Danielle Burkleo

what’s in a name

All Posts, Life + Home, Motherhood0
these two elderly neighbor ladies stopped by my house the other day. they don’t know me but they knew i had a baby… they hide out in the bushes and stalk me.
i’m kidding.
sort of.
they must have saw me waddling down the street last month or something.
anywho, they may or may not be a little hard of hearing. and they think my daughter’s name is dory.
you know… like the fish in finding nemo.
(image from google images)
d o  r  y.
after repeating myself six times and them still not understanding that her name is S T O R Y i just went with it.
why yes, her name is dory.
whatevs.
they don’t get it.
anytime someone asks me her name that is over the age of 40 they give me a puzzled look.
story like the book, people.
story book. story time. read me a story. get it?
her middle name is kate. i am mildly obsessed with the middle name kate. i think it’s all sorts of beautiful. and my mom and mother-in-law’s names are kathy and kathleen.
(sweet embroidery hoop from my friend nat at take the cannoli)
caleb and i learned our lesson after we had brody. people be crazy about babynames. crazay.
his name means a muddy ditch for those of you wondering. ya heard?
so many people had so much to say about his name, opinions flying around, all over the place. we decided with our future children we would not share their names. it’s less likely that someone is going to tell you they hate your child’s name when they are holding her in your arms. can i get an amen?
sidenote: there will still be people who tell you hate your child’s name when they are holding her. ignore them.
we did tell my family her name once we were sure. my dad hated it  and i told him the more he hates a name, the more i love it. thanks dad! my sisters liked it and also had hysterical comments for the other names that were in the running in the beginning that made me laugh so hard i almost wet myself. or maybe i did wet myself. my mom loved it. she smiled and nodded a lot. more people should do that.
i love to hear what you’re naming your baby if you want to share. i love to hear different, original names and beautiful, classic ones too. but here’s the thing. IT’S YOUR BABY, YO. you name your child what you love. i’ll name my child what i love. and i won’t ever judge. i promise.
we all ask ourselves, why would someone care what i’m naming my child? but they do, my friends.
oooh, they do.
and, for the unmentioned person that could possibly be related to me, that insisted story is not name…uh, yes it is. and if there wasn’t another child in the world named story, which there are plenty of, then we just made it a name. what now.
and now comes the part where i happily tell you i have no baby name regret. which is a real thing… like a disorder or something. google it. i wondered for months after foster was born if we named him the right name. and now i could never imagine him any other name than our little fozzi moe moe. i never wondered with our story girl. when i saw her i knew. and her name kept being confirmed to me over and over again before she was born.
there is so much i pray for story. i pray she is strong and independent. i pray she always sees herself as the beautiful girl she is. i pray for her decisions. i pray for her future. i pray for her to not settle. i pray for her to chase her wildest dreams. i pray for her to embrace her individuality. but most of all? i pray for her heart. i pray that she gives it to the one, true God. that she comes to know Jesus Christ as her personal Lord and Savior.

i pray that her story becomes His story.
i pray that she brings glory to His name.
that in sharing her story she makes His story known.
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Comments

  1. My baby isn't even born and someone's already told me they don't like her name. Whatevs.

    I'm obsessed with Kate. I mean……

  2. I too am obsessed with Kate…hence my little gal is Emma Kate:) in love with it!! And in love with the name Story:) darling!!!!!!!

  3. no one ever told me how much anxiety would come from naming my baby – but it sure does and you're never going to make everyone happy. i couldn't help smiling when reading about "dory" – to funny! some people just never get it right. i still know someone who calls my ben "benny" – i can't stand that! 🙂 no matter how many times i stress his name "ben" or "benjamin" it doesn't matter. story and kate are both lovely names.

  5. i am head over heels in love with the name story! seriously. i'm not lying.

    we named my one and only miracle of a gift sookie. yes. sookie sierra. yes indeed after a telepathic fairy in a vampire show, *and* my little sister who passed away. some relatives still pronounce it sue-key, which is super annoying, but whatever! we love her and we know why we chose it and really, i don't think much else matters!

    love & light to you pretty lady!
    xo.

