our second boy (if we have one). The name is a secret because we are naming him after a good friend of ours. The middle name is Henry after my father, whom we both respect and love with all our hearts.

We picked the name Marilyn after Megan's grandma. She played, and still plays, a great role in Megan's life. She is a very sweet woman who had 12 kids over a period of 20 years, yeah, she was pretty much pregnant for 20 years. I actually asked her permission to marry Megan because she is that important to Megan. I call her the matriarch because the family is closely tied to her. We will call the girl Mary for short, which if you're not an idiot you know is a Biblical name. Elizabeth is Megan's mom's middle name, who we also love (and makes a great rack of ribs!!!). Mary, the mother of Jesus, had faith and trust in God that I can only dream of. When Gabriel told Mary that she would have God's son, she replies, "I am the Lord's servant, may it be to me as you have said" (Luke 1:38). We pray that our daughter would have faith and trust like that. The only other girl name was Rachel, which we may use some day. So there you have it, the story behind the names.