First of all, thank you so so so much for all of your excitement and joy over our announcement and introduction of Miss Mabel Spena. We feel so loved and your happiness for us has only increased ours!
Many of you have asked how we came up with her name and I wanted to be sure to put together a post explaining just that.
If you remember, not too long ago, but before I was pregnant and completely believed it would never happen again, I published a post about baby names. You can read that HERE! Most of the names on that list made it to our short list. We had a boy name and a girl name ready to go when we headed into our anatomy ultrasound with Abigail, so I really, really wanted to have that again this time.
We *almost* made it, but not quite! We had the same boy name from last time ready and waiting but choosing a girl name proved to be tricky.
Jim and I went on a date back in November and I presented him with a list of girls names I was considering and to my complete and total surprise he liked almost all of them. He said something like, “that there is a solid girls name list, Miss Courtney”. Which was great!! But then, it was tricky because none of the names stood out as a clear favorite. We liked all of them! So we simmered on it and thought about it and slowly whittled our list down to five names.
Elizabeth
Hazel
Arden
Caroline
Mabel
We talked about names standing in line to get into St. Peter’s in Rome and realized that the one baby name that was both our favorite was Mabel. My top two were Hazel and Mabel, Jim’s top two were Caroline and Mabel. At that same time, we decided to move Elizabeth to our automatic middle name option for whatever name we chose.
We’re big into choosing family names for middle names. Abigail’s middle name is Faye, which is two of our grandmother’s names. If this baby had been a boy, his middle name would have been Montgomery, which is Jim’s and his dad’s middle name.
So, Elizabeth. That is specifically Jim’s mom’s middle name and a big reason of why we chose it. Jim also had a Granny Beth, I have an Aunt Libby and a Great Grandma whose middle name was Elizabeth. It’s a timeless and classic name and we just love it.
I pretty much didn’t think we were having a girl, so I didn’t agonize over finalizing a baby girl name before our ultrasound. By that time, we had it narrowed down to two names.
Caroline Elizabeth and Mabel Elizabeth.
I was okay with only having two names left because I hoped it would be an easy decision if we had to make it. And sure enough! We did!
Jim and I both spent the day thinking about the two names and trying to decide which we felt was the name for our baby.
I loved that Mabel paired so well with Abigail, that it was an old name but still unique(but not YOUNEEK, you know what I mean?), it was 100% a girl name, and if we chose it her initials would be the same as Jim’s little sister- MES. We call her Aunt ME or M.E. a lot, so I loved the idea of her having a little niece that has a nickname just like her.
But the thing that really clinched Miss Mabel’s name was when Jim looked up the definition of it. Her name means “loving/lovable and dear” He told me that he teared up when he read that because he thought of the long, hard road that we have walked to bring her to us and how after all of it, the most dear and precious result, is her.
And that was it.
She was Mabel Elizabeth.
I had a little bit of a hard time calling her Mabel at first. The first few times I used it, it felt forced on my tongue and not quite right. But after a few uses, it just became her. 100%, absolutely her. It’s perfect and I love it and I’m so glad we chose it.
We can’t wait to welcome our lovable Mabel Elizabeth in May!
Yay! I love family names!! Ellie's is named after my dads aunt Luella and I just loved it when I first heard it. We had to go with Ellie at the hospital because of her birth mom – but I love the nickname.
I felt the same way – when we first picked Vivian, it felt funny to call her that. But now, she's our little Vivi Pearl, and I just know that she will be a perfect fit to her name:) Just like Mabel Elizabeth. I'm literally loving all these pretty, old fashioned names that are coming back around. My best friend just chose Abigail as a top runner if they have a girl (they find out in a couple of weeks), and I immediately thought of you:)
oh some sniffles. That is perfect! We had a hard time with girl names. we had a solid boy name and of course Aria turned out to be a little girl. It felt so great when we finally agreed on Aria and we just love it and her =) Mabel is a great name. I love Hazel too.
So sweet! I love the meaning of Mabel. Choosing a name is so hard, fun, and important! I'm glad you were able to pick a name that you both love; and how sweet is it that your hubby was won over completely when he read the meaning of Mabel. 🙂 So exciting!!!
Love her name, love the story and she will LOVE that you've written this down for her one day. You put so much thought into it and there's no doubt that Mabel will be just as lovable as her name suggests.
I loved her name when you announced it but now I love it even more! And of course, you know I love her middle name 😉 So, so special and perfect for her!
I found you through another blogger and LOVED this was your baby's name. My great grandmas name was Mabel and I've always wanted to use it but felt I would get total judgement for an "old" name. We named our first little girl Tilly and I feel like if we have another girl, Mabel will be the perfect match! I went back through your blog to see how you decided to chose it. I'm not even pregnant again yet, but for some reason feel I'm destined to have all girls! Haha
Love this, it really is PERFECT!!! Can't wait to "meet" Miss Mabel! 🙂
Truly, such a beautiful name. Can't wait to "meet" Mabel! XO
Yay! I love family names!! Ellie's is named after my dads aunt Luella and I just loved it when I first heard it. We had to go with Ellie at the hospital because of her birth mom – but I love the nickname.
I love it!! I really like incorporating family names in some way too. I cracked up at your 'youneek' comment! So true. Beautiful name lady!
I love this!! I totally get sounding "forced" but eventually it becomes so natural. 🙂 I love the reasoning! Just perfect! 🙂
Love her sweet name! It is so tender and lovable! So happy for y'all!!!
I felt the same way – when we first picked Vivian, it felt funny to call her that. But now, she's our little Vivi Pearl, and I just know that she will be a perfect fit to her name:) Just like Mabel Elizabeth. I'm literally loving all these pretty, old fashioned names that are coming back around. My best friend just chose Abigail as a top runner if they have a girl (they find out in a couple of weeks), and I immediately thought of you:)
It's beautiful! What a sweet story too!
Sweet, sweet Mabel. I adore it and the meaning. And I TOTALLY get you on unique but not YOUNEEK! 😉
xx
Love the name & the meaning is perfect.
I can't wait to see pictures of the family of four =)
oh some sniffles. That is perfect! We had a hard time with girl names. we had a solid boy name and of course Aria turned out to be a little girl. It felt so great when we finally agreed on Aria and we just love it and her =) Mabel is a great name. I love Hazel too.
So sweet! I love the meaning of Mabel. Choosing a name is so hard, fun, and important! I'm glad you were able to pick a name that you both love; and how sweet is it that your hubby was won over completely when he read the meaning of Mabel. 🙂 So exciting!!!
My great grandmother's name was Mabel and we are pondering it as a middle name for a girl! LOVE the name!
Girl names are truly so difficult! I love this story and it so made me teary eyed. So happy for you and your little, growing, family!!! Love it!
such a cute name!! Names can be hard, but it sounds like you guys were mostly on the same page! I can't wait to see her sweet face 🙂
What a gorgeous name!
I love the name!
Love her name, love the story and she will LOVE that you've written this down for her one day. You put so much thought into it and there's no doubt that Mabel will be just as lovable as her name suggests.
I loved her name when you announced it but now I love it even more! And of course, you know I love her middle name 😉 So, so special and perfect for her!
I found you through another blogger and LOVED this was your baby's name. My great grandmas name was Mabel and I've always wanted to use it but felt I would get total judgement for an "old" name. We named our first little girl Tilly and I feel like if we have another girl, Mabel will be the perfect match! I went back through your blog to see how you decided to chose it. I'm not even pregnant again yet, but for some reason feel I'm destined to have all girls! Haha