Why this takes me so long...

OK, so names suggested have been: Colin - diminutive form of Nicholas, and Nicholas is Greek and means "victory of the people". Not bad.

Cameron - Bent nose. So we nix that one.

Adam - One I have toyed with seriously, it means of the Earth, you know, like Adam and Eve

Jack - A diminutive form of John, which means God is Gracious. Not bad.

Peter - Greek, meaning Rock. Well, the whole firm foundation concept isn't bad.

Ryan/Brian - I have a Brian (it means strong, and holey canole it fits!) but Ryan means King, though it sounds probably too much like Brian to get away with it.

Now, with more than a little apprehension I feel this child needs to have a name from the McDonald family, my grandfather. I'm apprehensive because the child who is most like them (Brian) was the one I have had the hardest time with as an infant/toddler. But he's still beautiful and wonderful and amazing, it was all worth it.

Perhaps just the middle name, and the choices that are recent enough, or common enough to stick out to me are:

Simon is of Hebrew origin, and it means "To be heard".

Randall has English origin, and it means Shield Wolf. Now, I don't know what shield wolf means, so I'll have to think on that. Another site says Wolf Counselor. Hmmm.

And Carroll - which is a form of Charles, which is German and means Free man.

I also like David, which goes back 5 generations from me, we had a David Gilman Tripp. David means Beloved. We also have Josephs, and Joseph is Hebrew and means God will Increase. Way back is a Thomas, which is Greek origin and means "a twin". I'm not sure how I feel about that, but it was also an original apostle at the time of Christ, which I like, and while he was "Doubting Thomas", because he would not believe on the other's word, that's the sort of thing one would expect from a very literal McDonald child. Our current prophet is a Thomas as well.

We have an Edgar, but I'm not mean. No offense great-great-Granddad.

So then Nicki found this website with baby names that goes a step further. You enter the name of your current child, and it made suggestions for what other parents who named their child that used for their other kids too.

Dustin brothers: Dylan, Austin, Brandon, Cody, Hunter, Tyler, Logan, Jacob, Christopher

Brian brothers: Brandon, Matthew, Michael, Andrew, Kevin, Sean, Daniel, Christopher, Justin, Joseph

Michael brothers: Matthew, Nicholas, Christopher, Joseph, Andrew, Daniel, Jacob, Joshua, Anthony, David

Zachary brothers: Jacob, Joshua, Nicholas, Matthew, Tyler, Alexander, Benjamin, Nathan, Ethan, Ryan


As you can see, Dustin doesn't fit in with the rest. But so what? It fit for us.

The Nicki insisted on looking up my Granddad's name's meaning, although I would never use it. Way to old fashioned (it's popularity piqued in the 1950's) and he was never called it. But, it is Elwin, English origin, wise friend. Hmm, that fit him I think.

Anyway, to focus. She then went through the sibling names, categorized by how many repeated, and copied the meanings for me (I was in the car, working the census that day).

In order to prevent my longest blog post ever, I will skip that, and now reveal the name.

With all the hooplah against David (it's my mother's boss, my best friend's father-in-law, Bill just doesn't like it, blah blah blah), I decided not to go that route.

Our new little boy will be:


**drum roll please**



Thomas Randall Jones.


Yes, I know Tom Jones is a singer, my father-in-law is George Jones and he survived. And Tommy Lee Jones the actor, and even Thomas the Tank Engine. Not important.

Thomas Randall Jones just feels right.