What's in a name....

Iona Pyxis VanQuickenborne

Now that's a name! And we think it suits her perfectly!

Giving a child a name is such a huge responsibility. We spent many sleepless nights talking about possibilities and coming up with reasons for or against every contender. To make matters worse, we had to come up with a boy's name too since we chose not to find out the gender ahead of time. And because I know you're curious, the boy's name we picked, with the help of a dear friend and Iona's Godmother, was Kyler Flynn. Now, back to Iona. It was especially hard to name her since we really wanted a name with personal significance to us; something with meaning like her sister's name. I'm assuming most, if not all, of you know that Holden is named after Holden Village, an otherworldly retreat center where Michael and I first met, and a place we both have a deep connection with. Well, there is another such retreat center, considered the sister village to Holden, located in Scotland named, yes, you guessed it, Iona. 

Now, unfortunately, neither of us have been to this beautiful place but we did apply to volunteer there one summer but circumstances led us to Argentina instead.  One day we hope to show her this retreat island (the name Iona also means island), a place almost as beautiful as her.

Pyxis. 

A bit uncommon perhaps but we liked the idea of giving her an unusual middle name but again, one with some meaning behind it. (Holden's middle name is Adeline, named after my Nana who I still miss every day.) We found the name Pyxis when browsing through a guide to the constellations. Both of us enjoy star gazing, and have spent many summer nights sleeping outside looking for the stories pictured in the night sky. 

Pyxis means compass and the constellation is a straight line of three stars. We hope Iona can be a compass for others and also easily follow her desired direction in life. In addition, Michael especially liked the name Pyxis because it brought us four letters closer to having all the letters of the alphabet present in her full name. You should have heard some of the other options that allotted us the elusive "z".

VanQuickenborne

It's a mouthful but it isn't as hard to spell as one may think upon first hearing it. I admit to spending a good portion of a week trying to figure out how to sign my new last name though. It just goes on and on. I finally gave up and now do what Michael does, a short scribble with a dot placed neatly above it.  VanQuickenborne is Belgian, as Michael's dad is from there. We hope to take the girls over to meet their extended family when they are a bit older and can appreciate the experience on a deeper level. 

So, there you have it. One long name for one little girl. We think she's growing into it wonderfully!