Finding Eliana

I wrote the majority of the content of this post in July last year when I had set up a baby website in anticipation of Eliana's arrival. Since I have neglected this website, I decided to share the story of how we chose her names on my blog. 

Aside from the usual string of questions that one fields when making news of an impending arrival known, is the one pertaining to what the little miracle's name is going to be. Choosing a name can be more than a little bit challenging because there are so many factors to consider depending on your view regarding the importance of a name. For us the challenge was finding one that we agreed upon – with the actual sound of the name and its meaning being very big deciding factors.

Following a great number of suggestions and debates, we settled on Eliana. Not exactly a common name, but a beautiful one with a meaning that was close to our hearts. The Hebrew meaning is "My God has answered me" and since we'd been praying to be blessed with a child, Eliana really was (and still is) an answer to prayer.

Given the peculiarity of this name, I am often asked how we found Eliana. And I have to have a bit of a giggle because it was not a conventional source. I am a big fan of A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin - a series popularised by HBO's Game of Thrones. Although this pop culture phenomenon has resulted in some interesting changes to name popularity charts with Khaleesi and Arya making appearances, I was not interested in going that route. I liked the sound of the name "Elia" (Elia Martell - being Rhaegar Targaryen's wife) and decided to look it up. I discovered that it was a Hebrew name and that Eliana was a variant. I gave both variants to Nik and he preferred Eliana as it was similar to a name that he had had in mind (Liliana). What I found amusing more recently was the realisation that I had inadvertently combined the names of both of Rhaegar's love interests: Elia and Lyanna (Stark)... But I maintain that this was not intentional!

Then the decision regarding middle name(s). Both of us were given a second and third name and we decided many years ago that we would do the same for our own child. The "rules" were that a girl would be given a second name from my side of the family and a third name from Nik's side. If our munchkin had been a boy, it would have been the other way around. Despite the fact that family names are often rather political choices, we decided that it was our choice to make and were careful in the selection.

And so our little girl was named Eliana Mathilda Gwendolyn.

Mathilda – we chose this name in honour of my father's grandmother, Hilda Oettle. Unfortunately neither of us were very partial to the name Hilda and decided to go the route of a name variant. And so we settled on Mathilda. The origins are German, with Hilda meaning "battle woman" and Mat(h)ilda meaning "strength in battle".

Gwendolyn – this name is in honour of Nik's maternal grandmother, Wendy Dodds. Again it was a decision to relate this name to one that we thought had a nicer ring to it. Unfortunately there isn't a specific meaning to the name "Wendy", common references cite its origin from JM Barrie's "Peter Pan". However since the name did appear, albeit rarely, prior to the play, it is thought to be related to the Welsh name Gwendolen. The meaning of this name is "white, fair, blessed".

This was made by my amazingly talented sister-in-law, Lauren Griffiths and hangs in El's bedroom 

Taking cues from the meanings of her names, it is hoped that Eliana's names will be a reminder, an influence and wish:

• she is an answer to prayer
• we hope that she will be strong and courageous 
• and that her life will be blessed.  

And 10 and a half months down the line... Even when she is being a little terrorist, she is our greatest gift. She is definitely strong willed! With respect to "white and fair" she definitely has more colour than I do, but her skin tone is not quite as dark as Nik's. We are blessed to have her in our lives and she is blessed to have so many people who love and adore her. 

My beautiful little girl!