Picking out a name for a child is quite the task.​ It’s an even bigger hurdle when you’re a teacher. Anyone in education knows the struggle: you come across so many students throughout your career that certain names inevitably get, well… tainted.​

Luckily for me, I was never one to follow the trends. When searching for names for my children, I never scrolled through popular baby websites or checked the “Top 100” lists. Instead, I looked backward. I paid homage to my family’s history, deeply inspired by the origin of my own name.​

Rooted in History

​I was named after my maternal grandmother, Patricia Ann. My mother honored her by giving me a slight variation: Tricia Ann. Growing up, I always felt a profoundly special connection to my roots just by sharing that name with my Grandma Pat.​

Years later, when I was pregnant with my eldest daughter, I found myself pulled toward my ancestry. Sadly, I lost all of my grandparents by the time I reached 21, and I’ve always carried a bit of regret that I didn’t dive deeper into their stories while they were still here. To bridge that gap, my pregnancy cravings turned into historical deep dives. I poured over our family tree, searching for hidden gems from the past.​

That’s when I saw it: Magdalena.​ She was my great-great-grandmother who emigrated to America from Russia in 1905. The moment I read it, I knew it was a winner. It felt so powerful to honor my maternal grandfather’s grandmother, after all, without her brave journey, who knows where our family lineage would be today?​

To round it out, we gave her the middle name Marie. It’s a name woven tightly into her history: she shares it with her paternal grandmother (Nana Lisa Marie), and it was also the name of my maternal grandfather’s wife. I was lucky enough to grow up blessed with three grandmothers in my life, and this felt like the perfect tribute to that abundance of love.​

A Twist on Tradition​

When we found out we were pregnant with our second daughter, I knew I wanted to keep the beautiful cycle going. I wanted to honor my mother, just as she had honored hers.​

Remember how my mom put a little twist on Grandma Pat’s name to create Tricia? I decided to do the exact same thing. We named our second daughter Marielle Angela, a gorgeous twist to honor her wonderful grandma, Mary Angela.​

There is something so magical about continuing a maternal tradition, passing pieces of our identity down like heirlooms.​

Honoring the Men Who Shaped Him

​Then came baby number three, and we found out we were having a boy. ​The inspiration for his name came from a place of deep love, memory, and gratitude. We knew without a doubt that we wanted to honor my husband’s late father, Allen.

​For his middle name, we looked to my husband’s maternal grandfather, who had passed away just a couple of years prior. He was a man who had stepped up and been deeply, unwaveringly there for my husband when he lost his own father at a very young age. To bring those two incredible legacies together, Allen Glen was born.​

A Legacy for the Future​

Our names are the very first gifts we give our children. They are anchors to where we come from and compasses for where we are going. ​I hope that one day, if my children are blessed with families of their own, they don’t resort to typing “trending baby names” into a search engine. Instead, I hope they do a deep dive into our family history. I hope they sit down and talk to the loved ones who are still here, uncovering names that are rich, historical, and above all else, meaningful.​

How did you choose your children’s names? Are you a fan of family names, or did you go a different route? Let me know in the comments below!