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What's the meaning of this?

Those of you who know Ben (or have read about him at all) know that he's a highly intense little man.  He was born thinking.  We used to joke because, as an infant, we'd put him in his swing and instead of looking at the red-nosed bears on the mobile, he would watch the joint where the swing met the support.  I think he's been cursed with an analytical mind.

I might be the worst mother ever, but after a while the questions get very tiresome.  Yes, I know I should be encouraging it.  He's just trying to learn.  So on and so forth.  I believe I've mentioned my lack of patience before.  I'm working on it. 

He started out with the questions early this morning.  Luckily for him, I was receptive to answering them at the time.  I'm not sure what got him onto the topic of name meanings, but that's what he was quizzing me about.  The meaning of our childrens' names played a large part in why we named them what we did, so I happened to know the answers.  So often these days, it seems like I don't have answers for his questions.  That's how you know they're growing up.  Anyway, here's how it played out:

Ben:  Mommy, what does the name Sarah mean?
Me:  It means Princess.
Ben:  Okay.  What does Abby mean?
Me:  Abigail means Father's Joy.
Ben:  How about Benjamin?  What does Benjamin mean?
Me:  It means Son of the Right Hand.
(A pause, as I could see the wheels turning in Ben's head.)
Ben:  So, does Samuel mean Son of the Left Hand?

Cute. 

For those of you who may care, Samuel actually means God has heard

The winner of lamest name meaning in my family of five goes to me.  Jennifer means "white".  How appropriate.

2 comments:

Diane said...

Ok, I had to look that up, because Fiona means white or fair and I'm having trouble going from Fiona to Jennifer (both names of Celtic origin).

It turns out that Fiona is a Gaelic word, meaning white or fair, and Jennifer (gwynefar = Guinevere) is a Celtic word meaning "fair one".

for what it's worth, I think that the link to Guinevere is really cool!

Kat Berling said...

I think Ben is my soul brother. People who knew me when I was younger always remark on how I always had questions about EVERYTHING.

For what it's worth, I think Jennifer is a beautiful name; it's only unfortunate that so many of our parents and their peers thought the same way. I have a cousin named Jennifer on one side, nicknamed Jenn or Jema (JEnnifer MArie), and my mom's half-sister is also named Jennifer, nicknamed Jing.

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