Jonah and the Whales

As soon as we found out I was pregnant with Jonah, I was convinced that we were having a boy and so we only talked boy names.  But we had such a hard time coming up with a name that we both liked!

Luke is the middle of 5 kids and all of them have Biblical names.  He wanted to continue that tradition with his own kids, which I was completely on-board with as long as we could pick a name we agreed on.  Other than it being a Biblical name, Luke didn't really have any other criteria.  I, on the other hand, wanted a name that wasn't common, had a good meaning, and could have a nickname associated with it.

monthly pictures with a whale

While Noelle isn't technically a Biblical name, it means "Christmas" and we wouldn't have Christmas without Christ.  And also, Christmas is by far my favorite holiday!  Aside from the holiday being about celebrating Christ's birth, Luke and I also got engaged on Christmas.  I love the meaning of the name, I love the nickname Ellie, and I had only met one other person named Noelle.  Her middle name, Amanda, means worthy of love. And we certainly love her!

We came up with a few boy names that we liked and kept coming back to them: Jeremiah, Thomas, Josiah, and Titus. We eventually settled on Thomas Luke, but Luke wasn't a huge fan of using his name as the middle name. The name Thomas means "twin", which has no significance to us, but I did like the idea of calling him Tommy.  So we were settled on a name.

About a month before my due date, my mom and sisters threw me a baby shower.  Back when we had officially found out we were having a boy, my sister had designed an invite for a baby shower for a boy with a little lighthouse.  I loved the design and told her that I was all about whales for a baby boy.  So she took out the lighthouse and added in a whale.  Well, that ended up prompting quite a few people to buy clothing and blankets and even a laundry basket with whales on them.  Even one of the three handmade blankets had a whale on it. And I loved it!

the invitation my sister designed

After the shower I was telling Luke all about the whale stuff, and told him I thought it would be funny if we named the baby Jonah to match the whales.  Luke said he liked the name and suggested Thomas as the middle name.  And thus, the name Jonah was inspired by his baby shower!

just the newborn sized whale clothes

Though the Jonah of the Bible isn't the greatest person to look up to, I do love that the story shows how God uses us sinners and points to His redemption.  We pray that Jonah will come to know and love the Lord as well!