What's in a name?

I've been thinking for the last week about the names in our family. Missy's 30th birthday last week is probably what got me thinking in that direction. I woke up one day, after working all night, just thinking about those names. I should have written this then, when my thoughts were fresh, but I'll try to remember it all.


Malissa Cockman & Malissa Cockman von Herrmann

Missy's formal name is Malissa, like mine. I called her Rachel/Timothy for several months of my pregnancy. Rachel was a Bible name that I liked & Timothy is Rick's only sibling's name. Timothy was our boy's name 3 times, in fact, and obviously was never used! Around one month before I was due, Rick decided that he liked Malissa for a girl's name, so she became Missy/Timmy (I was called Missy rarely...mostly "Lissa"). After Missy was born, Rick said, "See, she looks like a Malissa," because she had light hair and I was very blonde when I was younger. So, for many years, when people called our house asking for "Malissa Cockman," we had to ask, "Which one?!" It means "honey bee" in Greek (though a plaque on our wall says, "pure one") and the different spelling is my mom's creation. I already had a unique name when others were changing theirs in the '60s & '70s.


My mother, Nancy, and Richard Moore x2!

This is not the first example of family confusion. "Richard" ("brave") is also a popular family name. In fact, my husband, father & brother all have that name! It never seemed to be as confusing when I was growing up, though, because my dad went by "Richard" or "Dick," and my brother was "Ricky" and then "Rick," as is the case with my hubby. My dad & brother have their mother's maiden names as middle names, "Haber" and "Greiff," respectively. Rick Cockman's middle name is "Lee," a good southern name. Since we never got to use our boy name, we used the middle name for Katie, so she is "Keturah Lee."


Keturah Lee and Richard Lee

January is a time when I like to think about our other 2 girls because of their names. I read through the Bible every year and, logically, start with the book of Genesis in January. In Genesis 24, we meet "Rebekah" and in the next chapter, there is "Keturah." Our wall plaques say that Rebekah means "earnest devotee" and Keturah is "pleasant spirit." I think some time in the years between the 2 of them, I realized that all of our first names have 7 letters, as does Cockman. The girls' nicknames all have 5 letters, too. Missy used "Malissa" for a while a couple of times through the years and Katie was "Keturah" when she started kindergarten, so some people know them better by those names. Katie has become Keturah again in her young adult years, so many of her friends don't know her by her nickname. Becky's always been Becky or "Boo," only using "Rebekah" as a formal signature. Although we gave them meaningful names, they'll always be "Missy, Becky & Katie" to us.


Rebekah April, Keturah Lee & Malissa Elizabeth

As for the rest of our middle names, mine is "Eve," like my mother's and that comes from her mom's first name, "Eve" or "Eva." Becky's is "April" because of her birth month. It would've been "Ann" if she'd come early in March. Missy's is Elizabeth, sort of reflected in her first daughter's name, "Ellie ("light")." Ellie's middle name is "Jeanne," after her great grandmother, Paul's grandmother. It also sounds like my husband Rick's dad's nickname, Gene. Both of these great grandparents have gone on to Heaven before us, due to cancer. Granddaughter #2, Aimee, has a first name that means "beloved" and the middle name of "Kate," Gene's mom's name and a variation of Aunt Katie's name.


Grandma with Aimee Kate & Ellie Jeanne

Speaking of Paul ("small," "humble"), both Missy and Katie are married to young men from Georgia with that name. So, like Missy & me and the Richards before, we have had to specify: "Big Paul" and "Little Paul" (until Katie's Paul got taller!) We've joked & wondered where Becky's Paul is!


Paul & Missy von Herrmann


Paul & Keturah Williams

So, there's a lot in a name! It says in the Bible, in Proverbs 22:1, "A good name is more desirable than great riches; to be esteemed is better than silver or gold." (NIV) Best of all is to be called, "child of God." I'm thankful that our family knows and loves God and we pray that Ellie & Aimee will join us at early ages. I hope that all of our friends are, or will be, part of the family of God, too.

2/3/09 Since I wrote, it came to my attention that my dad's dad's name was Paul and his step-mother's nickname was Kate, so the multiple name thing in our family is even worse than I thought!