Emerson Dawes Smith

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Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Emerson Dawes Smith: The Name


So, we have gotten many inquiries regarding Emerson’s name. How we came up with it, does it mean anything, what nicknames might we use etc… I thought it would be cool to share with you all why we chose her name, and what it means to us.

Her Last Name: SMITH
Well, she gets that one by default.

Her First Name: EMERSON
I never wanted to be one of those girls that had their first three children named before I even chose a husband; I just thought that was silly. As with most things I allow myself to think silly, I soon became one of those girls; at least I started a list a few years ago before we were even trying to get pregnant. I was scared once I was pregnant, I would not remember any of the names I liked.

So, I started this list, and about two years ago, Jeff found this list on my computer and in order to out me as “silly” added “Smackticia” to the list. Once we were pregnant, Jeff would periodically review my list, and as it turned out, Emerson was his favorite. So, we chose her name because of my four naming rules, and because it was the one name we both liked. As time went by, I found myself using “Emerson” more often to describe her than our nickname “Sprout” and that was that.

Her Middle Name: DAWES
Dawes is a family name taken from Jeff’s side. You can learn more about the Dawes family via Wikepedia. That said, there is a special reason why we chose this particular family name for our little girl. Here is the list we came up with.

1. Family Name: This name connects her to a piece of her family heritage. That is important because she will be born into a strong family legacy on all fronts. The use of this name serves to always remind her that she is a part of a larger community.

2. Kelly: She would share this middle name with her Aunt Kelly; we hope this will inspire her to share a number of admirable traits with Kelly as well. Her Aunt Kelly is a strong, independent woman who loves adventure. She lives her life fearlessly and intentionally. She loves passionately and perseveres for excellence. Kelly serves as an example of many things we hope for our daughter. We hope that the sharing of this name will inspire her to adopt these qualities we admire so much in Kelly.

3. Its pretty: and we like it.


So, there you have it. Why/How we named our daughter.

Oh, and we have no specific nicknames in mind; I expect Emerson will use her full name for most things. That said, the nicknames she has adopted in the first few weeks of life: “Squeaky” and “Milk Face”. Only time will tell if those names stick.

1 comment:

song said...

Emerson's nose is adorable! And great name!