What’s in a Name?
Posted in 1 :: Joe, 2 :: Julie, 3 :: Jared Jerome, 4 :: Joshua Josiah, 5 :: Alicia Marie, 6 :: Amanda Rose, Post Count and tagged with Funny Stories on 10/11/2009 09:40 am by JulieA friend of mine was blogging about the meanings behind her kids’ names, and how they had to mean something to her before she would choose the name… And I got to thinking about how I didn’t even really know the meanings of my kids’ names. I chose the names because I liked them, or we were naming them after someone, etc… So, I decided to look into it…
Jared Jerome Johnson
Now Joe wanted to name the boys with all “J” names, because it’s had been done in 2 or 3 generations in his family. Since a lot of my favorite boy names began with J, I really didn’t have a problem with that… Naturally, since I wanted a baby so much, I started thinking of names as soon as we were married (maybe even earlier). My first thought was Jacob Jerome, but then Joe’s sister had the twins and named the boy Jacob, so there went that. *lol* So I went looking in a baby book and found the name Jared, and I decided that I loved it, even more than I liked Jacob. I went with the spelling that I did because that is how it’s spelled in the Bible… As for Jerome, it is Joe’s Dad’s middle name… So, what are the meanings (sometimes you can find different meanings on different sites, so I wrote down all that I found)?
Jared :: (Hebrew) descent, descending, ruler, or one who rules
Jerome :: (Greek) sacred name
A funny story… When I first thought of Jared’s name, I asked Joe what he thought about it. When I told him we had the following conversation:
Julie: “What do you think of Jared Jerome?”
Joe: “Isn’t Jerome a black guy’s name?”
Julie: “Isn’t Jerome your Dad’s middle name?”
Joe: “Jerome is a great name!”
Joshua Josiah Johnson
After Josh was born, my Uncle Konrad asked my Mom why we chose both Joshua and Josiah, since they meant the same thing (she then explained the “J” thing to him)… Up until that point I had no idea they meant the same thing. *lol* I just loved both names, and thought they had a ring to them… The names have to have a “flow” for me, when I say them together… To be honest, I would have loved to use Josiah as a first name, but Joe’s family (including Joe) didn’t like the name and gave me a hard enough time for using as a middle name. 
… But now I can’t imagine Josh being anything other than Josh. *lol*
Joshua :: (Hebrew) Jehovah is salvation, or God rescues
Josiah :: (Hebrew) Jehovah helps, the Lord saves, or Jehovah has healed
Alicia Marie Johnson
When we were first married I was watching an episode of Little House on the Prairie, and it was one with the character of Alicia Edwards in it. (Alicia is pronounced A-Lee-Sha) I just love the name Alicia! I put it together with Joe’s grandma’s name, Marie… Marie is actually his grandma’s middle name (Cynthia Marie), but she goes by Marie… Anyway, I asked Joe what he thought, and he loved it so much that he refused to even consider any other name for his first little girl. *lol*
Alicia :: (Old German) noble, exalted, sweet, truthful one, or honest
Marie :: (Hebrew) bitter, sea of bitterness, or sea of sorrow
I CAN NOT believe that Marie means bitter! I was so sad when I found that last night. 
I feel bad for my little Princess!
Amanda Rose Johnson
Amanda is a name I have always liked, and I got the name Rose from Little House on the Prairie as well. I thought that they sounded so pretty together, and I have had a lot of people tell me the same thing. Even my OB/GYN stopped and said, “What a beautiful name” when he heard what I was naming her. *lol*
Amanda :: (Latin) she who must be loved, or fit to be loved
Rose :: (Latin) a flower, or Rose
I love what her first name means! She IS fit to be loved! … The meaning of her middle name cracks me up, it’s so… well.. predictable. *rofl*
I also decided to look up Joe’s names (I already knew what my names meant), as well as our last name (and my maiden name), just because. *lol*
Joseph James Johnson
Joe is named after his two grandfathers; James Jerome Johnson Sr. (Joe’s Dad is James Jerome Johnson Jr.) and Joseph Leo Toepfer…
Joseph :: (Hebrew) Jehovah increases, He will enlarge, or God will increase
James :: (Hebrew) he who supplants, or supplanter
Julie Anna (Evans) Johnson
I was named after my Mom’s aunt, Julianna Johanne … She had wanted to name me Julianna Johanne, but I guess after she named my sister Sabina Kayleen a lot of people gave her a bad time for giving her such a long name, so she shorted Julianna to Julie Anna… I have since told her that I would have rather been Julianna Johanne, and now she is upset that she didn’t stick with her first instinct. *lol* Poor Mom.
