Anastazia's Middle Name

For Jairo and I, girl names are hard. We had a boy name picked out before we knew we were having a girl. Once we did find out we were having a girl we were overjoyed, but stumped. We could not decide on a name for the longest time. At first we thought about names that began with an “H” to match Henry. We did like some names such as Harper, Hadley, Harriett, Hannah, and Hattie. Then we decided we didn’t necessarily want our kids’ names to match. So we wanted a classic name that matched Henry, possibly even a name with royal history. For a few weeks we were set on the name Victoria. But that name too we realized just wasn’t right. When we finally talked about the name Anastazia it was like an epiphany. Instantly we fell in love with the name. We knew we wanted to spell it with a “Z” instead of an “S” to match my name.

Then came the task of a middle name. It was like the first name struggle all over again. We could not come up with anything. What is funny though is that when I was about 6 months pregnant and we were debating about using the name Victoria, one night Henry came up with a name of his own. It was so random. One night before bed we were just sitting there and he looked at me and said: “mommy, I know what we should name our baby.” I asked him what his idea was and his answer was surprising. (One time he had said that we should name our baby “barbeque” so I was expecting him to just be silly again.) But his idea was that we should name our baby Emily. To me this was so random because he doesn’t know anybody named Emily. That isn’t the name of any characters in shows or movies that he has seen nor is it a name that we had ever mentioned. So I am really not sure where he got it from.

We thought it was cute but really couldn’t picture it for our daughter. Plus we thought Henry would soon forget about the name. Well, he didn’t. Throughout the remainder of my pregnancy he stuck on the name. Even when we told him we were naming the baby Anastazia he said Emily should be her second name. So then he would refer to the baby as Anastazia Emily, or more frequently, Emily Anastazia.

Well, Jairo and I eventually decided that we should consider using Emily as a middle name because it meant so much to Henry. Even though it wasn’t one of our picks for a baby name, we thought it would be meaningful if we used Emily as Anastazia’s middle name because her big brother picked the name out. In fact, when my mom was pregnant with my little brother Sebastian I picked out his middle name. I was five years old and it was around the time that I was in my school’s Christmas program and I liked the name of the Angel Gabriel so I told my parents we should name our baby that and they did. My brother’s name is Sebastian Gabriel.

Honestly we didn’t decide on Anastazia Emily for sure until we filled out the birth certificate in the hospital. But we are so glad we did. We all love her name and it definitely fits her. Plus it is so sweet that her big brother picked out her middle name. I think it makes the name meaningful.

So, we are pleased to announce that our precious little beauty is named:

Anastazia Emily Tovar