What's in a Name?

This morning, Joseph's cousin and his wife had their first baby. A little girl. They named her Clara. Their last name is also Wecker. Here's the thing: if our baby were to be a little girl, rather than a little boy, we would have named her Clara. Joseph and I both have great-grandmothers named Clara, so she would have been named after both of them. Herein lies the problem: there would have been two Clara Weckers born within a couple months of each other.

So, while I'm really happy for Joseph's cousin, especially since it's their first child, I also feel a little cheated, like they stole our name. It's silly, I know, because how in the world could they have known that we wanted to use that name, too? It's especially irrelevant now, though, because we're having a boy.

When Joseph and I (okay, mostly me) are thinking of names for our kids, there are a lot of names that get crossed off the list right away, because there is already someone in the family who has that name (usually cousins, since Joseph alone has 80-something of them), regardless if they have a different last name or not, which most of them do.

I have a certain set of rules for our kids names (particularly our boys' names). I'm not going to divulge my stipulations for choosing names, though I'd love to see if anyone can figure out the pattern. Clara fit our my rules perfectly. It's hard to find the girl names that do.

Then I think about how it's Joseph's cousin. Our kids and their kids are more removed from each other in the family tree. They are second cousins. Does it really matter? And perhaps it would be cool someday if they met each other, not knowing they were related and figured out the connection.

It kind of happened to me when I was younger. I found out that a friend/classmate of mine was my fourth cousin. They were in our ward. His mom's maiden name was Brady. She was my Merrie Miss teacher. She taught me how to knit. I love that woman (and of course the rest of their amazing family, too).

Does it really matter that much, that if we have another baby girl someday, that we name her Clara, that she would have the same name as her second cousin? Probably not.

My own brother has the same name as our first cousin, a classmate of his, and a famous television dad. One of Joseph's female cousins has the same name as their second cousin (who, incidentally, is engaged to Jimmer, neat, eh?). Even our little Moses is named after his uncle, though older Moses is deceased. They even have the same middle initial and nearly the same birthday (our Moses was born the day after what would have been his namesake's birthday).

So, I may be a little frustrated now, but as time goes by, it's going to matter less and less, especially in the long run. Perhaps we'll still use the name Clara if I'm blessed with another baby girl someday. Besides, it's kind of cool running into someone you share a name with, or so I've heard. I don't expect to run into anyone else in the world with my name.

Either way, I'm still super stoked for Joseph's cousin. They're such a cute couple in the first place. First babies are always an exciting event and they're going to be amazing parents. Congratulations (if you guys happen to read this, which I have a feeling you will when word gets around)!!