Elise Cecilia Ren – What is in a name?

I did a post like this for Carter, so I’d also like to do one for Elise. 

We spent a long, long, long time thinking about Elise’s name. 
We knew this would be our only shot to name a girl, so we wanted to make sure we had explored every possible option before making a final choice. 

There were many things swirling through our heads.  We wanted the name to follow the same two, three, one syllable pattern we had established for Graham and Carter.  Nick thought a musical themed name would be nice, I like old lady or ultra pretty/girlie.  We wanted the middle names to be family names. 

Every time we heard a name we liked, we would add it to our short list.  We also scoured multiple online name lists and then went through countless veto rounds. 
We had several names we liked but none that we were ready to pull the trigger on, so we kept on looking.  We expanded our theme search and finally one night, we started looking at French names.  We hit Elise and bingo, we both loved it!  Finally, we had a ‘working’ first name.  So Elise it was, unless something better came along before she was born. 

Some of the things we love about Elise…

I definitely feels like it is a pretty/girlie name, so it hits that category.  We also consider it a musical name with its reference to Fuer Elise (one of Beethoven’s most popular compositions), and although the identity of Beethoven’s Elise is not known, several of the theories peg Elise to be either a singer or a child prodigy, all which seem just fine for our Elise.  Elise is short for Elizabeth which gives a nod to Nick’s English heritage and my interest in the British monarchy (especially the Tudor line, including Queen Elizabeth I).  We prefer uncommon but not unusual names and we feel like Elise falls into that category and I wanted a name that wouldn’t be immediately conducive to a nickname – check!   Elise Millington passed the Google background check and we also enjoyed how her name flowed with her brothers’ names.  Graham, Carter, and Elise.  Pretty nice if I do say so myself. 

Now that the first name was set we turned our attention to the middle names.  With Graham and Carter, we used family names and couldn’t be more pleased with how they turned out.  The problem with Elise is that neither of us liked any of the female names in our families.  We went way back, but still found nothing, so we decided to use initials and honor the family members that way. 

It was very, very important to me to have one of Elise’s middle names be in honor of my Grammy Taub.  Her name was Freyda Runya also known as Frieda Renee and she went by Renee (pronounced Re-knee not Renée).  So, where does that leave us?  Two middle names.  The first name with 3 syllables, the second name with 1 syllable and one of the two names needs to start with either an “F” or an “R”.

So, letters that made it into the mix:
F – Grammy Taub
R – Grammy Taub and my sister Rachel
J – Grandma Joy (Joyce)
M – My mom (Martha) or my middle name (Michelle)
T – My name (Tamarah)
S – Nick’s mom (Susan) or my mom’s middle name (Sherry)
C – Part of Nick’s mom’s given name (Carolyn) 

So, the work began.  We looked at every name with those letters then started doing searches for 3 syllable and 1 syllable names, etc.

We had always liked the name Cecilia and it had been on our short list from the beginning.  We chose the name Cecilia to honor both my mom and Nick’s mom because although it starts with the letter “C”, the “C” sounds like an “S” so we feel it hits both the “C” and “S”.  We also think Cecilia falls into our musical theme category because of that oh so famous Simon and Garfunkel song.    

Once Elise Cecilia was set, that left us looking for a one syllable name that started with either an “R” or an “F” because I still really wanted to make sure Elise was somehow named after my Grammy Taub.  When, after looking at countless name lists, we finally found Ren, we both liked the way it sounded but were hesitant because it was a little too unusual for our taste.  It was only after looking up the meaning and origin of the name that we knew we had hit the jackpot. 

Ren is of Japanese origin (perfect for Nick who feels so connected to the Japanese culture from growing up there) and depending on which kanji you use, it means either lotus flower or romance love.  Perfect!  Japanese and lovely meanings.  But wait, it gets even better!  Ren is used in English as a nickname for Lauren (Alethea’s middle name) and… a nickname for Renee (my Grammy Taub’s name)!!!  We couldn’t believe our luck.  After all that searching, Elise would actually be named after my Grandma. 

And there you have it folks.  Elise Cecilia Ren.  Perfect.  We love it and we love her!

P.S. At 6 weeks in, Elise’s nicknames are Baby Sis, and Sweet Sweet Baby Elise :)