 |
| Our Sweet Baby |
How we chose our baby name:
My main requirement was that I wanted a family name. I have
been adamant about choosing a family name since way before we even thought
about having a baby. To me, a family name seems a very special way of linking
the future to the past. I love history, and I love the idea of our lives being
connected with those who came before and those who came after. I think the idea
of us all being connected is what gives meaning to life.
Other considerations included the fact that I didn’t want
the baby to share one of our first initials (I don’t know why this was
important to me at the time, it just was) and that I didn’t want it to be
overly popular. I scoured the SSA website to be sure that our potential names
didn’t pop up in the top 100. I also checked the “change in popularity” pages
to be sure our names weren’t headed for a sudden popularity surge.
Wil didn’t have requirements, but he liked the idea of the
baby having an international name. We want our baby to be a global citizen. We
hope that he has the opportunity and inclination to travel the world. We wanted
him to have a name that would be recognizable in many different countries. Additionally, Wil and I come from different
backgrounds, and our baby is going to grow up with grandparents of different
religions and different cultures. Our baby is a mix of a lot of good things,
and we wanted a name that represented that. The name we picked is sort of
Italian and sort of Latin and sort of Jewish. It’s got references in pop
culture, and references in history. It’s a name that can mean a lot of things
to a lot of people, yet hopefully is unique enough that our baby can put his
own stamp on the name.
Wil also wanted a name that was easy to pronounce and
sounded good for an adult and a professional.
Finally, the name just had to sound right to both of
us. We both had to think “that’s our
baby’s name”.
And so we picked Rafael David.
Rafael was the name of my
great-grandfather who moved to the United States from Russia in the early 1900s.
He gained citizenship by serving in the United States military in World War I
and then became a carpenter. He was the father to my maternal grandfather –
Paul Amber.
David is the name of Wil’s Maternal Grandfather who Wil has
always had a special relationship with. He served in World War II and then
attended Tufts. He eventually achieved his doctorate and became a school
principle.
We are proud to have named our son after these two brave, hardworking, and interesting men.
 |
| At hospital with our tiny little guy. |
Welcome to our family, Rafi. We love you so much.
