Naming our Keikis

Poor, neglected blog. It's been over two years since my last post. Boy oh boy (and girl and boy) what a crazy two years it has been! We've been busy popping out babies over here, and I get a lot of questions and comments about their names. Most comments are nice, but some people can't help themselves and say some odd things too. Like, "how come the names don't go together?" Oh, I'm sorry, but we aren't the Kardashians. We're not interested in having our kids' names match. Not that there is anything wrong with that. That's just not something that was important to us.

Kai Noah - we named Kai the same day we found out we were having a boy, after my 12-week ultrasound. We had always loved that name and the meaning (ocean). We briefly debated naming him Kainoa, and then just calling him Kai. But, we decided to separate Noah into his middle name and go with the biblical version, rather than the Hawaiian spelling. Plus, that particular Noah knew a thing or two about the ocean himself. I think you see where we're going with the rest of these.

Evan Makua - Evan's name took a bit longer to decide on. Rich had mentioned liking the name when Kai was still a baby, and said if we ever had another boy, that it should be a contender.  I liked the name Blake, but I lost that battle . . . that time. Evan is a form of John, and means "God is gracious." God certainly was gracious to us at Evan's birth. He wasn't breathing when he was first born, due to having the umbilical cord wrapped around his neck. But after a few extra days in the hospital, and with lots of TLC and care from his wonderful doctors and nurses, he was perfectly fine. Makua is the name of a beach on Kauai (aka Tunnels). We spent time there before and after our wedding (surfing, snorkeling, swimming), so it has special meaning to us.

Kirra Anne - we've had this name picked out for a girl since before we were married. Kirra is a surf break in Australia (this is why we spell it this way and not with an "e"). Those who know Rich, know he has been to Australia a few times and has surfed that very spot. Another reason I liked the name is that it sounds like my mom's. One of the meanings of Kirra is "sunlight," and she certainly is a little ray of sunshine. Anne was my mother-in-law's middle name.

Blake Cortez - Blake's was the first pregnancy that we chose not to find out the sex, so we figured we would just come up with a name for each. Of course, we had a girl's name picked out immediately (it would've been Isla Corazon, in case you are wondering), but we were having trouble agreeing on a boy's name. We knew we wanted to honor my mom and have her name incorporated somehow, and we finally agreed on Cortez as a middle name. It had elements of my mom's name and followed our ocean/water theme (and yes, you guessed it, Rich has surfed the Sea of Cortez many times). It means "courteous," which I thought was nice. One of the many, many great qualities my mom possessed that I hope is passed on to her grandson she wasn't able to meet. For a first name, we almost went with Zane. Kai picked that out and we liked it, but then I googled "Zane Austin," and we decided not to name our baby after a porn site. Actually, the site is Austin Zane . . . but still, it's the first thing that pops up. I was still pushing for Blake from when I liked it before, but Rich wasn't completely sold. He was convinced we were having a girl, so he said it didn't matter anyway. When Blake was born and he was a HE, we still hadn't agreed, but Rich looked over to me and said, "you pick his name; I'm happy he's healthy and will love whatever you decide on." Blake has different meanings - I've seen "someone with dark hair or skin" to the opposite of "someone with pale hair or skin." As I looked down at my newest baby boy, completely covered in pale white vernix with a thick head of dark black hair, I knew he was our Blake.

So there you have it; that's how we came up with their names. Good thing we're done having babies because we were running out of surf spots that sounded normal as names. Baby Cloudbreak would just be plain mean.