What's in A Name?

When Matt and I were choosing names for our children, we ran into an interesting dilemma. Many of the names we liked were instantly ruled out because one of us had a strong, negative association with the name. All it takes is one contrary person to forever ruin a name. For example, I have always loved the name Sara, but Matt had a bad childhood experience with a girl named Sara, so that name was out of the question. There are several names that were ruined for us by former students, too. Don't get me wrong--I loved each precious student. But there were a few whom God used to build character in my life. I'd rather not tempt fate by giving one of their names to my own child...ya know?

I have also noticed that certain names tend to project a certain image expectation on a person. I could never name my child Edna, Agnes, Marvin, or Harold because they sound old and frumpy to me. Kelly, Hillary, Jake, and Alex make me think sporty. Annie, Amy, Patrick, and Devon sound cheerful. Alyssa, Lauren, Tyler, and Nick make me think popular and trendy. You get the idea.

So...

I am going to tell you 4 names. What sort of association do these names bring to your mind?

Precious
Princess
Baby
Love Bug

If I were on the blog reader side of this post, my first thought would be spoiled Persian cats, or fluffy, girly stuffed animals, or cute nicknames a daddy might have for his 4 little girls.

So why does this matter anyway?
Let me introduce you to 4 very important members of Pepper's family. He named them all by himself!

Princess (the big one), Precious (the yellow one), Baby (the brown and blue one), and Love Bug (the purple one).

Every time I look at this picture, I laugh until I can't breathe! Kids are SO cool!