Wednesday, October 27, 2010

What's in a name?

I dreamed last night that I was pregnant and expecting a baby boy. I planned to name him either Gabriel, which we'd shorten to "Gabe," or Emmanuel, shortening it to "Manny." It was the first pregnancy dream I've had in which I wasn't scared to be pregnant.

Being aware of the biblical significance of these two names, I've done a little more research into them. Gabriel is from Hebrew and means "God's able-bodied one; hero of God," as in the angel, Gabriel, who delivers the fateful message to Mary.

Emmanuel means "God is with us," which I already knew. What I didn't know was that it is passable as a girl's name, in which case it can be spelled Emmanuelle. I think that's just lovely. I'd call her "Emmi" for short.

After this dream, I can't imagine naming my children anything else. It had a sense of the prophetic. Am I crazy?


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