What’s in a name?
Naming our children was probably the easiest thing I’ve done as a parent. Seriously. Joe and I only ever came up with two names (one for a boy and one for a girl). Disclaimer: naming children can be extremely difficult for most couples.
Miss Murphy May Caruso was named after her great grandmother, Lynn and her grandmother, Darlene. And baby Mac was named after his two grandfathers, Michael and Anthony. Both Lynn and Anthony rest in Heaven now, and I’m certain they are looking down on their grandchildren daily.
My grandma Lynn loved the name Murphy. She loved it so much that she tried to convince her daughters to name one of their kids Murphy. Let’s just say the name was not LOVE for them.
When my mom mentioned this story, something clicked and I just knew it was meant to be. I had shared the name with Joe before we had got pregnant and when he didn’t have much of a reaction, I thought he hated it. After we found out we were pregnant, one night while sitting out to dinner at one of our favorite Mexican restaurants (El Charro in Livermore) he said “what about Murphy May?” SOLD! Her name will be Murphy May Caruso. Such a perfect name. Murphy’s middle name, “May” is also her grandma Darlene’s middle name. What a great way to honor two important women in our lives! We didn’t know the gender at this time, so we also decided that if it was a boy, his name would be Michael Anthony Caruso. But I just knew it was a girl!
We found out the gender at Thanksgiving with our family. We had the gender enclosed in an envelope and gave it to one of our favorite local bakers in Castro Valley (Jenn’s Cupcakes) to create a “gender reveal cake.” We found out the gender with our family … we did not know beforehand. After Thanksgiving dinner, we finally cut the cake and it was PINK inside! It was official, miss Murphy May Caruso would be joining the family.
A year or so later, Joe and I were in Saratoga for a date night. We had dinner downtown, before heading to a concert at one of our favorite outdoor venues. At this point, I had been trying to “causally” convince him that we needed to have another baby. As we were walking down the street, there was a salon and it was named “Michael Anthony Salon.” Do you believe in fate? It was definitely a sign that I was going to have a baby, and his name was going to be Michael Anthony. I even took a picture of the Salon! It wasn't until another year later that I was even able to convince Joe to try for another baby.
Once we became pregnant again, we never really talked about baby names. We went to a boutique ultrasound place in Pleasanton to find out the gender at 14 weeks. I knew it was a boy and it was confirmed, a BOY! One day I mentioned the name Mac and joked about calling him Big Mac. Joe said “I thought his name was Michael Anthony?” It was settled. His name would be Michael Anthony Caruso and we would call him MAC (his initials). I just loved the name Mac, but also wanted to keep the name Michael Anthony, as it is very dear to our hearts (after both of our fathers).
I always knew if it was a boy, his middle name would be Anthony. That was a non-negotiable. Joe’s name is actually Anthony Joseph Caruso after his father, Anthony Ernest Caruso. His mom agreed on the name, only if she could use Joseph as the middle name and call him “Joey.” My step-son is named Anthony Joseph Caruso, Jr. after his dad. Many of the Caruso men have Anthony in some part of their name. So it was only natural to continue the legacy.
Michael is my dad's name. Funny story … my mom actually thought I was a boy the whole time she was pregnant with me. My name was going to be Michael, but I was a girl, so Michelle it was! Also an honorable mention — my uncle’s (my mom’s sister’s husband) name is Michael, as well. And ironically his middle name is Anthony, which I didn’t realize until after the name was picked out.
Naming our son after both of our fathers just felt right. Both kids’ names were meant to be. They were fate.
What’s in a name? How did you name your children? Do you know how you were named?
