Story told by StorkNet member, OregonMama
Baby naming has always been hard for my husband and I. We have very different tastes: I like somewhat classic and unique, and he likes trendy and classic. He never wants our children to be teased about their names. I vowed with our second child that I would not name him anything in the top 50 most popular names in America for the year 2000. His name turned out to be #100.
We agreed from the very beginning that his middle name would be Alan, as my husband's middle name is Alan. He also liked the thought of the baby possibly having his same three initials altogether: JAD. So, we headed over to the "J" section of the baby name book. We each made lists of the J-names that we liked, and then compared. The first time he looked at my list, he said, "Jeffrey, EEWWW, that is an awful name!" We have several friends named Jeffrey, all of them being at least 20-30 years old. He thought it would be just too weird to name our child Jeffrey. (He was set on the name Christopher, which I absolutely refused to name our child, as it was #5 in the nation).
So, we sat on it for a few months. We did not talk about naming this baby, because whenever we did, we would get into a disagreement and quarrel! Finally, my ultrasound day came, and we found out for sure that he was a boy. That night, my husband actually took the baby name book off the shelf again, and looked at it. He said, "What about Jeffrey?" I said, "I thought you HATED that name!" He looked somewhat astonished, as if he had never heard the name before in his life! I told him again that I would not name our son Christopher. He really did think I was going to change my mind about it! He said, "Well, I really like the name Jeffrey, so let's name him Jeffrey." I was astonished! With our daughter, we had debated the entire nine months, and I ended up giving in at the end and naming her the name he picked out. This time he was actually going to let our son be named the name I picked out!
The rest of the nine months I waited and waited, expecting him to tell me one day, "You know, I don't know about the name Jeffrey anymore…" But he didn't! May 1st, 2001 came, our beautiful son was born, and he was named Jeffrey Alan.
The name Jeffrey has special meaning to me as well. It means "Divine Peace." My hope for Jeffrey is to have this divine peace and a rich relationship with God. I want him to grow up knowing that it does not matter how much money you make, or what kind of a house you live in, as long as you are at peace with yourself and the world around you.
I cannot imagine him being anyone else than my little Jeffrey.
