Kids' Names

I've been asked how Brian and I came up with the kids' names....how we decided, etc. Here's a little background on why we named them what we named them. To be honest, it has nothing to do with the meanings behind the names!

Wyatt Allan

Wyatt's name was hard! Boy names to me were a lot less fun than girl names. Brian and I had a list of names that we liked. We always knew that Allan was going to be the middle name. Allan is Brian's Dad's name and Brian's middle name. For first names, Wyatt could have been a Braeden or Hayden, and we'd pretty much settled on Braeden. One day we were riding in the car and Brian said "You know, I really like what Kurt Russell named his son." I was confused. I only knew one of Kurt Russell's sons' names and that was Boston. I thought Brian had lost his mind. So I told him that he'd lost his mind if he thought I was naming my son Boston. And he said "No, his other son is named Wyatt." Besides being confused as to why my husband knew this and I, the queen of gossip magazines did not, I wasn't sure how I felt about the name. I couldn't picture myself calling my son "Wyatt" on the playground. Braeden, yes. Wyatt, no. Then we went away for the weekend about a month before Wyatt was born and something changed. I suddenly really liked Wyatt. While we were sitting in a Friendly's in Williamsburg waiting for my dessert (no wonder I gained 60 pounds), I told Brian that the baby's name would be Wyatt Allan. He was skeptical because he wanted me to like the name as much as he did. And I did. I really liked it! So that's how Wyatt got his name. And I wouldn't have it any other way. This kid is NOT a Braeden!

Reese Lynn

Reese was the girl name that we decided on before we knew that Wyatt was a boy. Actually, Reese was a girl name that we decided on before we got married. I just really liked the name (yes, Reese Witherspoon is where I first heard the name, but not what inspired me to choose it. I like her, but not enough to name my kid after her specifically). Surprisingly, Brian really like it too. As soon as we got around to talking about baby names (which we didn't do much of because we were waiting to find out what the baby was), we knew that if it was a girl her name was Reese. Well, it wasn't a girl. When we found our we were having a girl this time, we knew we really liked the name Reese. But knowing that we were having a girl opened me up to exploring other girl names. We both also really liked the name Ryan for a girl and may have used it, but some friends had a girl in May and named her Ryan. I had a dream that her name was Addison, but Brian vetoed it. It reminds him of Grey's Anatomy and he thinks Kate Walsh makes funny faces and for whatever reason, that eliminated Addison. We also liked Avery and Taylor (and Brian pushed for Willow), but finally realized we didn't like any of the names more than we liked Reese. Then came the middle name issue. I felt like the name Reese needed a longer middle name. Brian really wanted to use my middle name (Lynn), but I didn't think it was long enough. Then we thought about Noelle. We both love Noelle's name and thought Reese Noelle sounded great....but there was the naming our baby after our dog issue. We don't think it's that weird. We love our dog. She's been Brian's best friend for almost 15 years. And we don't think Reese would have ever felt weird about it because she would know more than anybody that while we got her name from our dog, we love our dog and she means a lot to us. So I was on board for both and left the final decision to Brian. He couldn't make the decision either! Finally, the night before Reese was born we decided on Lynn, and that's how she ended up Reese Lynn.

And that's how our kids got their names!