what's in a name?

mer-it (n). - claim to respect and praise; excellence; worth;

precious baby girl

When we found out we were having a baby, and even before, we could think of several girl names we liked, but we had trouble coming up with very many boy names. On November 5th, when we discovered that our baby was indeed a girl, she pretty much immediately became "Merit"--it was a name that both of us really loved, so we went with it. 

I had thought of it a year or two before. Kev brought home a CD of the artist Tift Merritt, and I thought her last name would be a good first name. I then thought about the word merit, and thought about what it meant to have good merit, and to merit, or be deserving of, blessings and good things in life. 

I had a college professor say once that the meanings of names are important, because people grow into their names. That professor shared that her name meant "bitter", and she felt that had influenced her demeanor and often, her outlook on life. I felt sad for her and told myself I would never give one of my children a name that didn't have a purposeful meaning, or at least a great story behind it. After only knowing my baby girl for a week, I can tell that she is already growing into her name. We cannot possibly give her all the love that she deserves. She has already blessed our lives so immensely...and that merits all the love we have to give.

Her middle name is a special name to both of us. I had a sweet grandmother named Fay, "Fay Fay" to me, who passed away when I was 6, but to whom I still feel very connected. Kevan has a precious grandmother named Faye, "Grandmother" to him, who lives in Plainview and is very special to both of us. We wanted to honor both of them, but since each of their names are spelled differently, we decided to go with Fey...3 letters like my Fay Fay, and including an e like Kev's Grandmother. 

So, there ya have it...Merit Fey. After keeping it a secret for so long, I love to hear other people say her name and seeing it written makes me smile. Shakespeare wrote that even if a rose had another name, it would still smell just as sweet. I could say the same for Merit, but to me, a name is an important part of who we are, where we come from, who we'll be... so I wouldn't change it. I guess the name we chose is, in a way, our prayer for her.