  6. I think you picked a beautiful name! She looks to fit it perfectly. My goal is to pick out beautiful semi-unique names for my future children. names that are easily pronounced and not entirely unheard of, but a name that he/she won't share with their entire kindergarten class!

  7. My son is named Camp. My husband only likes names that should be last names. I think we should just roll with 'places you go theme.' "Yup that one is Camp…like Summer Camp and yup that one is Park…like the place with swings." Camp Andrews… It is also a boys retreat in California. Good thing we live in Florida.

    I have a friend that I meet through MOPS named Fame. Irony of that is that for two months I couldn't for the life of me remember what her name was. I kept playing that "Hey girl," game.
    Thanks for sharing your story! I am sure you'll never hear that one again 😉

    • you are hysterical. i love it. and i LOVE camp, i know if i tell my husband that name he will insist on naming a future son that 😉

  8. I have a suuuuper unique name. It's always getting mispronounced. I'm used to it. It's Lei as in hawaiin Leo.and shell. But still, over their heads. And always puzzled when they hear it. But I feel unique and couldn't imagine muddy with another name. People always have opinions about everything, especially kids…ignore…who cares I say! My son is named Eli. It is always mispronounced Ellie…come on people, did we go to school? It bugs me, but what can you do?! Story is a sweet name and has so many cute ways to insert it. " story has a story to tell":)

  9. And Again with a comment about my J.O.B….in my line of work as an L&D nurse, i hear it all. I have heard names i LOVED, names i hated, names i couldn't pronounce or spell but do you know what the best thing is about a babies name? The look on that mommy and daddys face when they hold their sweet, tiny gift from God and say it to that babe for the first time- That my friend, is amazing!

    Someone always has an opinion.
    BTW- i love Kate too-helllo AND my oldest is BrAdy 🙂

    • love, love, love this. so true. and have i told you how totally jealous of your job i am? i want it. but i don't want to go back to school 🙂

  10. You just made me laugh…and cry in this post! You are great!! Oh, people can be so funny with their opinions. I love names. Story Kate is a powerful name…it is truly beautiful 🙂

  11. I LOVE THE NAME STORY, obviously!!!! i pray all those things for my story girl. it makes me so so so so so so happy that you have a story, too.
    we get all KINDS OF COMMENTS about wilder and story's names. "your son must really be wild if he has that name" "wow you were really IN for it when you named him that; he's gonna be wild."
    tori, dory?? no…STORY!! as in, story book?
    yes.
    oh dear.

  12. Danielle I think Story Kate is a beautiful name (admittedly I wouldn't choose it as my mum repeatedly says to me 'I hope that you will just pick 'normal' names for your children' and as there are lots of 'normal' names I love that's fine!)
    gosh I hope mentioning that isn't rude?! (wasn't meant to be!)

    • hahah not rude at all. im sure dad wishes i choose "normal" names but that's just not our thing 🙂

  13. i have three girls with 'different' from the ' normal' names. i get people who like them and people who stare blankly at me like i just named my baby 'cheesepuff' or something…i don't think they are that out there.
    anyhoo…their names Indie May, Honor Violet and Daisy Willow.

  15. amen, amen, and amen again. seriously learned our lesson with baby #1, even though we didn't even know what we were having. always knew a boy would be lute, which some family members insisted until the day of his birth, was an unsuitable name. whatevs indeed. obviously we ignored them and now keep all names under lock and seal. but i am ready for that girl of mine to show her face, 'cause her name's been picked out for ages.

    but enough about me.

    i ADORE story's name. and her cute little face 🙂

    • thank you friend!! i can't waiiiiit to hear your sweet girl's name. you know my email 😉

  16. suuuper funny today, pal. love your words and your determination to stand up for Story and her awesome name! i wish MY name was Story, k? as for the old ladies thinking she's named Dory, well today an old lady totally scolded me and told me to put my cell phone away in an elevator because she was convinced it was interfering with the elevator's electronics. in the name of honor, i kindly obeyed her crazy self.

