What's In A Name?

My Divine cousin posted about this very subject on her most divine blog and I decided to answer her questions here on my own.

My name means a lot to me. I was a Bourne first...and I cherish it. It's where I came from. I have a great heritage of strong family. People who love, and sacrifice, and serve. It's my root system. I have grandparents who honor and sacrifice; parents who support and comfort; siblings who friendship and laugh. Kind of great.

Now my name is Williamson. Which also means a great deal. I have now added to my root system an entirely new family who's values and tradition I can now cherish as my own. My Bourne family gives me security, my Williamson family gives me confidence. I feel lucky to share my name with my husband and have the world know that I am his.

I haven't ever thought much about my first name. It doesn't really have a meaning. It's the name of a plant or shrub. And for a long time I didn't think that was very exciting. Until recently. I've always wanted to have Heather plants in my garden one day, so I decided to research what they were all about and how to care for them, and I came across some interesting facts. It was interesting to me how much a Heather-plant is similar to a Heather-me:
"The Heather plant is an evergreen shrub and blooms from late July to November; The flower's various flowers come in colors ranging from white, through pink, a wide range of purples, and reds."
My favorite season is fall, and it also happens to be when my birthday is. I love it because of the rich colors that appear at that time of year. And purples, pinks, and reds happen to be my favorite colors.
T"he Heather Plant's name comes from Greek, meaning: brush - and is used often for cleaning (such as a broom), it's flowers are often used in herbal medicinal remedies; and it's often referred to as Ling, meaning 'fire' as it is often used for fuel. "
"It needs sunlight and protection from harsh winter winds."
Anyway, interesting reading for me. I'm good for cleaning (or keeping clean) and warmth or fuel (I hope that sometimes I show a little warmth) and I need protection from harsh winter wind...on days like today, when it's -35, I completely agree!

I put a lot of thought into choosing my children's names. When I was pregnant with Lucy, we decided to keep her gender a surprise, so we kept tossing around boy and girl names. We had both liked the name Matthew and figured we'd use it someday. So we settled on that for a boy. And one night I had a dream about a little red-headed child, toddler age, in a sleeper. I couldn't see the baby's face, but I kept calling, "Matthew! Matthew!" and the baby didn't respond. The next day I told Tyler that I didn't think our baby's name was Matthew. Turns out she was a girl, so it made sense. The name Lucy came to me very peacefully one day as I was sitting in my room getting things organized for having a baby. Packing my hospital bag, folding onesies and receiving blankets. I had recently finished reading the History of the Prophet Joseph Smith, written by his mother, Lucy Mack Smith. The name Lucy came into my mind and I remember smiling. When I told Tyler I liked the name, he said, "but if she has red hair, people will always think of Lucille Ball!" I reassured him that that would never happen. So we decided that if we had a girl, her name would be Lucy. And to this day, when people meet her and see her red hair, they say, "Oh, just like Lucille Ball!" Oh well, you can't win them all.

Her middle name is Jane after her grandmother, Janielee. We went back and forth over the middle name as well, choosing between Jane and Emmeline. We finally decided that Emmeline was just too fancy, and it didn't suit her. Plus, being named after someone as awesome as Grandma has been something she has loved every day of her life. Lucy is a fancy girl, and a bit of a princess, but she's a simple, sweetheart, and so her name fits. I want her to be strong in her testimony, like Lucy Mack and Grandma Janielee, but Lucy also carries a sweetness with it that is completely her. Without guile, and so compassionate. She's a doll.

Maxwell Scott. When I was pregnant with him, I had no question whether it was a boy or a girl. We did an ultrasound to find out, just to be sure, but when the tech told me it was a boy, I was not surprised. We went back to our list and thought about Matthew again, but it still didn't work. My favorite story book as a child was "Where the Wild Things Are" and the boy's name is Max. I could tell by the rolling and jumping in my belly, that this boy inside me was a lively one, so we considered Max. Plus, it's such a cute name for my little strawberry blonde guy. But it needed to be more than just Max. My favorite apostle (if you're supposed to have favorites) has always been Neil A Maxwell, so the name Maxwell was chosen. Scott is Tyler's middle name, and his dad's middle name, so we decided to carry on and name our first boy with the middle name Scott. For a while, Max thought everyone's middle name was Scott. Papa Scott, Tyler Scott, Mommy Scott. So he is my wild-thing...but hopefully one day will be temperate and gentle like my favorite apostle.

Logan Tyler. This was a tough one. I wanted the name Charlie. But no one else in my family liked it. Then I thought about using family names. Timmins and Saker are our Grandmother's maiden names. Saker Timmins Williamson. But Tyler is NOT about invented or weirdo first names, so that was nixed. One day we were driving into Calgary, and I said, "What about Logan?" Not sure where it came from, but there it was. He's not really named after anyone or anything. There is a character in one of my favorite TV shows named Logan, but I swear that's not where the name came from. And he's named Tyler after his dad. (Obviously). He is already very handsome and charming, just like his dad, so the name seems to suit him well.

There you have it. Those are the names. It sounds like a lot of thought and effort was put into them, but really, it doesn't matter who they're named after, but what they do with their names that is important. Then someday, someone can look to them, and be pleased with the name because it was theirs and they did good things with it.