What's in a name?

In celebration of the year anniversary since we told our families about our little Blueberry-to-be, the story of his name.

Our little man is getting so big and strong!!!

No, we did not name Emerson after a Shakespearean poem or character. I tried, but Iago is evil, Hamlet is whiny, Lucentio... just no...

But, I wanted to share the origin of Emerson's name because I know that someday, his 9th grade Honors English teacher will force him to write a personal narrative about the origin/meaning of his name (what?! no, not speaking from personal experience or anything... gosh...). This way, he can refer to this blog post to find out all about his name and the reason we picked it.

Emerson.
Named after the transcendentalist Ralph Waldo Emerson.
Inspired by literature and nature, two of our absolute favorite things (at least 2 of mine).
Chosen after making a list of names that started at my baby shower in Wisconsin. At that point I only had the name Spencer on the list and Kyle wasn't having it. After making a list at that shower, we had about 28 names we'd consider. Then, somewhere, at sometime, I heard someone use the name Emerson and I added it to the original list. It was written right above the name "Jameson". Irish whiskey or American author?
Then Kyle made the final decision. He just started using it instead of "Blueberry". This was at about month 6. The more he used it, the more I realized that he was serious.
Consider this parenting battle #1 won. The influence of the English teacher overcame the power of the drink.

But the reason why Emerson is such a fitting name extends far beyond the inspiration. As I began to decorate for Emerson's outdoors-themed room, I realized how many of my favorite sayings come from Emerson himself. I realized how fitting this name truly was for the lifestyle that Kyle and I try to live, and want to inspire in our son. We knew the name was perfect when we first took Emerson outside and he was completely content. He was so relaxed every time we went out for a walk. He still completely calms down when the sun hits him in the stroller. He likes to look out the window at the sky and watch the trees.

Ryder.
This name also has an important origin. I struggled with the idea for the middle name, as the original name we had thought of didn't fit nicely with "Emerson". After talking with my friend from work who was giving her son an initial that represented multiple people as a middle name, I knew what we needed to do. We had to carry on the Davis tradition of choosing middle names that begin with an "R" (for the boys). Kyle's dad, Emerson's granddad, is named "Robert", so this seems to be a tribute to him. My dad's middle name also begins with an R, so this tradition seemed to honor Emerson's grandpa Jensen as well.  The final challenge was coming up with a middle name that no one else had that started with an R (we didn't want anyone to think we were playing favorites.) I went through the baby book for this one. Sorry Emery, no awesome literary inspiration in this one, but we thought it sounded great with your first name.


And thus, Emerson Ryder came to be.

Checking myself out