  17. How funny. I think her name is beautiful and your hopes for her are far more precious.

  18. My grandfather hated my name when my parents told him, he said it wasn't a name either and that I've never be able to spell it! But he got over it and 25 years later he'd probably swear he never said that! Lol! If Gianna had been a boy she was going to be Rocker Jack. And oh, we heard it about the name Rocker ("as in an old people rocker? Like a rocking chair?!") Yup. But we loved it. My mom said after Gianna was born that God didn't "bless me with a boy" because I had such a hideous name picked out. Yeah, she said that. She named me Alaythea. Come on already! Lol! I love Story's name, and yes, it's a name!

  19. Amen, Sista! Amen!!!!!

    SO irritating when people insist on giving you their opinion on what you are naming YOUR child! We have told everyone from day 1 as soon as we agreed on a name…his name is Maddox & his name is Briggs. Done.

  21. I'm absolutely in love with her name. I went back and forth between Selah and Story for a long time until we felt like te Lord told us we would need a "Selah" in our life. Not everyone is a fan of that one either but I could care less. Really.
    She is gorgeous, by the way!!!!!

  22. seriously my favourite girl baby name of 2012!

    if I were having any more bio kiddies I'd probably steal it 🙂

  23. my husband and i have had baby names picked out since we were dating haha. we were "that" couple. my favorite is winry elizabeth. winry is from a japanese anime that we love and i think the name is so pretty. the best part is that the character is a mechanic, like my husband. i like a mix b/w more modern, sometimes "weird" names (like winry) and then really old school ones. if we have 2 boys the second one will be named after my husband's dad, george.
    i love the name Story!

  24. I love her name!
    Our daughters name is Emma Renee we picked it out after my first ultrasound when I was like 6 weeks along. We just knew it was a girl and that was back before Emma became number 1 in popularity. We had no idea it was popular until she was a few months old.. I was pretty bummed.

    If we ever have a boy he'll be Colton James or Colton Dean and if we ever have another girl I love Eleanor Anne but everyone says it's an old lady's name. Psshh. Whateves.

    • Although I fall into the "over 40" group (::cough::), I've had my fair share of comments about my kids' names. They are all named after relatives and I have Amelia, Clara, Jacob, Timothy, Peter, Margaret, Eleanor, Lydia, Charlotte and Anne. When Clara was one, we had a class reunion to which we invited a former teacher. When she found out that Clara's name was Clara Lucille, she said, "She's going to hate you for that." I'm happy to say that she *doesn't* hate me for that. And I now have grandkids named Harriet, Jemima and Edmund. LOVE it! (Oh, and the fun thing about having "old lady" names is trying to figure out which Jane Austen book contains the most names in our family.:-))

    • Although I am in the "over 40" group (::cough::), I've had my fair share of comments about my kids' names. They are all named after relatives and I have Amelia Elizabeth, Clara Lucille, Jacob Buckner, Timothy David, Peter Alfred, Margaret Pauline, Eleanor Kathleen, Lydia Ruth, Charlotte Jane and Anne Louise. When Clara was one, we had a class reunion to which we invited a former teacher. When she found out that Clara's name was Clara Lucille, she said, "She's going to hate you for that." I'm happy to say that she *doesn't* hate me for that. And now I have grandkids named Harriet, Jemima and Edmund. LOVE it! (And the fun thing about having "old lady" names is figuring out which Jane Austen book contains the most names from our family.:-))

    • i love all your children's names and go you for being over 40 and being awesome 😉

  25. We named our little girl Everlee Kathleen {Ever, Evie Kate, E, she has a billion nicknames}. Most older people think I'm saying Beverley. Uh, no. People our age are a 50/50 split whether they love it or hate it. We love it. The end. 😉

  26. people are soooo crazy about baby names! pretty sure my dad hates our son's name. we chose lawson, which is a family name, and he is NOT a fan. oh well. i lol'ed at dory. i also think it is great the things you are praying for story. i need to be more intentional about doing that. i want those things for my girls, just dont' know that i am praying it enough, you know?

