What’s in a name?

 

Everett \e-vere-tt, ev(e)-rett\ as a boy's name is pronounced EV-er-et. It is of Old English origin, and the meaning of Everett is "brave, strong boar". Surname derived from Everard, used as a given name in the 19th century. Senator Everett Dirksen; actor Rupert Everett.

Everett has 13 variant forms: Averett, Averitt, Eberhard, Eberhardt, Everard, Evered, Everet, Everette, Everitt, Evert, Evrard, Eward and Ewart.

 

When I received this Parenting magazine in the mail this month (a gift from one of my students) I was so surprised to see this article entitled “Name that Baby”.  It was all about the hottest naming trends of the moment…check out what name is front and center – crazy!

 

When I first found out we were expecting a baby over the summer I was so excited to think about baby names.  I started making a list right away and couldn’t wait to talk about it.  Mike, however, was more reluctant to discuss names and didn’t want to talk about it until much later (only about a month ago), which was for the best in the long run.

He wanted to keep it a secret until the birth and he knew that

1. I am very indecisive and would probably change my mind a few times if we decided early.

2.  I can’t keep a secret very well.

So, he asked that we wait to discuss it until closer to our actual due date. 

I had started making my list of favorites along the way and had all kinds of boy/girl/gender neutral names picked out.  Some, now looking back, were a bit ridiculous, but most of them were family names. 

I love the idea of using last names and first names, old names as new names, boy names as girl names, etc.  I think it comes from having a unique name all my life and now wanting our son to have a name that was unique, strong and uncommon without being outrageously ridiculous.

 

So, with all of that being said, everybody has been asking:

Where did you get the name Everett?

Well, in a nutshell it’s a family name.  Our Everett is the 5th person on my side of the family with that special name.  His predecessors are as follows:

 

• Great-great uncle:  Everett Jay Hilty
• Great uncle: John Everett Hilty
• 1st Cousin:  Jason Everett Hafner
• 2nd Cousin:  Jaken Everett Hafner

 

Everett Jack Alexander

 

I fell in love with the name Everett from the start while Mike, after a few days of thinking, began liking it too.  As for the middle name, that decision actually took a bit longer. 

We had three that we liked:  Darden, Jack and Michael; with Jack (my maternal grandfather’s nickname) being the front runner. Mike ended up making the final decision and Jack won out – and we couldn’t be more proud for him to follow in some great footsteps.

 

This letter came in the mail from my Nana with this written on the back – it melted my heart!