Her Name

We've known our baby girl's name for quite a while.  We've been telling people for quite a while.  But we've not yet shared it online.  So in the interest of making it offically official (and so I can stop calling her Baby Girl in all my FB posts), here it is:

Paisley Jane Diller

It's unique but not crazy.  And it has meaning.  That's why we like it.   :)

I've known for a long time that if we ever had a daughter I would want her middle name to be Jane.  My great-grandmother (Paisley's great-great grandmother) is Jane.  She's turning 101 later this month, but she acts more like she's 80 (sometimes she acts like she's 18).  She's a pretty awesome lady, and I'm excited that our little girl will get to share part of her name.  Here's a picture of us when Jack was just three weeks old.

Plus Jane means "God is gracious."  Oh yes He is.

Paisley was a little more difficult.  A friend suggested that name when I was pregnant with Jack, and the more we thought about it, the more we liked it.  And it goes well with Jane.  My only problem was that it didn't have a good meaning.  Everywhere I looked it up the meaning said, "N/A" (isn't that lovely) or "a fabric pattern."  Then we found out we were having a boy, so it didn't matter anymore.

This time we still liked the name.  And once we found out we were having a girl, I decided to dig a little deeper.  I figured there had to be a meaning, or at least a cool person in history with the name Paisley.

And I found a whole bunch of stuff.

First of all, the pattern we all know as paisley originated in Persia and India.  Of course, India has been very dear to our hearts over the past couple years. Dustin traveled to the Home of Love in Chennai, India last summer, and I can't wait until I get to go.  Plus we sponsor a girl there, and I'm looking forward to meeting her someday!

Also (even cooler!), the origin of the name is from the town Paisley, Scotland.  This town was known for two things.  One: weaving and trading the printed fabric.  And two: churches.  The town is full of churches.

So the name Paisley means.....church.

I don't think I need to go into detail about how much the church and community means to us. And our desire is that it will also be a big part of our kids' lives.

So now we are doubly excited to name our daughter Paisley Jane.  We like the name, and now we like a meaning.  A lot.

With a name like "Church, God is gracious" how could we not?