What We Named the Babies

I have always been fascinated by names. You know those books that are full of names and their meanings? I could pore over those things for hours. I especially like to look back over time and see what names were popular during different time periods.

When I look at the names of my ancestors, I often think that there is a story behind each of their names, and I'd like to know what those stories are. Why did their parents choose that particular name? I've heard the stories behind some of them (my mom was named after her two grandmothers, for example) but most of them I will probably never know.

Well, maybe somewhere down the line someone will wonder the same thing about my kids' names. So, just for fun, I thought I'd record the stories behind my kids' names. This is what we named our babies, and why:

First of all, there are a few things that apply to all of our boys' names. We picked a name that we liked for their first names and a family name for their middle names. I always loved having a family name for one of my names (I was named after my aunt Karen, whom I adored). Frank was named after his father--he's a "junior". We decided right away that we would not have a Frank Leon Cleveland III. I don't like that much repetition (it's confusing), and let's face it--there are not any really good nicknames for "Frank". (Although Frank has a friend whose son is a "third" and they call him "Trey"--three in French, I think. What a great idea!)

We never officially named a child without looking at him first. We usually had a couple of names in mind, and made our final choice after the baby was born and we got a good look at him.

When we picked out first names, we purposely avoided names that are really popular. I didn't want my poor kid to be one of two or three in his school class with the same name. At the same time, I didn't want to pick names that were so unusual that they would be considered weird. It was tricky finding a balance between too popular and downright strange, but I think we managed to strike that balance. (What do you think?)

Scott--August 1994

Scott Laurence Cleveland
(Scott: English, Scottish From an English and Scottish surname which meant "a Scotsman"; Laurence: English From the Roman cognomen Laurentius, which meant "from Laurentum")

The name Scott was actually chosen by Frank. He just really likes that name. He wanted to name his first child Scott, whether it was a boy or a girl. (He knew a girl named Scott, and he thought that was "cool".) I wasn't too enthusiastic about the name for a boy (I thought it was too common), and I absolutely refused to name a girl Scott! When we had a boy, I decided to "give in"--mainly because I was saving any future girls from the threat of being named Scott. (Of course I didn't know then that we weren't going to have any girls.) Scott turned out to be a good choice. Although it was a very popular name for boys my age (there were always 2-3 boys named Scott in my school classes), its popularity has waned over the years. There were never any other Scotts in my Scott's school classes. As a matter of fact, there are only a few Scotts in his large high school. It's a very familiar, but not-so-common-anymore name. I've come to like it.

Laurence is the name of one of my mother's brothers. He passed away at a way too early age, from Luekemia. He was a good person with a great sense of humor, and I knew Scott would enjoy hearing stories about some of the funny things he did. (Like the time he scared Larisa, Jeanette, Amy & I by looking in the window wearing that creepy mask...)

Other names we considered: Kip Tyler and Bracken Gerald

Tanner--November 28, 1996

Tanner Frank Cleveland
(Tanner: English From an English surname meaning "one who tans hides"; Frank: English Short form of Francis, which is the English form of the late Latin name Franciscus, which means "Frenchman")

Tanner was a name I had heard and liked--it's kind of a trendy name in Mormon circles out west, although fortunately it is almost unknown out here in the eastern United States. (More than one of Tanner's teachers have commented on how much they like the name and wanted to know where it came from.) I didn't think Frank would ever agree to it because he generally likes more common names (like "Scott"!) The night before Tanner was born (we didn't know at the time that he was coming so soon) we were discussing names and Frank suggested the name Tanner. I was so surprised when he brought it up, but I told him I loved that name and we quickly decided that was our number one choice for a boy's name.

Frank, of course, came from Tanner's father and grandfather. I like the idea of giving a boy his father's first name for his middle name. The bonus here was that we were able to name Tanner after two people at once! By some cool twist of fate, Tanner looks much more like his father than any of our other boys. (And Frank looks much more like his father than his older brother does.)

Other names we considered: None, that I can remember. We picked out the name "Tanner Frank" the night before Tanner was born and when we looked at him it fit, so we didn't really stop to consider any other names.

Jared--October 1998

Jared Antony Cleveland
(Jared English, Biblical From the Hebrew name Yared, meaning "descent"; Antony English English form of the Roman family name Antonius, which is of unknown Etruscan origin)

Jared is a name that Frank suggested, and I liked it. We talked a lot about the name Tyler also. I'm glad we chose "Jared" because we've come across a lot more Tylers than Jareds over the years. Besides, "Jared" is similar to my dad's name, Gerald. (My dad is called "Jerry" by most people, and Jared has some friends who call him "Jerry" also!)

Antony ("Tony") was Frank's sister Dawn's first husband's name. (Did you follow that?) Tony was tragically killed in a car accident one week after he and Dawn were married (and about 2 years before Jared was born.) I was in the temple one day when I had an impression that it was time for us to have another baby, that it would be a boy, and that we would name him after Tony. Jared was born 9 months later. He has beautiful deep dimples in both cheeks, and Dawn has always said that Uncle Tony kissed him on both cheeks before he came to earth.

Other names we considered: Tyler (I already said that!)

Seth--June 2007

Seth Bracken Cleveland
(Seth English, Biblical Means "placed" or "appointed" in Hebrew. Seth is the third named son of Adam and Eve in the Old Testament. Another meaning is "compensation"--Seth compensated, in a way, for the loss of Abel; Bracken English Anglicised form of the Gaelic surname meaning descendent of Breacan. Bracken is also a kind of fern.)

I chose the name Seth. We didn't really discuss any boy names until we had an ultrasound and found out we were having a boy. Honestly, I was kind of stumped when it came to coming up with another boy's name! I really thought we were having a girl that time (a long story) so I came home feeling disoriented and wondering just who this baby was. I went online to get some ideas for boy's names, and one of the first sites I went to had a picture of a baby with four names underneath--you were supposed to pick which name belonged with that baby. One of the names was "Seth". I saw that name--it was a name I had seen before and liked, but forgotten all about--and I immediately had strong feelings about it. I thought "He's Seth--that's who he is." When I saw that one of the meanings of Seth is "compensation", I felt even better about it, because the name fit our situation so well. We lost a baby 6 years earlier and then struggled through unexplained infertility until a miracle happened. We went through so much to get him here, but he more than compensates for all those difficult years! Incidentally, Frank was not all that wild about the name Seth, but in the end he let me have my way. And now he likes the name, of course!

Bracken--there's two reasons we chose this name. For one thing, I read a series of books as a teen ager (The Williamsburg series by Elswyth Thane) that I really liked, and one of the main charcters in a few of the books was named Bracken. He was a very likable character (funny, nice, handsome, rich...), and I thought that was a cool name that I might want to use someday. Then when Frank and I were engaged, I discovered that his mother's maiden name is Bracken. Perfect! The Brackens are a wonderful group of people, which endeared me to the name even more. I told my mother in law that since I never had a girl, this was the only way I could name a child after her! I'm glad I got to name at least one of my children after a female member of the family that I admire.

Other names we considered: Tyler, Luke, Simon, Zachary, Blake, Spencer for first names. Frederick, Hans, Benjamin, Timothy, and Ezekiel for middle names.

So there you have it...the story behind the names!