  27. I think her name is lovely. 🙂 Even though it probably wouldn't be a name I would think of, I'm loving it!

    Last night after church a couple of my friends were asking what names we liked {but, I'm NOT pregnant!}…and I found out that my friend & I both love the name Noah. EEK! I've loved that name for years, so I'm sticking with it…even if we end up with 2 little boys with the same name. They won't be related, at least. 😉

  28. Kate is my favorite girl name ever. EVER. If we ever have a girl, Kate will most definitely be one of her names. I'm pretty sure my FIL didn't approve of the name we chose for our oldest. Every time we saw him he would ask, "do you have a name for the baby yet", and we would respond, "yes. His name is going to be Jackson". Every. Single. Time. I think he kept hoping we had changed our minds 🙂 We have a name picked out for our third (even though we don't know when we will have a third). It works well for a boy or a girl, and we aren't telling a soul.

  29. When we started talking about names for our baby, we picked three girl names and three boy names, because we were going to be surprised. Everyone loved the girl names, but the boy names, oh dear. We really wanted either biblical names or names related to our faith so for boys we wanted Nehemiah Patrick (my fav), Josiah Augustine, or Hezekiah Daniel. I think God was being gracious to our families by giving us a girl first: beautiful Zoe Joy. Zoe means life and boy has she filled our last 7.5 weeks of life with joy.

    I think Story Kate is a lovely name also.

  30. This was a beautiful post and I think Story's name is perfect, because it's what you and Caleb as her parents decided on.

  31. Seriously I just re-posted this post on my FB for all of my name haters! I'm pregnant with number 3, and every name possibility is scrutinized until I don't like it anymore. I'm going to follow your advice and just keep it a secret until baby is born. Adeline was my first and Gideon was my second. I had so many judgements that hurt my feelings with both of my first two's names. I totally could have written this post and have said so much of this myself before. Story is such a beautiful name, momma!

    • I LOVE both Adeline and Gideon! They've been on my list for a while!!! I'm sure #3 will rock whatever you name you pick!

  32. Also on the note of old people mispronouncing (or hearing) names… my son's GRANDFATHER calls him "Gilligan" I even wrote him a study not card pronouncing "GIDEON" for him, and he still can't get past believing his name is actually Gideon.

  34. Oh I really like the name Story!! Our first girl's name is Lynella…and I get Vanilla?? alot from the old people!! our second is a boy and we named him Wynn….and I get quinn?? alot from old people haha if I don't know them I don't correct them…not worth my time! Thanks for the post!!

  35. I, for one, love your precious little one's name. And for the record, so does my husband. (Yes, I tell my husband the names of blog friend's babies. He is good to me.) I love what story means and how it can grow with her and inside her. Beautiful job, friend.

  36. What a beautiful story and Story! It's hard to believe that people are criticizing you for naming your own child what you want! My fiance's name is Seth and so many people think its the weirdest name or they can't pronounce it…and once they hear its from the Bible I get the strange question of…"oh are you gonna name YOUR kids out of the Bible too?" — I tell them that we'll name our kids whatever the heck we want, thank you very much. Thanks for being bold and naming your sweet kids with unique and original names 🙂

  37. Story is a beautiful baby and a beautiful name! My fiance's name is Seth and people ask ALL the time why he was named that, and what it is short for. We both get a good laugh out of it, especially people off different cultures can't EVER pronounce it. So glad that you are bold and naming your baby's the name you want, and not listening to everyone else – your kids are beautiful with or without "traditional' names!

  38. I think her name is beautiful! And I think the thing with other people always being sorta judgy about names is that we all have our own favorites, not that that makes it ok to be rude. I have been having some problems getting/staying pregnant but whenever I finally am blessed with a child I will name them whatever I want to naysayers be damned! 😉 And! Kate is one of my favorite middle names too!

