Behind the name: Becks Lynae

It is 8:30 p.m. 

I'm tired.

But I have to get this post written…so that I can then write Becks' birth story before her 16th birthday when I've forgotten everything. Right? 

see footnote*

When I wrote about the story behind Blythe's name, I said that if you know me at all you know my love for stories. I could sit for hours with someone and just listen to their story. It's the one thing I told my students time and time again: share your story! tell your story! write your story! you're the only one who knows your story as intimately as you do! [It was actually for this reason that I loved the name "Story", but Brent nixed that one]. And so, as a lover of people's stories, I wanted to make sure that my daughters' names were unique, that they had meaning, and that there was a story behind them. 

And this is the story of how Brent and I chose to name our second born Becks Lynae. 

Becks was a name that was never on my radar.  You ladies out there know what "radar" I'm talking about-- the one you've had since you were in elementary and you had to choose a "pretend name" when you were on the playground with your friends, and then you realized that "Ginger", as a nickname for "Jennifer",  was the absolute most perfect name, and then you realized that someday you may have the opportunity to actually name a girl of your own Ginger and how perfect would that be!?! And from that point on, naming future children was on your radar. [Blythe and Becks, aren't you glad I got over "Ginger"? You're welcome.]

In college I started a for real list on a piece of orange construction paper: in one column were boy names, in the other column were girl names. Blythe and Becks were not on the list. The "number one" girl name at that time? Lynae Kathleen. Interesting.

But Beck was on the boy list.

You see, I was dating this awesome guy who had a really great dad whose name was Beck.
Sort of.
Actually his name was Ernest Allen. But we call him Beck.

What?

He had a grandpa named Ernest, whom everyone called Beck. And then he was named Ernest after Grandpa Ernest, but his mom intended to call him Allen, but then people started calling him Beck, too. Are you confused yet?

This is what you need to know: The name "Beck" is a family name that has never been in the family officially. If someone were to research the family tree, the name Beck would not appear. It is not officially on record. So Brent and I always thought it would be cool to name a son Beck-- like actually name him Beck AND call him Beck.

The original Beck

And then we got pregnant with our first child: A girl. I wanted a healthy, whole child, yes, but truth be told, I wanted a girl. So it was fine, but we couldn't use Beck. And Blythe Kathleen joined our family. And her name was perfect for her. 

And then we got pregnant with our second child: A girl. I wanted a healthy, whole child, yes, but truth be told, I wanted a girl. But Beck was out again. 

And then I remembered: a couple years ago [when we had cable t.v. and time to watch cable t.v], I watched a show on HGTV called Design Star. It was a reality show on which designers competed for a chance to get their own television show. And that's when I saw it: a spunky, red-headed designer named "Bex." And my wheels started turning.

I loved it. I'm a sucker for non-traditional names, but I'm a bigger sucker for names with a story, like I said. I wasn't crazy about the "x", but I hung on to this name for some reason.

And when we found out I was expecting again, we started dreaming names. "Blythe" had been so perfect, I didn't know if we could do it again.
And then I remembered that designer.
And how we'd always wanted to use Beck.
And, thinking Brent would shoot it down, I tossed out "Becks."

And soon, that was her name. She would be named after her paternal Grandpa. If you know him, you know he is someone that you would want to name your child after. And the name "Beck" would [sort of] officially be in the family record books!

When Grandpa Beck first came to the hospital to meet her, he still didn't know her name. We knew he would humbly think it was silly that we wanted to name our child after him, of all people! And we knew he'd crack a joke of some sort. Sure enough, when Brent introduced his newest granddaughter to him, ["This is Becks."], he made a surprised face and then said, "Well, I guess I'm gonna have to learn how to spell that." 

Later he came back to get in a few more snuggles, and he said he'd actually decided he would just spell her name with an apostrophe before the s, so everyone would know who she belonged to. 

When we were telling him her name for the first time. 

Then there is Lynae. I have always loved my middle name, for a time wished it were my first name, and always thought I'd name a daughter that. 

My parents chose it because my aunt Linda had given her daughter that middle name, though she spelled it "Linae" after "Linda." My mom actually thought they had spelled it the same way, only finding out later it was different. 

It just never seemed right for one of our girls' first names. 

But it seemed perfect to follow Becks. 

I also enjoy names that mean something [even though "Kelsey" means something about ships and the harbor or something?]. Blythe means joy. Kathleen means pure. Those were perfect.

Unfortunately, Becks and Lynae are both more unique, so the meanings were harder to track down, and once I did, they didn't really mean much.

However, here are the emails Brent and I sent on that topic one day:

Kels: So I decided to look up the meaning of the baby name, which was a little difficult. I found Beck as a last name, which means "Stream", and Lynae means "little blue flower". Sooooo…there ya go. 

Brent: So she'll love the outdoors [stream], always be our baby [little], can play sports like a boy [blue], and will be beautiful [like a flower]. 

That guy. I love him.

And then she came, and she really is a beautiful little flower. And I've decided that I will translate "stream" to "river", and that Becks will come to have peace like a river, like that old song says, and that she will bring that Peace to others. 

From the moment she was born, she was Becks Lynae. Even before, it was always her. And just like we prayed that Blythe would always be a reflection of the wonderful people she was named after, so we pray the same for Becks. 

We love you so much already, our sweet little Becks Lynae, and we can't wait to see how the story of your life will unfold. We pray that later in your life, when people hear your name, it is synonymous with all good things because of the woman you have become. 

*Check out http://meaganwhitephoto.com Meagan is the talent behind these beautiful photos [the ones with her watermark on them, not the ones at hospital], and she is for hire! Lucky you.