Family History: The blessing of a name

My baby turns 12 soon.  Thinking back reminds me of how we came upon her name.  She is Gabrielle Marie.  But we call her Elle, not Gabby.  That was the one thing my husband and I both wanted too.  We did not want our daughter called Gabby.  And you know she is not Gabby.  Elle is more appropriate for this beautiful girl.  Although we all love this name for her it wasn't the name that we were originally going to give her.  We were going to name her......

Mary Irene.  Mary after my mother and my grandmother Millers mother, and Irene after my mothers mother and and my grandmother.  But my mother seemed to not want us to call her Mary, or perhaps she was just being modest. I also wanted to name her Mary because my mother is my best friend. I always wanted to have a little girl so I could have a best friend type relationship like I have with my mom with her.  My husband does not think this will happen. I can still hope.  My mother is just a wonderful person who has always inspired me to be the best I could be, and to work hard.
  It just so happened that I got a movie called Rigoletto while I was pregnant and in it there is a beautiful fairy princess who is a wonderful singer named Princess Gabriella.  And from that point on my little baby was going to be Princess Gabriella.  Well Princess Gabrielle.  Because her Nana (my wonderful mother-in-law)  Was a beautiful singing princess.  So I thought perhaps I'd get a beautiful singer too.  She can sing OK, but nothing like her Nana.  But she is a beautiful princess to me.  Perhaps a little spoiled too. She takes after me and is very good at sports.  She is taking Karate right now and soon will be playing basketball too. 

Her middle name I wanted to be Mary for my mom, but Mary doesn't go to well with Gabrielle and so we changed it a little to be Marie.  Gabrielle Marie... 
Have you wondered where you got your name or what it means.  I often tell my daughter where her name has come from and why.  Then I tell her do you know what your name means?  There are many baby websites that allow you to look up the meaning of your name.  Her name means "The Lord is my strength."  I think looking back I might have stuck with Mary.  I'm not sure what Mary means.  But I know this the Lord is strong.  My daughter has a strong will.  She is not one to cross.   

Here she is with her grandmother when she was eight.  This was a special day for her it was her baptism day.  She was so happy that all her family came for this special day.

Here are the two beautiful princesses too.  Elle and her Nana.  This was at her first fashion show with her Nana.  She definitely got her blue eyes from her Nana's family.  So in the theme of names I've dedicated this page to my daughter and how she got her name.  If she was a boy we were going to name her Calvin John.  Although I think I might have gotten my husband to do John Calvin instead.  When I get closer to my son's name I'll tell you about how he got his name.  Hope this post makes you think about your name and who you may be named after, or perhaps makes you think about what your name means and if perhaps that has been a part of who you are.  Good luck on your family history search.
G.G.