So, Pam and I are hanging out at her house and out of the blue she starts talking about seven weeks. There are seven weeks between our marriage date and her birthday. "All I want for my birthday is to be able to tell you that I'm carrying your child, which means you have to do it in seven weeks. Are you up to it?"
She describes my face as being a mixture of fear, excitement, and determination, and she was unable to tell if any emotion was dominate over the others.
If her Mom is right we will have twin boys first. If we are right, in our own predictions for what we want to happen, we will have just one boy to start.
Today Pam and I talked about what we think our kids will look like. Afterward, since we've already picked out the names that we like I decided to look up what they mean.
Xander Michael Maynard will be his name.
Xander comes from Greek and means Defender. An appropriate name for an eldest brother, since the big brother watches out for everyone else.
Michael comes from Greek and means Who is like God. A great name as well since it was the name of the archangel and of our father Adam. And as for the meaning, that is the goal of the Plan of Salvation, to become more like our Heavenly Father.
Maynard is a Norman name and is a combination of the words Strong and Hardy.
Defender who is like God, Strong and Hardy. With a name like that this kid is going to be awesome.
If we have twin boys, the second will be Joseph Charles Maynard. I want to call him Charlie for short.
Joseph is another Hebrew name, it means He will Enlarge. Josephs are known for their ability to enlarge, Joseph of Egypt kept his people and his family alive during a famine and the seed of the children of Abraham is numberless. It is also the descendants of Joseph who do modern day missionary work and enlarge the church.
Joseph is an extremely important family name. The first Maynard to join the church was Joseph Sam, who had Joseph Sam Jr. who had Joseph S, I'm not sure how to spell the middle name, who had Joseph S Jr. My Dad, who had Joseph Sean, my big brother. Five generations of Joseph S for being five generations in the church. Dad has almost 14 grandchildren, and three sons who all served faithful missions, he has enlarged the family and the faith. Little Joseph Charles will learn a lot from that example as he enlarges in body, mind, and spirit.
Charles comes from the French form of the German Karl, and means Free Man. Charles is an important name for me as a historian. Charles Martel fought off the Muslim invasion of France and insured the survival of Christianity, his grandson, known as Charlemagne or Charles the Great was by far the greatest leader the Franks had ever had and by extension France. And since they're my ancestors that also makes it a family name from Waaaaaay back but still family. Charles is a name for a leader, someone who makes others free.
So putting the meanings together in a cool way, He will enlarge freedom, since he's strong and hardy. Yeah, we're good at picking names.
Those of you who are thinking, but what if it's a girl? Have no fear, we're thinking boys will come first but we've already picked out a couple of girl names that we really like.
Annabelle May (I'm not sure if Pam wants it May or Maye.) Maynard
Annabelle also comes from Hebrew and means Grace and Favor, there is also a Latin form of Annabelle which means Lovable.
Mae is an important middle name for Pamela's Mom's side of the family. Every two generations if I remember right there is a little girl with the middle name. At first we didn't like the idea with the last name being Maynard. But, since she's a girl, the last name won't be there forever and we started trying to come up with combinations that would work for us.
I'm not such a big fan of the meaning of Mae which is the fifth month of the year, so I'm going to borrow the Greek Maya as being close enough. It either means mother or great one, and honestly my Mom is pretty great and so is Pam's mom and most moms that I know so really is there much of a difference?
So this becomes, Lovable girl with grace and favor who is a great one and is strong and hardy. Wow, a lot to live up to.
The other girl name we came up with is... drumroll please...
Virginia Joan Maynard
Virginia comes from Latin and means Maiden.
Joan is yet another Hebrew name and means that God is gracious
This name I like, Maiden sent from a gracious God who will be strong and hardy.
That's all the kid names we've come up with but now I'm curious so I'm going to do Pam's name now.
The name Pamela actually comes from literature, it was invented by an English writer in the 1580's for a poem and was later used in a novel in the 1740's. Since this is the case it was a little harder to find the meaning of the word. Pamela means, all honey. Which is nice since she's my honey.
Marie, I looked up in two different places, there is bitter, and sea of bitterness. Wow, Marie is an intense name. Pam has gone through a lot in her life, she has had a lot more challenges than I have and the fact that she isn't bitter, that she is so happy and such a wonderful person is a testament to the strong character that she has as an individual.
Miller is actually a form of a German word whose meaning I don't remember and all I get from the sites is the normal English version of the word which means grinder of grain. So, moving on with the future, I'll just use Maynard.
Combination = My honey who overcomes bitterness since she's strong and hardy.
I guess it's my turn Brent Kay Maynard.
Brent I don't have to look up but I'll do it anyway. Before I do, it has two meanings. Person who lives on a steep hill and fiery. According to one site, all the variations of my name except one means hill, the one exception, Brenton, means Town of Fire! The other site says that it is of English origin and that it means either burnt or steep.
Kay, I love the name Kay, not only is it the name of my Grandpa Harris but it is also one of the original Knights of the Round Table. Sir Kay, step brother of King Arthur is known as one of the most loyal, faithful, and trustworthy of all the knights in Camelot.
I'm having a hard time finding a masculine form of the word Kay since it has been made into a girl's name. Why do girls keep taking our names! Ashley is a boy's name, so is Morgan, they've always ALWAYS been boys' names! Stop stealing our names. Kay was always exclusively a boys name.
Greek for a girl, Kay means pure, but I'm going to look at other options before I settle on it. Since it probably came from Sir Kay, since we have Welsh on that side of the family I think I'll go with the Gaelic forms of the name which mean Slender, as in thin. Another Greek form, Kayson, means healer, which is kind of cool, but its most likely Gaelic. There was a boy's name from Africa, Kayode, which means Bringing Happiness, but that's much less likely than Greek anyway.
So, let me see, Steep fire slender strong and hardy, huh. Guess this doesn't work for everybody.
Wait a minute, man who is hot, slender, strong and hardy? Nah, too egotistical, but if Pam likes it I'll take it.
But anywho, getting back to the original subject I'm excited to get married and start the journey toward fatherhood, and if anybody wants me to come up with the meaning of their full name, I'll give it my best shot.
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