What's in a Name?

Inevitably, one of the main questions people ask when they find out you are pregnant is, "What will you name the baby?" Before we knew what we were having, Jared and I made a list of boy and girl names that we liked. After we found out we were expecting a girl, we decided pretty quickly on a name. I was a little hesitant to commit to a name so quickly, but Jared knew it was perfect and he was right! We had been discussing a bunch of different girl names, and we both liked names that had "Bella" in them. (No, not because of Twilight! Although I do love me some Twilight.) We wanted something a little more unique than Isabella or Anabella, especially since there are a lot of Bella babies lately! We found the name Arabella, and thought it was so pretty, but the meaning of the name is actually what sealed the deal. While there is some debate as to where the name Arabella comes from, the Latin origin of the name means "answered prayer" or "beautiful altar." Arabella is certainly an answer to our prayers, and we love that her name will reflect that. We had already talked about Faith as her middle name. (you can read about that here), so after that the decision was easy! Our baby girl will be Arabella Faith Parham. I'm sure she will have nicknames- probably a million of them thanks to her daddy!- but I love her name and what it means to us, and I can't wait to share that with her one day!