    • thank you and yes – you do just that 🙂 prayers and blessings to you, friend 🙂

  39. I love that you said Brody means muddy ditch. Our middle boys' name is Carson which means son of a swamp dweller. He loves to tell people that. 🙂

    My youngest boys' name is Graham. We named him after my Gram. When we found out he was a boy, I called my Gram to tell her we were going to name him Graham. She said, "What? Like the cracker? That's not a name." To which I replied, "We're naming him after you, Gram!" and she said "Well it's the best name I've ever heard" 🙂

    P.S. For what it's worth, I think Story Kate is an adorable name!

  40. We named our baby "Gemma". Everyone loves the name, however, alot of people also mispronounce it. I didn't think it would be very difficult Gem-ma (as in gemstone. But people have been using a hard G as in Greg! So annoying!

  41. Awww, this made me cry, so beautiful! I love her name! My niece's name is Berkeley and my nephew's name is Broxton and with both names I did NOT like them right off the bat. I respected my brother & his wife and didn't make a stink about it or anything, but they were so different. Now I cannot imagine any other names for them, especially Berkeley! I wish I would have thought of such a cute name for such a spunky girl! I love this post, it's just so true. I really love how creative you are with your names – all of them are wonderful and beautiful! Much love to ya, mama!

  42. first of all, Story IS a real name and it is a wonderful name. i wanted to name our daughter that but we know someone else whose child is named that and my husband didn't want people to think we were stealing their name! my parent's had some opinions to share about our name choices-our daughter's middle name is Winter and that got some eyebrow raises but when my mom found out we were planning to name our son Tucker she could not hold her tongue. apparently, she is not a fan. but now that he is here she claims to like name. who knows but we love it 🙂 i personally think you've got great names with all 3 kids.

  43. loved reading this!!

    i admire your disregard for criticism! for real. unknowingly, you have encouraged me so much in the area of criticism. criticisms go straight to my heart, so much that it cripples me in so many ways. anyway, thank you 🙂

  44. I am right there with you! I hate sharing baby names because it's like asking for a date and getting DENIED. That look on people's faces when you say something slightly out of the norm is the worst!
    We are all about different names. I like to teeter on the line of different and weird with somewhat normal. Like…not gonna name my baby Wingspan Banjo. Our daughter is Ruby James and I have no earthly idea what our second girl's name is yet!
    Love Story because it goes so much deeper than a name. She is living out her name. She's writing her story. Her life, her existence, is wrapped up in her name. Love it.

    • i LOVE ruby james. james is such a wonderful middle name! and yes, yes, yes to Story going deeper than her name. that's our prayer!

  45. I love different names. I am glad that my parents will be open to the names I have picked (I may have a list all ready to go for when I do get pregnant…). My mom named my brothers & I different names… Sted is the strangest name in the family… no one understands that that is his name, not a nick name. And I totally understand the "Dory" thing… whenever I tell people my name, they think it is "Kayley" or "Bailey"… nope. (and no one can spell it, come on people!)
    My favorite thing is to look way back in family trees for the names no one uses any more… there are some gems back there! I cannot wait to actually have kids for all my awesome names I have planned.

  46. I absolutely LOVE her name! I get that too with having Lincoln and especially now with Caedmon. You would not believe how many different ways people try to pronounce it. Ca-ed-e-mon? Lol. I knew stuff like that would happen but we loved the spelling with the ae together. I can tell some people aren't so sure about the name or liking it but I don't care. I LOVE it and that's all that matters and I know you agree. 🙂

    • thank you sweet friend! love your boys names and yes, of course i agree!! 😉

  47. I love Story's name it is very pretty. I just had our new baby girl 12 wks ago and it took us FOREVER to name her, we had all sorts of names for her. Like really, she was named about 4 times before she was born and I scratched every single one of them. And I may or may not have been on the laptop while in labor at the hospital on babyname websites an hour before she entered the world. We finally settled on Josephine Pearl, although I love her name and think it is beautiful, it really wasn't my first choice. I really really had my heart set on a different name but the hubs wouldn't go for it. So I compromised and yes, I do having a little baby naming regret. But oh well, she is who is, and I love her so very much so it's not a huge deal!

    • i was just like that with my second born, foster! and then he got a little bit older and i fell in love with his name for him. i'm sure you will do the same! josephine pearl is absolutely beautiful!!!

