Origin of a Name

In case anyone is wondering about NG's 5 names, here is a breakdown for curious minds:

Noa - We thought early on that the unidentified fetus in the womb was a boy, mostly because of old wives tales. I was carrying low, not high. I was craving spicy foods, not sweet, Fetal heartbeat was slow, not fast. The Chinese Gender Charts online all said it would be a boy. So we picked Noah as a name. When all sonograms began pointing to girl (3 lines between the legs instead of something resembling a "turtle" - their words, not mine), my sister suggested Noa - removing the "h" from Noah - to make a girl's name. The name is popular in Israel, as is my name.

Grace - Thinking of a middle name, I was toying with the idea of a Spanish name (my sister and I both have Hebrew first names and Spanish middle names). But we were also thinking of honoring one of our relatives. When I started naming them, Grace - my father's mother's name - just sounded wonderful paired with Noa. We finally decided on Grace.

Pascuala - When my mother heard that we were naming NG after my father's mother, she asked - very non-forcefully I might add - if we might not also honor her mother. The reality is that I was closer to her mother through the years. After much discussion with the hubby - who was alarmed at the growing length of NG's name - he finally admitted that he did like the name Pascuala and relented after I explained that it was only for the birth certificate and when she was old enough, she'd be able to pick and choose from the myriad of names we are giving her.

She also has a double last name - NOT hyphenated - combining my maiden name and hubby's last name. He, in turn, legally changed HIS last name to the double last name - went before the judge, changed all his credit cards, bank accts, etc. I wanted to keep my maiden name to honor my Dad and hubby also felt strongly that he wanted to do the same (even asked Dad's permission to do so). Now we both have 4 names and NG will have 5. Lucky girl!