Julie :: (Latin) youthful, or youthful one
Anna :: (Hebrew) grace, or graceful one
Graceful I am NOT. *rofl*
Just for fun, here are the meanings of the last names:
Evans :: Gracious gift of Jehovah (also, son of Evan)
Johnson :: Gift of God (also, son of John)
Before I run off for the day, just wanted to give a quick shout out for the best acne treatment… I’ve noticed the boys starting to get an occasional baby pimple… My boys are growing up! *sob*
October 11th, 2009 at 12:00 pm
Although I don’t share Little Dude’s name on the blogs, you know it from Facebook. We actually discussed the meaning of his name (which I could email to you, if you would like) during our adult bible study group, at church today.
Beyond that, we picked his name due to a child my Hubby had known when he was growing up. That other child, fought and lost his battle with leukemia, but his positive attitude and smile has stayed with the Hubby his entire life. He knew, if he ever had a son, that he would choose to name him for that little boy.
October 11th, 2009 at 1:16 pm
I love the name stuff! I didn’t know what the kids’ names meant when I named them, but when I looked up their names afterwards, the names just fit!
According to Babycenter, Blake’s is “dark, fair”, which he has a very fair complexion – and when he was little, very blonde hair – almost white! I’ve also seen it as “pale.”
Carleigh means “free” – and our little girl is definately free from the constraints of this world! Other places I’ve seen it as “little, womanly.”
Jackson, of course is “son of Jack”, but Jack is a form of John, which means “God is gracious”. After losing Carleigh, I’d say God was VERY gracious in giving us Jackson!
Have I mentioned that I love names?
October 11th, 2009 at 4:04 pm
Yep…Marie…well, I knew it meant bitter. Take a guess WHY?! LOL
*sigh* Marie is still a favorite though, but I told Dh that I just could not seem to use it as a first name. It just didn’t feel right that way.
October 11th, 2009 at 6:46 pm
I really like the names you chose. I like how they sound when you say them.
October 11th, 2009 at 8:26 pm
Hi Julie I just love this topic and have blogged about it before several times! LOL!
I love the kids names they are so sweet. Sorry about the meaning of Marie.
Here is my kids names and their meanings and my granddaughter’s Morgan.
Shane is a Irish name and it’s meaning is “God is Gracious”
Kirsten name means “CHRISTIAN” and is Danish, Norwegian.
Morgan means of the “Sea” and is Welsh. Her middle name is Rose as well as your daughter. Morgan is 11. I am going to be going to see her tomorrow. Can’t wait. Hope you have a wonderful Sunday! Hugs
October 12th, 2009 at 1:29 am
LoL i remember asking you this WAY back when!!
October 13th, 2009 at 3:16 pm
I love learning the meaning of names too, so I’d probably have had to look them up if we were going to have kids, before settling on any name. LOL
October 14th, 2009 at 10:19 am
I think your kids all have really beautiful names!
I was surprised about the meaning of Marie, so had to check one of the Swedish name sites LOL Since Marie comes from Maria (which is one of my middle names) I got extra curious LOL
well according to the Swedish name site the most common meaning of the name nowadays is indeed “bitter” or “sea of bitterness” BUT there are also theories of it meaning “rebellious” or “wanted child”. Most likely the name comes from an Egyptian name derived from the Egyptian word “mry” which means “loved” or the word “mr” meaning “love”.