Our Gang and How They Got Their Names

EDITED: Picture removed due to extreme ugliness!!!!

I really love that Andrea and Liberty have done posts on how they named their children, so I am going to give the official stories on our six. Keep in mind that this is really digging into the past!

Stacey Leigh

When I was a student at Mississippi State College for Women, way back in the sixties, I had a suite-mate whose name was Linda Marie Stacey. All of us on our wing thought it would be really cool to name our first baby girls Stacey Marie. We liked Linda, but we loved her name! So, when I had my little baby girl, I was pleased to be able to name her Stacey. But Jim vetoed Marie as a middle name, wanting to name her after me (my middle name is Leigh). I thought Stacey was an original name, but was very surprised to find many little girls her age named Stacey. When Stacey was just a little thing, I felt so overwhelmed with marriage and motherhood. She seemed to take care of me more than I took care of her. I think she was sent to me for a special purpose, as she is a natural mother and nurturer and has been from the very start. I love you, Stacey.

David Matthew

David has always been my favorite name for a boy. I guess Jim knew that, but right from the start he always said he would never have a son named David. And then he went to flight school and became very good friends with David Dukes, also from Mobile. David asked us if we ever had a son, would we name him David. Yes!!! So, I got my David. I like that David means "beloved." David has always been one of my heart favorites in the Bible. I love the psalms. I am saddened when I think of his first big mistake, Bathsheba, and his second big mistake, Bathsheba's husband. We chose Matthew just because sounds nice with David. I worried when I was pregnant with David that I could never love another child as much as I loved Stacey, but of course I was wrong. I adored that beautiful little blonde boy with the big blue eyes. Now he is 35 and I love him even more. We share so much in our make-up. Jim says my boys take after me and the girls take after him. I think he's right. David, I love you.

Lynne Elizabeth

When I was pregnant with Stacey and David, I knew what the sex would be each time, to such an extent that we didn't pick out alternate sex names. And of course back then we didn't have a way to find out the sex of our baby ahead of time. When I became pregnant with Lynnie, I really thought I was having a boy, so we chose the name Joshua Michael, but just to be safe chose an alternate girl's name. Lynne is the name of Jim's only sister, and my only sister too, actually. We wanted to name our next little girl for Lynne. I just like the way Elizabeth sounded with Lynne, so when our baby turned out to be a little (10 lbs. 2 oz) girl, she was Lynne Elizabeth. Since I have done extensive family history research I have found that my 2d great grandmother was Mary Elizabeth Eells, another was Elizabeth Materne, a great grandmother was Elizabeth Jane, and Jim's 2d great grandmother was Mary Elizabeth Austin. So Lynnie's name has family history significance. We love you, Lynne.

Annie Laurie

When I became pregnant again, I thought that surely this child would be our Joshua Michael, but once again we had a little girl. She was a perfect child - beautiful, the easiest delivery of all my babies, and so sweet and loving. We named her Annie Laurie in honor of Blaine and Clarise Jensen, whose only daughter was Annie Laurie, named after her grandmother. We love Blaine and Clarise. He was our Branch President when we joined the church. He and Clarise are so loved and honored that there are many Annie Laurie's among our friends children, all named in honor of Blaine and Clarise. I am glad we named our little girl Annie Laurie. We called her Laurie instead of both names, but when she started school, teachers called her Annie and she has been Annie ever since! I said once and still am of the opinion that Annie is one of the smartest, funniest and most capable people I know. I wish I were more like her. I love you, Annie.

Joshua Michael

Well, less than two years after Annie was born, we were finally blessed with our Joshua! I always said that he must have needed three older sisters to take care of him, and that's why he took so long to get here. We chose the name Joshua because of the wonderful scripture from the Book of Joshua in the Old Testament - "....As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." We chose the name Michael because that is the name of Jim's brother. Joshua came into this world an athlete, I believe. His greatest moment was when he was old enough to play on a team, and have a coach! I think Josh puzzled the coach, because at age four or so, he was the only child on the team to stand and listen and focus instead of climbing the fence! Joshua has always been a joy to me. He has had my heart since the moment I held him. I love you, Joshua.

Jacob Andrew

When I became pregnant with Jacob, Jim and I knew that if we had a boy, we wanted to have his name go with Joshua. We had Lynnie and Laurie, so we thought it would be nice to have Joshua and _______. We really liked the name Jeremy, but just couldn't imagine a grown man with that name. One day I was reading a story in the Friend magazine to Joshua, and came across the name Jacob. I knew that was the perfect name for our baby! Jim agreed, and the other children agreed. Well, all except Josh, who really wanted us to name our baby Coach. We chose Andrew for his middle name for no other reason than that it sounded nice with Jacob. I really wanted my baby to be a girl, because after five other babies, I was just tired. My girls had all been perfect babies, and my boys had both been little pistols. When I delivered a boy, I was kind of sad at first, but that changed very soon, as little Jacob was the sweetest and best baby any mother could ask for. We all loved him so much, and still do! I love you, Jacob.