Intoxicating, isn't she?

Well, it's time I finally shared our baby girl's name. I was trying to hold off until she was born, but Noah keeps telling people and Paul posted it on his blog (notice the new link on the right -- Land of the Lizards) so I figured I didn't have a choice since they were winning 2 against 1.

Her name will be Maeve.

Maeve is a Celtic/Irish name that means intoxicating. She was an ancient Celtic goddess in Pre-Christian Ireland and was known for her strength and wisdom.

We took such a long time coming up with a name! Seriously, it took us forever. I always wanted to stay biblical but I didn't like most of the New Testament women's names (Dorcas, anyone?). I liked Lydia but we have two friends with that name. We really liked Delilah and Eve and were set on those for a long time, but I couldn't get over the "temptress" side of their story, not to mention original sin. Paul liked Ruth. I didn't. I liked Stella, after my grandmother, but every time Paul heard it he would yell STELLA like in the movies. And my friend's dog is named Stella.

So, when we were coming home from Virginia we were just throwing random names out there and NPR came on with the Sloane Foundation. I asked about Sloane and he said it made him think of Ferris Bueller's day off. Ugh. And somehow out of Sloane came Maeve. It stuck and we love it. Not popular, not weird, no attachments at all. Just intoxicating, as a baby girl should be.

Her middle name will be Ina, which is Paul's mother's name. Sticking with the family names as best we can.

There ya go! Cat's out of the bag!!!!

EDIT: It is pronounced MAYV (the a is long and e is silent) The original celtic spelling is Maebh which we liked but we thought it would confuse people.

There is an author who is out right now named Maeve Binchy who is fairly popular. Someone from church told me this week that there used to be a Maeve on Ryan's hope (the soap opera) back in the day as well.