Tuesday Tell All - What's in a name?

I love this topic. Where did we get our names from. I know on my side of the family (Leavitts & Hopkins) there were alot of Grace, Sarah, Alice, & Mary's. Men were called Arthur, Vincen, Dudley and Thomas. Solid old names that had been handed down for years. On Keiths side, I can only imagine as he is a 2nd generation right out of Slavinia & Germany. I know his grandparents had hardy names like Lewis, Harlan. I wish I knew more but there is hardly a memory or record that gives us any history. When Keith's Grandparents arrived at Ellis Island, they were young, tired, scared, non-english speaking Slavenians. An American official that registered the passengers as they unboarded that ship asked them their names and didn't listen to their answers. He just decided they were Steve & Mary, wrote it on their documents and thus Steve & Mary Selock were born. We don't know and haven't ever been able to find what their birth-given names are.
Mary & Steve had a ton of children. I think they had 11 or 12. (I'll have to ask Keith's mom) They named them good solid names like Frank, Emma, Dorothy. But they had one little girl who came into this world that got a fancy schmancy name! I love this name. Angeline Mary Rose. My father-in-law used to call her that whole name when he was talking to her. Angie is what I call her. It is truly her.
I asked Keith where his name came from. He thought about it for a moment and decided he would have to call his mom and ask. She just liked the way it sounded. Keith Alan Runyon. I like the way it sounds too Keith has several nicknames: Kayter, KAR, K-dawg (obviously this one has been given in recent years).
My name was given to me by my dad. Now that he has been gone for 20+ years that fact has become precious to me. There wasn't any scandal as far as I know, but I am told that the babysitter was named Janae and he just really liked it. I like to think she was a beautiful, tragic French girl with a authentic French spelling like Genet' or Jenet (you know the t's at the end of French names are silent..look it up haha). But being a good ole Bunkerville boy I think he just sounded it out. Ja....nae. My mom gave it a little class by adding the accent over the e. It really is spelled Janae'. Its true. Its on my birth certificate like that.
Now this seems like a great name. I really do like it...it is totally me :) But I think it must have been a terrible pregnancy or my Dad was sucking up to my Grandma because they used Janae' as my middle name and gave me an ATROCIOUS first name. I love that it is my Grandmothers name. Its a great name for a Grandma that seems a hundred years old and lives on a farm. I am sorry...I know alot of you know this name. But I am not going to give it to those of you who don't. Just guess...E.......Janae' Leavitt Runyon. Wouldn't have been so bad to have that crazy name but why oh why did they have to use it as my first name. I tremble now remembering how the kids snickered in school on the 1st day of class. UGH (It wasn't just me they graced this on. Wade was also given a grandfathers name as his first name and Wade as his 2nd. But his sounds cool though. Arthur Wade Leavitt(yea you can call him Arty, Arturo or Spadely as I like to call him) My nicknames are, Janae-nae', Auntienae'
Janaecious, and hot mama...opps I just added that one in for fun :)
When we were thinking of names for our first child we didn't know if he was a girl or boy. He should be grateful he wasn't a girl because his dad loved him some funny names...like Betsy and Gayle. When I think of Betsy I think of Betsy the cow, don't know where I ever met Betsy the cow, but that is what all cow's names are for me. We went to the hospital with a few names bouncing around for him. Blake and Perry (yikes!) were to two front runners. After he was born and he was laying in my arms for a while, our Dr (Dr Bryner-who I adored) came back in and wanted to hold him for a few minutes. Hello....what ever happened to that kind of bedside manners....I think most of us would be surprised if our OB-GYN's could even remember the sex of our babies. But as he sat there looking down at "baby-boy" Runyon, we tossed some names by him...Perry..NO a swift screwed up face and a strong shake of the head. What about Blake? A twitch of the lips and a tipping of the head...nope. I am afraid we had to agree. They just didn't fit our little guy. So a day or two passed and we had nothing. We had no idea what to name him. We looked through baby name books, called friends and family. Nothing. We knew it must be a special name and we had to name him right. SO the morning that Keith came to the hospital to pick me up, he marched triumphantly into the room and announced, "his name is Alec. Alec Chase." That was it. I still am not exactly sure where he got it (actually Chase was the name of the University of Utah President) but I know it is the name he was supposed to be called. His nicknames are ACE, Ongyong, and Bro-Bro.
Now Jakey was another story. We had fun naming Jake. We knew he was going to be someone special. We wanted something different but not odd. We bounced names around like Chaz & Bo. I even wrote a letter to him about 3 days before he was born...it started Dear Megan....it must have been the hormones. But we always knew he would be Jake. It is a special kind of kid that is named Jake. Don't confuse this with Jacob....two totally different kids. I know quite a few Jakes. They are a breed all there own. There is a story that is retold in our family. Keith & I (and Alec who was only about 6 months old but swears he remembers) remember distinctly driving home on I-80 just before State Street in SLC. We were still new parents who were in awe of our babies beauty, innocence and perfection (I know we all think our babies are perfect...mine were) and we talked about having another. I said "oh, little Alec & Jake...our little Bro-bro's." I think it was a heavenly moment. Keith comments now on knowing then that we had a Jake. We didn't know then that it would just be Alec & Jake. But we know that they are ours forever and were meant to be with us! Jake Alan Runyon nicknames: Jake the snake, Jakie-Poo, Rono & Bro-Bro.

So there you have it!
jlr