Choosing a name

Beautiful baby has another name,

As tempted as we were to put beautiful baby on her birth certificate we did worry in case she turned out to be one of those unfortunate looking babies. Then we would have all looked daft!

I don’t believe you can have an ugly baby but odd looking ones are certainly in abundance in my town. You know the ones I mean because you always over compensate when you see them by really piling on the compliments, secretly hoping one day they will turn into swans.

Anyway I digress….

Beautiful baby is sometimes referred to as Libby-Sue, Libby because me and he who helped create them really liked the name and Sue because I believe in naming my children after individuals who have helped inspire and shape myself or the other half into the people we are today.

Beautiful baby is both incredibly lucky and inflicted at the same time; she is lucky to have taken her name from a beautiful, patient, caring woman but yet she is inflicted by the fact that she will never meet her as she lost her long battle with the demon we have come to know as Cancer one month before she was conceived. It is my hope that by allowing her name to live on through my child that my daughter will inherit some of the exquisite characteristics Sue displayed throughout all her life.

Sue protected me in a family dominated by men, teaching me that I could be anyone I wanted to be so long as I believed in myself and behaved with others in a manner that I would be happy to be treated myself. This I try to pass onto all my children in my continuous struggle to be a good mummy, admittedly I make some cracking cock-ups on the way but I am pretty sure Sue enjoys a giggle at my expense when she sees my half witted parenting skills.

Twin boy and girl were lucky enough to see their Great Aunt Sue weeks before she left us with only our memories and she clearly made an impact as they remember her clearly to the day, Twin boy remembers her as Susie whose feet he stood on and she didn’t tell him off! Again to give you a sensation of the type of lady she was, her feet were incredibly painful at this time from the Cancer that was invading her body but for the sake of a cuddle and a chat with a three year old boy she chose to ignore and not say a word.

I don’t know what happens when people die but I know that we create a place for them to live on in our hearts. For me, every day as I gaze adoringly at my beautiful baby girl I remember with a smile my aunty I always loved and respected. I am secure in knowing that all my children have a guardian angel watching over them but I just wish most days that they still had their aunty around.

10 thoughts on “Choosing a name”

  1. I agree about naming children after people who have inspired you. My three children all have middle names as a result of precious people.

    My eldest has his grandfathers name, sadly they never met as my Son’s grandfather passed away before he was conceived.

    My daughter has her Nana’s name, sadly my Mum passed away after suffering dreadfully with cancer. Again my daughter never met her name sake as my Mum passed away 2 months before my daughter arrived. I was fortunate enough to be able to tell my Mum the week before she died that her 2nd Grandchild was a girl & would be taking her name.

    Finally the Baby has my Mum’s maiden name as his third name & by coincidence his second name, as chosen by the elder children, means he has the middle name & surname of my wonderful Grandad.

    The eldest kids take great pride when they tell people they are named after special people.

  2. Beautiful.
    If we ever have a little girl (which i doubt we will!) we will have her middle name as my mother in law’s name, who died a month after my son was conceived, also from Cancer. I will never forget her & would love her name to live on.

    We’re trying to decide a name for my bump at the moment, so i look forward to other reply’s so i get some inspiration!

  3. I think it’s lovely to include the names of special family members in our kiddies names. My boys have middle names from the family. Have to say that it’s a good job that the special people had ‘acceptable’ names though – otherwise there’d be quite a dilemma over whether to use the name for it’s special meaning whilst subjecting the kiddie to possible torment by their friends. My brother’s middle name is Kenneth after my uncle. Not too bad a name though somewhat old fashioned. My mum said she doesn’t actually know why she chose the name as this uncle doesn’t hold any particular place in our hearts, but i digress…. We heard a friend asking my brother what his middle name was and he piped up ‘Karl’ without batting an eyelid. Karl was presumably more acceptable than Kenneth!

  4. Three of my four children are adopted so when it came to their first names we didn’t choose them (but luckily love them anyway). We then gave them middle names that we did choose and they too have been named after family members who have supported us through some very difficult times in our journey to have the wonderful family that we have now x

  5. This is just beautiful and really moved me.

    I have a slightly happier tale to share. Shortly before Lyra was born, a very special aunty of mine was diagnosed with breast cancer. In the first few days of Lyra’s life, I happened to have sent her a photo a day (snapped on my iphone and emailed across to her). On about day 5, I hadn’t sent a photo by tea time so I got a message from her saying – where is today’s photo – they’re what keep me going. I want to look at your little girl every day to help me get well enough to meet her. So I took a photo every day (in fact this is what inspired Lyra’s online photo journal http://www.blipfoto.com/lyra ) Finally. About two weeks ago, my aunt was given the all clear and I took both girls (we had acquired Ellie in the meantime!) to meet her. She fought and won and I hope one day Lyra will be able to understand quite what in important role she played!

  6. aww this made me have tears and remember my girly’s lovely Godmother who is also now an angel (according to girly in a very gorgeous and nicer than all the other angel’s dress) 🙁 xx

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