Baby Names - Elizabeth Jane

I've recently started reading Lindsay's blog because I love to think about and talk about baby names.  There's just something special about choosing the name that your sweet baby is going to have (or be stuck with if you blow it) for the rest of his/her life.

Hopefully my children will think we gave them excellent names.  I promised Lindsay I'd blog about why we chose each of the names we did.  So, here's the first post.  :)    And as I type, Martina McBride's song Blessed is blaring on my iTunes.  Y'all know I love that song, right?  If not - well, I do. Really. Proof is here and here.  Anyway...now here is the post.

Elizabeth Jane - Our first-born. The baby we waited years to have.  When Brad and I were dating, we had a conversation - if we were to get married and have kids, what would we name them.  We chose a boy name and a girl name.  The girl name was Emily Elizabeth (this was before we knew about Clifford the Big Red Dog - and that wouldn't have made any difference anyway). We also didn't care that her initials would be EEE - we actually liked that.  Emily was for Emily Dickinson, Elizabeth for Elizabeth Barrett-Browning. Happy coincidence, Emily Dickinson's name was Emily Elizabeth, too.  (can you tell I loved lit in high school and college?).   That was in December 1986.  Then in 1996, I saw Pride & Prejudice on A&E.  I was drawn to Eliza - and loved the name.  Plus, one of my favorite movies of all time is My Fair Lady - but really, could I call a child Eliza without thinking "Eliza Doolittle"?  Yeah, absolutely.  But what middle name would I put with Elizabeth (which, both of these Elizas were)?  Jane - perfect.  Still literary - Jane Austen.  We could have a girl, name her Elizabeth Jane.  Sweet Little 'Liza Jane (c'mon, you're singing Vince Gill now, aren't you?)  So - without Brad's knowledge, I was falling in love with another name and it was quickly surpassing Emily Elizabeth.  In September 1999, some dear friends had a baby girl and named her Emily Anne.  Brad looked at me and said, "We need a new girl name."  Don't worry buddy, I've got one.  We continued to hope and pray for a baby - and it continued to NOT happen.  I started researching the meanings of the names I loved.  Jane - God is gracious.  As we struggled with infertility, the meaning of Jane became more important to me than the literary connection. It became much more important.   And on April 25, 2002 - as a newly pregnant me laid in bed with my now daddy-to-be husband and discussed "what will we name this child?" the meaning of Jane became the most important thing about her name.  Sure, we batted around a few other options but I continued to be convinced that Elizabeth Jane was this baby's name (and I was sure she was a girl).  We briefly entertained the idea of going with Emily but I said, "There are entirely too many Emilys in the world." 

So, Elizabeth Jane was the final decision - and it fits her perfectly.