What's In A Name?

My wife & I started a blog about a month back so that we can keep our family up to date on the pregnancy and all. Well I decided to write about the names we picked out, so here it is:

If it is a girl our kid will be named Kieryk Eileen

If it is a boy our kid will be named Augustine Fredryck

What is the meaning of all this, you may ask. Well, let me tell you.

Kieryk - Named after Soren Aabye Kierkegaard (1813-1855). You can google him and find out more but he is Jared's favorite philosopher, and since Jared was a philosophy major, that's a pretty big deal.

Eileen - Sarah was gracious enough to allow Jared to have the first names after philosophers and theologians but she rightfully claimed the middle names for herself (although we both love all of the names and wouldn't have it any other way). It is interesting actually, Jared's names are of philosophers and theologians, Sarah's names are of family. To be honest, this is actually quite telling of the kind of people we are. In any case, Eileen is the namesake of Sarah's beloved grandmother, from what I have heard, a beautiful lady who loved ice cream. I don't have a picture right now but I will be sure to edit this tomorrow or Sunday and get that out.

Augustine - Not the city, the saint. I know there is a major (though futile) debate amongst pseudo-intellectuals as to what is the proper way to pronounce this name. Many of you reading this will pronounce it Awe-Gus-Teen while many more of you will pronounce it Uh-Gus-Ten, we prefer the latter. I have once heard it said, "Awe-Gus-Teen is in Florida, Uh-Gus-Ten is in heaven" and well, we like heaven better. In any case, St. Augustine is an incredible theologian, arguably the most important theologian of the Ancient Church (AD 354-430). If you have never read his Confessions click HERE, it is a classic, a masterpiece, and should be read by every Christian.

Fredryck - Again, the middle names are for family. This happens to be the name of Jared's grandfather. I am almost certain he didn't spell it the same way, and everyone called him Fred, but I know for a fact that my child will not like to be called Fred.

This speaks to another thing: Who thought of shortening everyone's names? With a name like Augustine people keep asking me what I am going to call him. Hmm, let's see, why not Augustine? Do we really have to have a pet name for our kid? So please, this is for you dear mother, no "Gus" or "Auggie," only Augustine. Love you all!