What's in a name

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, so I am going to copy this idea from the blogs of a couple good friends! Here are what the names in our family mean and where they came from.

Benjamin Moss Nielsen- Ben is named after his grandfather, Benjamin Franklin Moss. His mother's father was a veterinarian in Cedartown, Georgia and was known to everyone there as Dr. Moss. I never had the occasion to meet him, since he passed away the year Ben graduated from high school. However, when I went to Georgia with Ben the first year we were married, I was able to meet many people who knew him. Each and every one of them exclaimed that Ben looked just like Dr. Moss, and then proceeded to tell endearing stories about him and the kind of man he was. When I see pictures of Ben's grandfather, I have to admit that the resemblance is unbelievable.

Aprile Marie Cleveland- I am not entirely positive if this is right, but this is what I remember being told about my name. I was told that when my parent's found out that I was a girl, and I was due in April, that they liked the name and decided that is was right. However, I was an impatient child (not much has changed) and came early. Even though I was born in March, the name still seemed to fit. My parents added the "e" on the end, since it made it more of a name and less like a month. I still have to explain it to people all the time, but it has grown on me, and I really like it! I think the middle name might be after someone, but I'm not sure. I guess I should ask!

Benjamin Moss Nielsen Jr.- When Ben and I found out we were expecting, we picked a girl name and a boy name. Ben and I really liked the idea of our first child carrying on a family name, and we decided to have our son carry on his family name. I felt like Ben's name was a combination of his father's line and his mother's line, and I also felt like this name was held by some pretty remarkable men! On the day we got our ultrasound and found out we were having a boy, the doctor also changed my due date-our son's due date was the same day as his great-grandfather's(Benjamin Franklin Moss) birthday! That was all the confirmation I needed to know it was the right name. Even though Benjamin came early (takes after mom with the impatience) he looked like a Benjamin from day one. To keep the confusion to a minimum in our house, Dad goes by Ben, and son goes by Benjamin. We started calling him "B" because when he was little, that's all he could say from his name. It stuck, and he has been B ever since!

Christopher James Nielsen- With this pregnancy, we didn't really decide on names in the beginning. I had been thinking about names in my mind, and was pretty sure we were having a girl. When we got our ultrasound and found out we were having another boy, I really wanted to name him after my side of the family. My father's name is Chris, and his dad is Jim. There are a lot of men named "chris" in my family, and I really like formal names, so Christopher seemed like a great alternative. Put that with James, and you get a really nice sounding name! We thought that Christopher might go by C.J. as a nickname, but B was able to say "Chris-u-fer" when he was born, and the long name has stayed-for now....

That's what is in our names, what's in yours?