When George and I decided to create the Name Game of scrambled baby name letters we had NO idea how seriously everyone would take it, how much fun it would be, or that it would even be possible to be cracked. We apparently did not give you all enough credit! The first two days after we posted it, two of my work friends, Gina and Mary, collaborated and started working to unscramble those letters. I remember that on the first day, we had a lot of meetings and I would see Gina discreetly scribbling letters on a tablet as she crossed letters out and re-wrote them. She was determined that the Name Game would not beat her! To my surprise, Gina and Mary cracked the code within a day. So, Gina and Mary are declared the winners of the Name Game!
Mary is an Occupational Therapist and Gina is a Speech Language Pathologist who work with me. Together we make a great team!
Here is some of Gina and Mary’s scratch paper. They may have cracked the code, but it was no easy feat!
We also have a few honorable mentions to announce. By the end of the week, two more of my friends, Melissa and Nekedria had it figured out as well. It turns out that Nekedria had an ulterior motive, you see she likes to give monogrammed baby gifts so knowing the name is critical for her! My parents and sister, Courtney, got it within the weekend. The funny thing is that my friends seemed to work together while my family had an “It’s every man for himself approach”. Mom would not even give Dad clues. We can be pretty competitive so I think they wanted to see who would get it first, and also having the pride in knowing they didn’t get help. So, since so many of you cracked the code, we decided we might as well release the names. Here it goes….
Baby A
Rylin Skye
Baby B
Harper Stone
Baby C
Sydney Raine
Baby D
Mason River
Here’s how we came up with the names. For first names, we essentially chose names we just like. We tried to choose names that weren’t terribly common, but also not “out there”, and names that would be cute for babies but would also become nice adult names. We also wanted each first name to be unique from the others. That meant no rhyming, same first initial, or similar ending. That got a little tricky because we’d inevitably think of two names that were similar, so one would get scrapped. And, finally, NO family names. George is a 4th so we decided long ago to end that tradition. Having multiple people with the same name together gets confusing and we’ve learned it also affects things like your credit score! Not to mention the fact that we didn’t want any family member feeling left out if their name wasn’t chosen. Within a few days, however, we had all four names chosen. I think it may have been easier choosing four than one. You see we didn’t have to come to an agreement on just one name. We both got to suggest more than one!
You will notice that the middle names have a common thread, they are all nature related. It started out that because of our journey to have children I wanted to use “Hope” and “Faith” for the girls. They just weren’t working with first names and that left the boys without similar middle names. We then decided that rather than spiritual names, we wanted to choose names close to nature and in turn close to God. Ironically, we did not directly plan this, but all four middle names can be found in the first two chapters of Genesis. My mom discovered that during one of her insomniac moments when she decided to pray. So there you have it, we hope you like the babies’ names. (Please don’t tell us if you hate them, or give us your two cents because they are chosen now! That is, unless you love them.)
hugs!
Amber
Four to Adore 
Love them all. Had fun today at your shower and meeting all your Co workers. Great job special ed team.
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Glad you came! They are a great team!
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Love love love the names!!! And i guessed baby c, sydney, correct!
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So glad you like them, and figured out Sydney =)
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I figured out Sydney, but that’s all! You should have kept the rest of us guessing!
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I guess I could have…it was really driving some people insane! Glad you figured out Sydney at least 🙂
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I love the fact that all four middle names are in the first few chapters of Genesis. That will be a special thing to connect them all spiritually for a lifetime. And, how cool for them to grow up knowing that they were “fearfully and wonderfully made” by our Creator God –the One who made all of nature, who loves them so much, even now in the womb! I’m reminded of a line from the hymn, “Great Is Thy Faithfulness”– “…join with all NATURE in manifold witness to Thy great faithfulness, mercy and love!!!”
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I love that their names are all in Genesis too! And the fact that we chose them with the intent of being close to
God without actually searching in the Bible makes it even better, as if He wanted it that way. So true, they were fearfully and wonderfully made!
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I love all the names!!! So precious!
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Amber, LOVE the names! The nature theme of middle names reminds me of your turtle story of how God was speaking to you when you were waiting on the Hope of Him in Faith! Just did my quiet time outside and our house is surrounded by acres and acres of His nature, and I was marveling at it! Andy & I have names picked out finally, too, but are not telling and they are different than yours. I agree- 4 names was better to pick than one!
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Amber & George, These children will be the first in our immediate family to be born in the 21st century. Their names reflect their parents wisdom, faith and hope for the future. I will love watching them grow.
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Love them! You definitely got that mix of original but not too ‘out there’. I love Raine in particular (one that is on my short list too) and I love the connection with nature 🙂
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so glad you like them!
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I had guessed them all and finally figured out Baby A over the weekend(but I had spelled it Rilyn). I figured her middle name was Skye because I could see the pattern. Love the names!
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:). We debated about how to spell rylin and spelled it this way because we didn’t want people to read it as rill in
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Love them! I like how you were able to be unique and creative!!
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thanks!!!
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Sweet names! And can I just say that I am not surprised at ALL to hear that Gina was obsessed with figuring them all out? I can just see her losing sleep over it… 🙂
I was looking at baby stuff on Amazon and saw a box of 300 diapers…and thought of you. I think that many would last you about a week in the early stages…
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you do know Gina ;).
Gosh, you are probably right about the diapers!
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I love these names especially the boys’ middle names which are my favorite. You guys did a great job choosing names. This was a unique and fun way to let us know what they are. Yes, Lisa, you are right. I was obsessed. I just couldn’t let it go until I figured them out. It was fun though.
Had fun at the shower and it was great to meet your mom. Hope George enjoyed all the loot.
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I am so glad you love their names! And, I’m so happy you enjoyed figuring them out =) George loved all the loot! Next weekend my mom and sister are coming over to help me organize it and store the largest diapers at my father in law’s house.
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Ha ha ha, Gina! Such cute names, Amber! I love that they’re all different but have a theme middle name. What a great idea. So happy you are doing so well in this pregnancy
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Thanks, Catherine! So glad you like their names and theme!
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