What's in a Name?

Well, for us, a lot actually.  We put a lot into naming our children.  Though Dave tells me I mis-remember the experience of naming Isaac and Abigail (I think we both mis-remember a bit, if you want to know the truth), I don't remember it being that hard.  It just kind of clicked.  They were some of the first names we talked about, and even when we didn't know we were having a boy and a girl and were trying to come up with another girl and another boy name, just in case, Abigail and Isaac were always on the table. 

And we try to pick significant names.  One of the things we want to do is buy our children books about famous/influential people with their same names . . . . kind of a heritage library, if you will.  Abigail, besides being a great Biblical woman, is also the name of Abigail Adams -- one of my historical faves! -- and the mother of Brigham Young -- Dave's FAVORITE prophet ever.  Marie is my middle name, my mom's middle name, my grandpa's sister's name, etc.  Essentially, it's a family name.  So it just fits.  Isaac has a similar legacy.  There are Isaac from the Bible and Sir Isaac Newton (THE greatest scientist of ALL time if you ask David).  His middle name is David, after his dad.  So he got the religious/scientific/family name combination while Abby got the religious/historical/family name combination.

If this baby were a boy, he would be named either Benjamin or Porter Thomas.  Benjamin after Benjamin in the Bible and Benjamin Franklin, Thomas after my dad, Thomas Edison (the second GREATEST), Thomas Jefferson, and a host of men in the Chaffee family tree.  Porter is a family surname, but it is also after Porter Rockwell, Dave's OTHER favorite man from history. 

But it's a girl . . . .

And we're kind of stuck. 

I love Emma and Isabella (Queen Isabella from Spain who funded Christopher Columbus' voyage, though I'm not sure there are any books about her that paint her as an upstanding namesake), Miriam, Eleanor (Eleanor Roosevelt) and all of his sister's names (which his mom already took from the Bible, so we don't get them).  I also like Eliza, which is my grandma's middle name (but is also his sister's nickname).  I also have a dear friend named Mercedes, called Sadie for short -- and I LOVE that -- so dang cute! -- but it goes away from the influential woman or family connection factor.  Not that she isn't an AMAZING woman, but you get the idea.  And Dave doesn't really like Mercedes -- too much to name a child after a city or car or something like that.

And David likes Dagny -- from Atlas Shrugged. Enough said.

The middle name is easy - Jane (or Jayne, depending on our mood and how un-traditional we are feeling).  That is after Jane Addams -- perhaps my MOST favorite woman from history -- and Jane Austen.  But I think Jane as a first name is so plain.  Jane Chaffee.  It just doesn't speak to me.  But since it is already a great name for historical/influential woman purposes, it leaves us a bit more open on the first name. 

I saw the name Samantha Grace today and really liked it.  But his sister is naming her daughter Katherine Grace or Grace Katherine.  I don't remember which.  But Dave will NOT repeat family names. Period. 
So, friends, I need some help here!  Though Emma appears left and right throughout Dave's family history, he's kind of boycotted it.  For like forever.

So who are some famous/influential women from your lives?  They may have historical, religious, scientific, etc. influence.  But they definitely need to be role models of some sort, to continue our pending tradition of having a namesake library for each of our kids and adding to it their own stories as they grow and develop.