What’s In A Name?

A couple of months ago, I have written a letter to my baby about deciding on what to name him. Here’s the letter I wrote:

Dear Baby Love,

Happy 35th week, sweetheart. :) About two more weeks and we will both be in the waiting game until your arrival. I know, I know. We are close to the end and yet, until now, I haven’t fully decided on what your name will be yet. For others, maybe they already have had a name for their future babies and all that. Well, I used to have a few written down as well but thinking about those names, they don’t fit you.

What’s in a name anyway, you might ask me one day. For me, baby love, a name is a legacy and a prophecy. You become your name and your name becomes you. It is not an easy task to name someone as special as you, baby love, hence Mommy’s struggle. I’ve had several options and a lot of them have been crossed out. And just when I thought I was able to finally find your name, something else comes up and it doesn’t necessarily fit. So now, as much as I would like to finalize it, sweetheart, I will have to find a missing piece of the puzzle to really get your name right.

Mommy’s gonna have your name finalized before you arrive, sweet love, you don’t have to worry about that. And your name will be what you are destined to become.

Anyway, we are almost there, baby. Are you getting excited in there? I am getting the feeling that you are now all cramped up in your small space in there. Just a few more weeks, OK? Don’t rush. Let’s try to  keep as close to our due date as possible. We have to be comfortably settled at home before your arrival. And we have to visit our doctor first once we get home before you arrive so we can work on how things will go once you decide you’ve had enough of your small space. :)

Til here for now, sweet love. :)

 

As I mentioned in my letter, a name is a legacy and a prophecy. You become your name and your name becomes you. At some point, it defines you as a person.

It took me quite a while to come up with a name with my son. For the longest time, I had a name in mind for a baby girl but never for a baby boy. I asked for suggestions from family and friends as well. Friends jokingly suggested naming my baby Victorio or Victorino if I suddenly give birth inside a Victory Liner bus. My Mom suggested that I name my baby after my Dad and my brother even suggested that I name him after a Game of Thrones character. My sister also suggested a few names, one of which got stuck.

It was about just a few short weeks before I gave birth that I was able to finalize the name that I will give my son. I named him Zaine Amory. My sister gave the name Zaine and Amory was something that I found. Here is the definition of my son’s name.

Zaine (a variation of Zane):  Hebrew meaning is Gift from God

Amory: Teutonic meaning is hard-working
English meaning is brave, powerful
German meaning is Leader, Divine, brave, powerful

So with that, my son is a gift from God who is a brave, powerful and divine leader. That is how I interpret his name. And his name will define the path that he will take as he grows older.

In the past seven weeks, I have already seen my son’s braveness. Given his two confinements plus several lab works where a lot of pricking were done to extract blood samples, my son fought it all bravely. He rarely cried when being pricked (only when the one taking his blood doesn’t have a care and my son already feels the pain), he maintained a jolly and playful disposition during his hospital stays, and he kept bouncing back even if one of his earlier doctors lost confidence that he will thrive. At such an early age, he is already being tested in a lot of ways that a child shouldn’t go through. But I saw him fought all his battles bravely and always came out victorious. He already shows that he is indeed his name.

My son humbles me. Seeing him go through a lot of things these past few weeks and overcoming all of them is overwhelming. My son should be getting strength from me because I am his Mom and I should be stronger than he is but it seems that it works the other way around. My son is a lot stronger than I am and I get my strength from him.

Everyday is a tough battle for my son. But I know that he will come out of every battle victorious. Because my son is my gift. Because he is brave and powerful and divine. And with each battle that he won and will still win, he leaves a legacy that is his name.

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