Lana James Cypert

On my sweetest (and first official) mother's day, my love gave me the best gift I can imagine...he named our baby girl.

We had been thinking about names all along, but with the news that she is a "girl" our list dwindled down significantly.  Top considerations in the name search?  (1)  We want something classic.  Something that could withstand the ages and that is not too trendy or hip.  (2)  We want something unique.  We don't want our daughter going to school with 10 other kids sporting the same name.  (3)  We want something with a beautiful meaning befitting of it's assignee. (4)  Finally, we want something that will be beautiful at any age.   Nothing too cutesy or childish, but also nothing too old-woman sounding either.

So, in the end, it came down to just a few names.   Many of our favs were automatically excluded because they have become so popular in the last couple years  (Olivia, Isabel, and Eva to name a few). So, my top contenders were Lana, Laurel, or Ingrid.  Lana and Laurel both as a nod to my beautiful sister Laura and one of my favorite all-time actresses Lana Turner.  Ingrid because I have always thought this was a beautiful, classic, but exotic name. Tom's one and only pick was Kimber.  And, may God strike me dead if I'm lying, his pick was in honor of a gun manufacturer.  LOL!

The one thing we knew is that our daughter's middle name would be "James."   I have always liked females with masculine middle names.  And of course, I have talked at length about the special relationship I shared with my beloved Papaw, James Isadore Caudill.  The name James would also link to Tom's family history.  He is actually related to Jesse James.  And yes, that Jesse James.  His Grandmother, who is still alive and kicking in Oklahoma, was a "James" before marriage and first cousin to the famous outlaw. 
 
So, as I paired my top three first names with the middle name "James," Lana quickly took the lead.  This left two options:  Lana James Cypert OR Kimber James Cypert.  I like Kimber and think it is actually a very pretty name.  My only hesitation was that I could not imagine the name "Kimber" on a business card of a 40 year old (yes, I'm OCD and think about these things).  So, we would need to legally make the name Kimberly, and I'm not a fan.  Therefore, we have been debating this point all week.  It was a Mexican standoff, neither of us was willing to budge.  Little did I know that my dear husband was waiting to surprise me for Mother's Day.

We decided to leave the debate for a couple of days and took off for my Uncle's lake house this weekend.  Tom started calling the baby "Chiliwack" as a joke.  So, this weekend, it was "Chiliwack this, and Chiliwack that."  I had resigned myself to the notion that we would not agree on a name for our daughter until she was staring at us in the delivery room. 

 But last night, Tom came in with two cards (he is as bad as I am about gifts/holidays.  We are so impatient and can never wait!).  One was from him, and the other was from our unborn daughter.  There in blue ink, Tom had signed the card in feigned kid-writing "Lana James Cypert."  Turns out he had been purposefully pretending not to like the name "Lana" all week, just so he could surprise me and 'give in' on Mother's Day!

So, it is official.  In October, we will welcome a baby girl named Lana James Cypert.  Pronounced "Lah-Nah" and rhyming with wanna.  It was originally of Greek origin, but has been adopted by several other cultures over the centuries.  It has several different meanings according to the culture:  Celtic & Irish/English - Attractive, Peaceful;  Polish / Hawaiian - To Float, calm waters;  finally Greek / Slavic / Russian - Light/Holy.  It has not been widely used since the 1950's in the United States, and hopefully will remain unique.  Last but not least, we think it is a beautiful and classic name.  One that our little lady can wear from the cradle to the grave with pride. 

P.S.  I secretly believe Tom is giving in on this name just so he can name our next child unfettered, but I guess that remains to be seen.  ;)  Either way, we are both beyond thrilled and eager with anticipation to meet little Lana in October!!!!!