  48. What a lovely post. I love the prayers you pray for Story.
    I love her name BTW!

    I thought that my children's names were unique but after naming my oldest it seemed everyone started naming their sons Judah.

    Anyway all my babies are born but here are their names.

    Judah David
    Ora Koryn
    Ariah Patrick Lee

  49. People never cease to amaze me with them offering up their unsolicited opinions. My son's name is Jaxson… we call him Jax. It drives me nuts when certain people call him Jack. That isn't his name. Luckily, he is almost three and tells people that it isn't his name and to call him Jaxson or Jax. It is quite funny!

  50. We named our little girl (born last Thursday) Harper Elizabeth . . . pretty sure both sets of grandparents dislike the first name, but my husband was not to be deterred – he totally fell in love with the name! At one of my last midwife appts, she asked me if we had a name picked out, I said, "Harper" and she started laughing, I nervously asked, "what?" and she said, "I thought you said you were naming her 'Heart Burn' . . . which, considering that this little lady was 13 days overdue, could be a totally appropriate name too! 🙂

  52. my daughters name is after a city in the UK, so not only does it have nothing to do with the Bible (which killed almost everyone in our family) but we aren't even real Americans now.

    So, Kensington and Story can be best friends.

    WHAT.

  53. My name was Stephanie for the first two weeks of my life because my grandmother told my (21 year old) parents that Savannah was a terrible name and I would hate it when I grew up. Welp…I'm all grown up and…I love it!! I wouldn't want to be named Stephanie like all the other little girls born around my same time in the 80's!

    And it means "Dry and Barren" ya heard?!

  54. Oh…and I don't even have kids yet but my parents (hubby is slowly getting on board…) already hate our boy name "Judah Courage Horton". Can't win them all!!

  55. My husband and I decided early in our marriage that we would choose a girl name and a boy name and agree on it. Because we wanted to make sure we didn't feel any pressure from family or friends.

    For a girl we would name her Selah Grace
    and for a boy it would be Jameson Steven

    I love the name Story, such a whimiscal and creative name.

    • thank you so much. both of the names you and your husband picked are wonderful!

  56. LOVE LOVE LOVE her name! it is almost as beautiful as she is! I really like the name Eden for a girl.

  57. My sister had a baby in October, and her name is Georgie Claire. There have been lots of blank stares and fake responses like, "Oh…that is cute….". Who cares. Babies are cute no matter what name they have, and it is your baby to name whatever you want [and I will try to remember this when I get the urge to make fun of some baby's name in the future].

  58. I agree that people should just name their kiddos whatever they want. We originally had the name Barrett on our list for a girl. When I mentioned it to my mom she grimaced and told me that was horrible. It stayed on the list, but when our girl was born, she was clearly a Peyton!

    And by the way, Story is a gorgeous name for a gorgeous baby!

  59. We named our son Hosea. When I called to tell my mom (who's a teacher), she said, "he'll probably get made fun of in school." Thanks Mom. He's constantly called "Jose" when called back in the doctor's office and places like that. I always think, what do you think the A is for on the end? With my daughter, we went with Sarah. On the day we found out she was a girl, my hubs woke up with the story of Sarah in the Bible on his heart so we pretty knew right away we were going with Sarah.

    • people are crazay! and i love your husband dreamt of Sarah from the Bible and you used that for her name – so beautiful!

  60. a beautiful name for a beautiful girl. i could never judge anyone over anything, let alone a baby name 😉
    my boys don't have original names. but they are still beautiful and precious in their parents' eyes, their grandparents' eyes and most importantly, in God's eyes.
    and isn't that what matters most?!!
    love you friend!

  61. i LOVE her name! we named our kids different names but easy to say and spell (those were the criteria) Hollis Rose & Rogan Henry. We have no regret!

