What's in a name

Dave's sister Mary announced that Maggie and Bea must be short for Magnificent and Beautiful, and who are we to disagree? There were, however, a few other drivers. We had settled on most of the names a month ago but were still going back and forth quite a bit on Baby B's names in particular. On Monday night after Heidi had been admitted for closer monitoring, we decided it would be a good idea to do some more noodling, just in case. And good thing that. 

Margaret was the first name to be decided. It is a family name that belonged to Dave's mother's aunt and also is the middle name of niece Gillian, who was a wee baby when we were married. We both have lots of good connotations with Maggies we have known. Evelyn is first and foremost a lovely sounding name. It is the name of an aunt of Heidi's mom and several dear family friends, so more good connotations. It also has the special added bonus of delivering the initials MEA that Maggie will share with Dave's best friend since the age of 3, Martin Erskine Anderson. He and wife Rachel used the occasion of their wedding to set Dave and Heidi up, so they have a lot to answer for. 

We chose Iris because it is the state flower of Tennessee. No, no, no. We chose it because irises are a favorite flower for both of us. And for a little girl who struggled to make it this far, we liked the Greek origin as a symbol of power and strength, a messenger goddess affiliated with Juno making the rounds between Mount Olympus and the mortals (riding rainbows, but we'll not dwell on that, although she might some day). The philosopher Iris Murdoch certainly lived a rip-roaring life and one who was fascinated with goodness (and we're pro-goodness). For those geologically minded, IRIS the acronym (see iris.edu) is the mother ship for seismology (and there have been quite a large number of earthquakes the past several days). Bea emerged out of worrying about Baby B, who was the smaller of the two. It is also a Shakespearean nod in honor of Dave's dad. Should our Bea have half the wit of the Bard's Beatrice, then she will be a force to be reckoned with. And Dante's Beatrice was a great muse for those who wander in shall we say interesting places.