What's in a name?

As soon as we found out we were having a girl, Shane let me know that he didn't even want to think about names until at least September. I expected this since that's how he was with Kaden and Alexandria. The way it works with us is that I will spend months and months putting a massive list together, then we go through it together when he is "ready" (meaning when he actually accepts we are really and truly having a baby). I remember it was July 4th, 2007 when we decided on a name for Kaden. We were shopping at Babies R Us and I think that got him in the mood. ;) We had gone through my list the day before and were trying to decide between 2 or 3 names. Poor Shane didn't get a say about Alexandria's name. It's a long story I should tell sometime, but basically it came to me in an extremely vivid dream a year to the day before I even met Shane. I knew I would have a daughter and her name had to be Alexandria. Anyway, I had NO idea where to start with Baby #3. I talked to some friends about it and they all agreed the name should start with an "A", keeping the "A" girl theme going. I thought about a LOT of names, but nothing felt right. Abby was the first choice on my list, until I asked my friend Shea about it. She said that the first "A" name she thought of was Ariana. I was immediately IN. LOVE. After hearing that name, I literally could not think of any other names that I liked as much as Ariana (and felt as right). I told Shane I had a name for our baby, but (of course) he told me to wait a few months. A couple of days later, he caved and asked what this amazing name was.

I told him.

He laughed and said, "I'm glad it was that and not a name that I actually LIKE. Makes it easier to not decide on a name yet."
Jerk.

I was crushed. I decided to suck it up and keep looking for names. I honestly looked. Promise. But I still couldn't think of anything else. I decided to let it go and wait a month, then come back to it with (hopefully) fresh ideas.

A week or two later, Shane got home from work and, after we had finished eating dinner, sat me down and asked to see my baby name list.
WHAT?! Really?! I was excited, then I remembered my list was not a list, just a name or two.
Crap.

I handed over the notebook. He looked and read out loud, "Abby. Ok, that one is okay. Tegan. Definitely not." *pause* "Is this your whole list?"

Um, yes.

I explained that I tried, but I just really couldn't think of any other names except Ariana. Then I asked him why he suddenly wanted to choose a name. He said that he had been thinking (and praying) about it and all day he'd felt really strongly that Ariana was the right name.

YAAAAAAAAY!!

No middle name yet....with Lexi we were literally in the hospital waiting to sign the birth certificate form before Shane finally agreed to "Jo". I'm guessing this will be the same way.

Some people aren't sure how to pronounce it unless I say it to them, so I'll do my best to translate:

AR-E-ON-A
(AR like a pirate (thanks M!) and A as in PicturekA...almost like UH)

Make sense?? Shane says AIR-e-on-a a lot of the time, which isn't how we are spelling it, but I decided to get over people messing up her name now cause I'm sure it will happen a lot in her life. (However, her dad shouldn't be one of the people messing up her name, so I'm pounding it into his brain now.) :)

I love shortening names when I can (hence all the options with Alexandria Jo), so we will probably call her Ari (AR-E), but we'll have to see if that matches her personality. :) As for middle names, I'm open to suggestions. So far, I've come up with Ariana Yvette (E-vett...it's my middle name and Shane has always liked it for some reason) or Ariana Nicole. Thoughts?


P.S. Ariana means "very holy" and I figure the way she came to us had to be "very holy." :)