  62. We are expecting our first in August and are naming her Eden Grace. I feel like I see it all over the Bible, like you did with Story, and I know it's God's confirmation to me. Thank you for this post. We were just at Starbucks and someone asked our baby girl name and we told them and got a weird look. That's when I told my husband we are no longer announcing it. I don't need people's opinions. So needless to say, this post was great timing. I love the name Story, seriously, and I love your other babies' names. My nephews names are Rocco and Brodi. Love it. xo

    • that is such a beautiful name!! and amen, you don't need their opinions! best wishes and congratulations to you and your husband!!

  63. oh I LOVE that you posted this, you crack me up btw girl. 🙂 and i have LOVED her name since you introduced us to her….it is perfect and so is she. 🙂 love you!!!!

  64. Story is such a lovely & beautiful name!
    We didn't tell anyone what we were going to name our son. I just didn't want to hear all the comments & opinions. His name is Everett and we love it.
    It means Strong as a Wild Boar or Boar Hunter. It's fitting! He is wild and strong… no tusks yet though. 🙂

  65. This is SO funny!! I personally LOVE the name Story! My daughters middle name is also Kate, Amara Kate and am also pretty obsessed with the name Kate. I just think it is the most beautiful middle name ever.

    When I first had Amara, everyone (older) thought I was saying Marla! 😉

    And then my youngest is named Selah Pearl (Pearl after my grandma)and boy did we have a time with that one. No one can pronounce it and everyone says it is so weird. It.doesn't.bother.me.one.freakin.bit. I still love her name so much!

  66. P.S. Have you already posted where you got that lovely quilt? It may be the most beautiful thing I have ever seen!

  67. Story is a family name for me and I love it! So is Angelina, but Mrs. Jolie ruined that for me :/ The day I have children I'm going to have to consider the fact that we are bilingual and must name a child a name that is both beautiful in Spanish as it is in English. I love CJane Kendrick's daughther's name, Ever Jane! Love that! My grandmother was named Lydia and I'm thinking a Lydia Jane would not be so bad. I also love the way Courtney and Leslie sound for a man… forget that is most commonly used for a girl and repeat it out loud. I'm telling you, its nice. I also love names like Raffael for a girl… again, maybe not so much for a child, but an adult woman yes. I think it sounds strong, powerful and even sexy. Like you said, you name your child what YOU want and forget everybody else.

    PS- I also think Kate is all sorts of beautiful.

    • So I realize all my comments are on older posts but I LOVE the name Ever, and Ever Jane is amazing! Love Leslie for a man too (and knew one).

  68. LOOOOVE Kate (I mean, I love Story, too….) But we named our daughter Katelyn so I could nickname her Kate. Its SUCH a beautiful, classic name! We were going to name her Katelyn Joanne after my grandmother & mom's middle name: Joanne. Katie Jo would be her nickname. My husband's parents were from Ohio and flew in for the birth – and ended up being here THREE WEEKS because our girl was so overdue – 12 days to be exact. :/

    On the day we were induced, we were laboring in the hospital all day – ended up having a c-section at 10:30 at night – and our 10lb, 9oz baby girl was brought into the world. The next morning, when I was coherent and welcoming guests, my inlaws came in and told us that my father-in-law's mom passed away the day before…the day our Katelyn was born. We knew then that she would not be our Katie Jo, but would be our Katie Roo – as in Katelyn Ruth for my husbands grandmother that passed the same day she was born. It was a beautiful circle of life moment and I love sharing that story with everyone. At 8 1/2 our girl loves telling people about it too…!

    I love how opinionated everyone is – and I love your prayer for sweet Story. Blessings upon her and you as you watch your Story grow. 🙂

    xoxo

  70. I love her name and I loved putting it on her pillow. (PS, how are her pillows? I hope you like them! 🙂 )

    • thank you, friend! i love her pillow 🙂 can't wait to share pictures of her room.

  71. You are so right, I have tons of prego friends right now and a lot of them won't even share the names they picked out until their babies are born because when their friends shared, everyone, I mean EVERYONE had an opinion and shared it! So I think we'll keep ours private too. We won't be having kids for a few more years though because of our health issues, and we're still pretty young (25). I love the honesty in your blog, and am glad I found it through Casey Wiegand's blog! I look forward to reading your posts!

