Olivia's Name Story

Olivia Mae Anne Baker

"And though she be but little, she is fierce." -Shakespeare

Before we knew whether we were having a girl or a boy, Rob and I started talking about names for our baby. It was one of the first decisions we made, and we actually came to it quite quickly. We had a few requirements for a name:

1. Family significance. Each of our families had naming traditions, and we wanted to stick with that as much as we could.

2. Since we both work with kids, and have for years, some names were immediately off the table. 

3. Nothing too hard to spell or pronounce, both for the child and for future teachers, employers, etc.

4. Nothing too easy to make fun of - again, we've worked with kids for a long time. Their "creative abilities" when it comes to teasing know no bounds.

Given those rules, we started thinking and talking. Let's start with the first two names: Olivia Mae. Rob's paternal grandmother's name was Ollie Mae. She passed away when Rob was young, and his grandfather, "Pa," remarried the grandmother I know, Grandma Pat. We really liked the name Mae, and the spelling, but didn't want it for a first name. So, as a nod to Ollie Mae, we chose Olivia Mae to honor Rob's father's side of the family. For further significance, and a little tidbit, the digging I did shows that the first use of the name Olivia in English is attributed to Shakespeare, in "Twelfth Night," and may have been inspired by the masculine "Oliver" or from the Latin word for olive, "olivia." Although the quote above is not from Twelfth Night, she is certainly living up to it so far!

For her middle name, Anne, there are two significances, both stemming from my side of the family. First, my maternal grandmother, Dianne (pronounced Dee-Anne) Smith (married to become Dianne McMurren), had two sisters, Suzanne and Marianne. The tradition of including Anne in the name began with them, and continued with my mother, MaryAnne, and my sister and I - Meredith Anne and Sarah Anne. It was important to me to continue this tradition, as my maternal grandmother passed before I was born, and I wanted to honor my mother's family in this way. Additionally, my paternal grandmother, Annabelle Currie (married to become Annabelle Sprague), went by Ann. So with her second middle name, Olivia Mae Anne honors my side of the family in two ways.

Olivia has one first name, two middle names, and one last name, and we will make sure she knows the story of her names and her family. We tried hard to make sure her name followed all our rules, and I think we pulled it off. In any case, we're happy with it, and she seems to fit her name well already. 3 weeks in, we're so proud of our little lady!