Naming Lenna

As I’m sure you already know, naming a child is a difficult task. I mean, how are you to know which name will fit best for someone you don’t even truly know yet? 

For years (even before I met Dane), I’ve been saving my favorite names to a note in my phone. I think by the time we came around to picking a name, we didn’t agree on a single name on my list. ​

For every big life event Dane and I have shared together, he has one big requirement he likes to throw out. For our wedding, the requirement was that he wanted to get married with a view. Specifically either a lake or mountains. Well folks, we live in Missouri. Not a lot of mountains around, so I found a beautiful lake that had all the things we’d need for a beautiful wedding. 

For buying a new house (our current house), his requirement was that it had to have a place he could claim as a workshop so he could continue on with the furniture making venture we started a few years back. 

So for naming our first child, his one requirement was that her name had to be rare. Although I agreed that I didn’t want her to be one of three Britney’s or Jessica’s in her classroom, coming up with a name that was rare but not weird is a fiiiiinnnee line. And most names I found to be rare, weren’t rare enough for Dane. I was really starting to panic that we’d not have a name chosen before I’d go into labor. 

I remember going out to Noodles & Company for a mac n cheese fix, and spending our entire dinner on baby name websites and apps. Guys, I used every tool available to help find a name we both could get behind. ​​

Then one day, I decided to get on my favorite site of all time: Pinterest. I typed rare baby girl names into the search bar and scrolled for what felt like forever until I came upon ‘Lenna’. I mean, woah. What a BEAUTIFUL name! I could see her immediately as either a big personality or more reserved. I could see her as a soccer player or a piano player. It seemed to work with every version of her I painted in my mind. ​

So then I dug into its rarity. Check! And it’s meaning? It’s come to be known as “lion strength”, “lion-strong”, or “lion-hearted”. And to top it all off, it’s origin is German. SOLD! Both Dane and I have German ancestors and maintain a relationship with the country and a few of it’s residents. It really couldn’t be more perfect of a name for our first born.

Thanks so stopping by and reading my sweet little story. :)

XO -Heather