  72. Hi Danielle…Just catching up on blog reading and I'm enjoying spending some of my babies' nap time with you. Your maxi-pad-turned-nursing-pad story is hilarious. Maybe I'll email you my similar story. I'm too embarrassed to share it here in the open.

    My kids' names are Maren and Truett…everyone thinks Maren is Mary and that Truett is a girl. We love them and I think they fit my children well. They're both a little quirky and a lot unique, just like their names. I think Story is perfectly lovely, and I've always loved my name…Kate. Okay…I'm going to go email you my story. It's making my chuckle to think about it again and I need to share it with someone. 🙂

  73. Can I just say that I LOVE your daughter's name, and I wish I would have thought of it 5 years ago? As a fellow lover of books, I named both of my kids after characters in Nicholas Sparks books….Landon and Alli. I wanted to name my daughter Keefer, from a character in a book by Jacquelyn Mitchard, but my husband wouldn't hear of it! 🙂 But I think Story Kate is a beautiful name and the fact that it means so much to you will make her proud of her name in the future, rather than some name you pulled out of a baby name book. 🙂

  76. I always love to hear what people name their kiddos! We named our girls Avery Elizabeth and Isley (eyes-lee) Erin!

  77. I have a three month old named Lou Clover. Considered Story when I pregnant… so love it. Great choice. Anyway, some people love the name Lou, some people just go, "Lou. huh.." I've even been asked what I call her after I say "Lou" (um, her name?). My three year old's name is Posey and I got some not good feedback three years ago and the older she gets, the more people react to it in a positive way.

  78. I have a three month old named Lou Clover. Considered Story when I pregnant… so love it. Great choice. Anyway, some people love the name Lou, some people just go, "Lou. huh.." I've even been asked what I call her after I say "Lou" (um, her name?). My three year old's name is Posey and I got some not good feedback three years ago and the older she gets, the more people react to it in a positive way.

  80. Ok, so I read STORYKATE as a title on your pinterest board, and loved it. I thought it was the name of a clothing line (I'm a fashion designer), and wondered where it came from. So I researched, and here I am. I LOVE your girls name. Precious!!! Unique and perfect.
    My hubby and I have a list of names ready to go, if only this little babies would start coming.. but man, I'm waiting to see my mind change and wonder about what to name them, over and over. It's not an easy task, but I can't wait!!!! 🙂
    Oh and I'm also obsessed with my middle name (Alice), although my first cousin just named her first child Alice, and I don't have lots of cousins. What do you think, can I still name my girl Alice??

    Love your blog!
    Thanks you
    Naomi 🙂

  81. My sister who is married was going to name her nonexistent daughter Ava but she told some other girl (an alleged 'friend') to the name for her baby and claimed originality. (Forever bitter). Now my sister is due in march with a boy and we're telling everyone his name is Mozart. (Pop up pregnant and take that name i dare you)
    And story is a gorgeous name. The more i say it the more i like it

  82. My sister who is married was going to name her nonexistent daughter Ava but she told some other girl (an alleged 'friend') to the name for her baby and claimed originality. (Forever bitter). Now my sister is due in march with a boy and we're telling everyone his name is Mozart. (Pop up pregnant and take that name i dare you)
    And story is a gorgeous name. The more i say it the more i like it

  83. As a teacher, I wanted different names for my children and I did as a previous poster did and went to the family tree… My daughter is Aily Lorene (like Daily without the d) and bless her heart, when people see it, they call her Allie or if they hear her, they think Hailey. Now she is 5 and is old enough to correct then. My 3 year old son's name is Benson Douglas and when people want to shorten his name to Ben or Benny, he tells them that's not his name. Love Story, and great names to previous posters…

  84. As a teacher, I wanted different names for my children and I did as a previous poster did and went to the family tree… My daughter is Aily Lorene (like Daily without the d) and bless her heart, when people see it, they call her Allie or if they hear her, they think Hailey. Now she is 5 and is old enough to correct then. My 3 year old son's name is Benson Douglas and when people want to shorten his name to Ben or Benny, he tells them that's not his name. Love Story, and great names to previous posters…

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