Behind the name—Emma Bernadette

Throughout my pregnancy, people would constantly ask, "What names are you thinking about?" And even just weeks before baby was born, we had no idea. Hubby and I wanted a name that had meaning and one that didn't already belong to someone we know.

Finally, for a girl, I had picked out Caitlyn. Hubby wasn't sold, but we didn't have any other ideas. But as it turned out, we didn't pick our baby's name at all. Cavan did.

We constantly asked Cavan whether she thought the baby was a little boy or a little girl. She almost always answered little boy. So then we started asking her what she wanted to name him. And one day she said Emma.

We had no intention of naming a little boy Emma, but from the moment Cavan suggested it, we knew that if we had a girl, Emma she would be. Such a sweet, simple name, and special because it came from the heart of her big sister.

First name Emma, middle name Bernadette.

Bernadette is my mom's name. Bernadette is my middle name. And also my sister's middle name. I knew I wanted to use it as the middle name for a little girl, but it is a hard name to "sound right" following most first names. But with Emma, wow, it fit! So now the name travels to the third generation.