What Is In A Name?

Juliet:

What's in a name?  That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.

While Juliet Capulet may have been lamenting to her star-crossed lover, Romeo Montague, that a name is just an artificial and meaningless convention, anyone who has ever had to choose a name for their child might beg to differ. 

Sean and I have spent the last week going through a list of about dozen names that we both just "liked" but didn't LOVE.  However, yesterday morning there was one that just struck a chord with both of us.  Sean and I used a christmas gift card to Olive Garden and treated ourselves to a yummy lunch at Whitney's favorite restaurant yesterday.  We tried the name out as we munched on our yummy salad, breadsticks and entrees, and by the end of the day, it was set.  We have a name!  Her name is...

Gianna Noelle

We both wanted to find a name that had great meaning to both of us and this journey of life we are on.  As much as I desperately wanted to keep with an "S" name (what can I say? I like alliterations.), we couldn't find one that just fit.  But Gianna... it definitely does.  Here's some of the reasoning behind the name we chose:

Gianna is Italian and means "God is gracious."  This name has so much meaning for us... first of all, Psalm 145:8-9 played a HUGE role in our decision with Whitney to carry to term despite her adverse diagnosis:

⁸ The LORD is gracious and compassionate, 
   slow to anger and rich in love.

 ⁹ The LORD is good to all; 
   he has compassion on all he has made. 

I was so worried about if Whitney was feeling pain, but reading this Psalm helped me know that God is good to all he has made, and she wasn't in pain while I carried her.  My mom read this chapter from the Psalms just moments before Whitney was born, and I read the same passage again at her memorial service.  So I love that the first part of this verse is reflected in our daughter's name.

Also, Sean and I love Italy... it actually played a huge part in our 'love story' while we were dating.  We both went to Italy on separate mission trips in college, then after we were married, we were able to go together.  It holds a very dear place in our hearts!  (And the fact that we decided on this at Olive Garden was just an added bonus.  Olive Garden is actually where we decided on Whitney's name too!  We didn't realize this until later, though.)

And finally, when doing a Wiki search on the name, I learned that Gianna is also the name of a Saint who refused to abort her unborn baby, even though she knew it could result in her death, which it eventually did.  Now, I'm not Catholic and don't pray to saints or anything like that, but I thought it was neat how we chose that name, and then found out that this woman also chose to carry her child, despite the difficult circumstances. 

So... there ya have it!  :)  Oh, and we'll call her "Gia" for short.  :)

We chose her middle name Noelle because we had so much fun and eager anticipation in waiting for Christmas to find out if she was a boy or girl.  :)

Gianna Noelle.... we can't wait to meet you!!!!