We're getting lots of questions lately on where we came up with the name...Sayla Grace.

Prepare to be enlightened...or at least informed!

We started the name game before we found out we were pregnant. Knowing if we had a boy, he would be John Owen the 4th...given that Owen is the 3rd. We would call him Johnny (and later John) after both of our father's. Even though my dad goes by Ed, his first name is John.

Anywho...Tuesday that plan was put on hold until the next rugrat (hopefully!).

But with girl names, we were having a harder time coming up with a name. We knew we wanted something that was not on the "top names" lists that you see floating around the news, but at the same time, we wanted a name that we both LOVE. We didn't want it to be a case of mommy picked your name and daddy agreed half-heartedly...or vice versa.

So perusing through the baby name books we went. It was my job to come up with an expansive list that O could tear through. And so I did. There were lots of names on it, so many I can't even remember them all. Owen didn't have a clue what to name a girl, so the original list was up to me.

As promised, he tore through the list, marking off every name in his path. All the while I'm thinking, "Oh My! This is going to be difficult!!"

Turns out the only name he stopped on was "Sela" (as in Sela Ward - not that I wanted to name our baby after her, I just liked the name). But on my list, I had written the different ways to spell Sela. Among them..."Selah" - a biblical term found in the Psalms, meaning "to pause and reflect".

Being the only name left on the list, we entered into discussions on the proper way to pronounce "Selah" - apparently we entered this discussion along with many theologians and biblical scholars. Some say it's pronounced "See-La"; some same "Sha-la" (as in the Hebrew term); and still others pronounce is "Say-la".

When we discovered the "Say-la" pronunciation, we both instantly said "THAT's IT!!" And we've been stuck with it ever since. We decided to spell if phonetically, mainly because of the debate over how to pronounce Selah. We didn't want her to have to constantly pronounce it for people. Though I guess she'll constantly have to spell it for them, so I'm not sure that matters!!

The name Grace is simply because it reminds me of God's grace, and the grace that brought us together as a Christian couple. It is the grace we vowed to keep at the center of our marriage on our wedding day. And the grace that will bind our family forever.

So there you have it. It's not really a glorious story, but that's our story. Little Miss Sayla Grace...I will forever say it means "to pause and reflect on God's gift" ~ because that's what she is...God's Gift!

Labels: Sayla Grace