Why Maren Elise...?
I still remember the spot in the road, driving along Mission Bay (in 2003!), when I said to Matt: "Actually....
Ooooooh! I think I like Maren even better than Morgan." And he said, "Ah! Me, too!"
And Maren never wore on us, not in all these years.
I love that we decided on her name in San Diego (the first time we lived here), and that she ended up being born in San Diego, coming home to a house right near Mission Bay. It's kind of sweet.
There's a logical sequence that both name-decisions have followed. Seth's went like this:
1) Williams is boring. A boring first name would be criminal!
2) Boy names are always either: a) too popular or boring, or b) bizarre.
3) We want a non-bizarre but not-popular name.
4) We want a Hebrew name.
5) We want a meaningful name, referencing God.
Seth!! It was perfect from the second we thought of it. WAY down on the Social Security Administration popularity list, yet not bizarre. Sounds great with Williams.
Looks great with Williams. And references an incredibly touching moment in the scriptures when Adam and Eve, suffering from the tragic losses of Abel and Cain, are blessed with an "appointed son" to comfort their souls.
It's more than a little hilarious that the scriptures say of Seth that he was "the perfect image" of his father. Our Seth might
look much like me, but he is Matt reborn! Really, they're indistinguishable.
(On a more serious note, I love that Adam's and Eve's Seth was said to be "the perfect image" of his father. I think that's a reference to the Father and the Son.)
Then there's Gabriel because it was the only name that ever, ever
fit with Seth Williams—the only thing that made the name seem like our child-to-be instead of just words on a page. It was
him. With the added bonus that my brother, Jordan, who we adore, is named Gabriel. (Seth was even due on his birthday! And we had picked out Seth Gabriel, with Jordan's permission,
years before. Coincidence?! :)) Seth Gabriel was his name long before we met him.
Seth's miraculous circumstances made the name so incredibly meaningful to us. He truly
is our comfort after loss. And, as the name Gabriel references, his strength is from God—he is a strong man (or boy :)) of God. We love and relate to how the angel Gabriel announced miraculous births, and brought peace and comfort to our hero: Mary.
Enter Maren...! She's named for Mary, the mother of Christ. We
love Mary. We love the nativity story for its quiet simplicity, for its meekness. We adore Joseph, and we're endlessly fascinated by and in awe of him. What a family. What beauty, and kindness, and humble meekness. Besides Jesus Christ himself, there is no one in the scriptures we love more than Mary and Joseph.
But, per the aforementioned logic, Mary Williams just
will not do. Haha! (As our friend, Amy, had said about another favorite name, Anne Williams: "She'd have to be
really pretty to pull
that one off!" Ha!) And so we turn to the Danish: Maren.
A side bonus is that Matt and I are both of Danish descent. I even have a couple Maren Rasmussens on my family tree—Rasmussen being a name that Matt and I both share, he from his mother, me from my mom's grandmother. (Don't worry. We're not related. :)) We were never ones to turn to the family tree for name inspiration, but it
is kind of fun to see a Maren Rasmussen or two on there. And even though our kids are a gazillion times more British than Danish, it's fun to remember that ancestral line in her name.
Maren—or Mary—has a disputed meaning, but we like the meanings we find. We learned when we were Hebrew students that her name (Miriam) meant "bitter," referencing the bitterness of the death of her Son. His was a "bitter cup," which His mother shared in a way unique to the world. (Does it astound you that Christ came as a baby? And was born to a woman? That even God needed a mother...! It's a beautiful thing to ponder.) We love that Mary's name carried the mission of her Son, almost like it were hers, too. We love that Maren will carry a remembrance of His sacrifice in
her name.
Mary may also mean "wished-for child." If ever there were a name appropriate for this baby!
It may also mean "beloved." Or it may mean "exalted," which we particularly like juxtaposed with "bitter"—for though He
descended below all things, His sacrifice creates
exaltation of all things. That a single word could mean
both "bitter
" and "exalted" is further testament to the reference it can be to Christ.
And as for Elise.... We were on a roll with the nativity names, so enter Elizabeth! Elise was the form of Elizabeth that we most loved with Maren. Elise was also on Matt's shortlist from the time we were married—since 2002. (I remember coming up with
that name, too! Matt was cooking in our first apartment, and I was sitting on the couch doodling names, and he said that he had always loved the name Elise. This girl of ours has had this name for
years!)
Maren gets to bear the names of two beautiful women from the world's best story—how the Love of God was made Man, how God cares for mothers!, and how miracles happen to bring babies to this earth. We have relied on the Lord to bring us our babies, too....
"Elise" references a covenant with God. We are so grateful for God's voice in our lives, and for the covenants we have made with Him. We know He is mindful of us—every moment, in every circumstance.
And so: two babies, three nativity names, four references to God's hand in their lives.
And nothing too boring.... ;-)
