Three Little Girls

While in high school and college, I wasn't the person that I am today. In the process of "finding myself," I became pregnant. Three times. By two different guys. All three pregnancies ended in miscarriages. For a long time, I was in denial. I didn't want to accept what had happened or to acknowledge the circumstances that surrounded the events. I had gone so far as to even deny to myself that it mattered that I had lost children. Something in my heart tells me that they are all little girls. A few weeks ago, at the encouragement of my husband, I finally named them. My three little girls, Sarah Elizabeth, Anna Naomi, and Hannah Grace.

Since I like to study names and their meanings, I'm doing a post on my daughters' names. And yes, I intended them to all be Biblical names, or of Biblical reference. 

Sarah - Hebrew. "Princess." In the Old Testament, the wife of the patriarch Abraham. Came into vogue with other Biblical names in the 16th century and was enough of a staple for 400 years to have spawned a variety of nicknames. 

Elizabeth - Hebrew. "Pledged to God." One of the 30 most popular girls' names in the U.S.;  in the top 5 in Australia, Canada, and Great Britain. Used in full, it has a pleasant, old-fashioned ring, though some research attaches a "seductive" connotation to it. It is a source of endless diminutives and nicknames. 

Anna - var. Ann, Anglicization of Hannah. Hebrew. "Grace." One of the most frequently used names for girls until the mid-19th century, when it became less popular. When Elizabeth II of England named her daughter Anne in 1950, it became more prominent, but is still more common as a middle name. Though Ann may seem plain to many, its numerous derivatives offer plenty of variety. (I chose Anna after the prophetess Anna in Scripture.)

Naomi - Hebrew. "Pleasant." Old Testament name; the mother-in-law of Ruth, who, after her sons died, said  "Do not call me Naomi, call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me." Naomi came into English-speaking use not with the Puritan revival of Biblical names, but in the 18th century.

Hannah - Hebrew. "Grace." In the Old Testament, Hannah is the mother of the prophet Samuel. The name was steadily popular from around 1600 through the 19th century, peaking around 1800. It is now emerging from disuse, though the European forms of the name -- Ann, Anne, Anna, etc. -- remain far more common.

Grace - Latin. "Grace." Originally had nothing to do with physical grace, but rather with divine favor and mercy. Used in that sense by the Puritans, and taken to America, where it was very fashionable at the turn of the century. Periods of popularity followed in England (in the twenties) and Scotland ( through the fifties). Little used now, but ripe for revival.