Baby name meanings are so interesting – I love hearing how people came up with what to name their kids! I thought with the arrival of little girl Joy a couple of weeks ago, I’d share our own baby name meanings with you. I don’t think I wrote about that when Phil was born!

One thing we did with our kids was to keep the names we picked under strict lock and key until they were born. Not only was the surprise fun for everyone, but it also ensured that there was no outside input… This was something totally between my husband and I, and I really liked that.

But that also adds a little pressure to NOT SCREW IT UP. Cuz there’s no one there to tell you before the baby gets here that your plan to name it Sasquatch is a terrible idea.

When Josh and I decided to start trying to have kids, we knew straight off the bat that if we had a boy, his name would be Philip (Phil for short). That was Josh’s dad’s name, and it was a total no-brainer as a name for our little guy.

I never met Josh’s dad, which is something I think about to this day. I hate that, because by all accounts he was an amazing man with a great sense of humor. Almost 10 years ago, that Phil was volunteering with San Bernadino Search and Rescue, and his team was on their way to find a lost hiker when a drunk driver hit their car head on. Naming our kid after him helps memorialize Josh’s dad… Though it feels like such a tiny tribute for such a good dude.

Phil and Joy share a middle name, Newton, which is tradition on my husband’s side of the family. They’re distant relatives of Sir Isaac Newton – the gravity guy. (Fancy!) They’ve taken the phrase “everyone and their brother” literally… It’s Josh’s middle name, his dad’s middle name, his brother Chris’ middle name…

Our daughter Joy’s first name didn’t come along as easily as Phil’s. As years passed and we tried to have another kid, and even when we didn’t know if Phil was going to be a boy or girl… We never really knew what we would name that girl if we had one.

Early on with this pregnancy, we threw around a couple of names that sounded okayyyyy, but didn’t really stick. One of em I liked was Maya – I heart Maya Angelou, and Maya Rudolph was one of the funniest gals on Saturday Night Live, so maybe there was something to that? But both Josh and I weren’t 100% on that name… And to top it off we were kind of thinking another boy would just be easier anyways… I mean we had so many bags of little boy clothes in the attic that Phil had outgrown!

But then, the weekend before our ultrasound where we found out what we were having… Inspiration hit.

I’ve mentioned before – that weekend was the first time Phil all of a sudden acknowledged it could possibly be a girl in my tummy, after weeks of telling anyone that would listen it was going to be a boy.

Even more profound to me was the book club at church the next evening. (This was the night before the ultrasound.)

My friend Heather had started a group that met on Sunday evenings to read the book The Power of a Positive Mom. Each week, we’d get together and talk about the next couple of chapters in the book. We’d all bring our copies of the book with us, and as Heather led us in discussions on what was covered, we’d follow along. I don’t remember what chapters we were discussing that Sunday night, but more than once I saw that word Joy on the page and it just jumped out at me and slapped me in the face each time I saw it.

It was the perfect little girl name.

I went home after our book group that night and told Josh if we were having a girl, we really should name her Joy.

When I stop and think about it, I wanna cry. That might still be pregnancy hormones talking. BUT —

Josh and I didn’t have an easy time making 2 kids happen. We’ve suffered multiple miscarriage heartbreaks to finally see that little sister for Phil come along. We’ve also worked really hard to have the happy and ridiculous relationship we’ve got. Therapy to work out things in my own past, making the decision together to leave Southern California for greener (sometimes waterlogged) pastures in Georgia, finding our church family out here…

We’ve just worked really hard for Joy in every aspect of our lives, you know? Huge thanks to Heather for leading that The Power of a Positive Mom book group – without you, this baby might have actually been named Sasquatch.

Do you have any special baby name meanings to share?

Leave how you came up with what to name your kids in the comments!