What’s in a Name? Welcome to Penelope Rose . . .

I had my baby this past Friday, Penelope Rose Gerold. Penelope is Ben and my third child, and our first daughter.

Unlike our sons, Ben and I had a hard time agreeing on a name for a daughter. I discovered that Ben is very picky about girl names. When we went through the social security’s list of the top 1000 girl names, Ben only liked maybe two names on the list. We had named the boys after family members, but Ben vetoed almost every family member name. So where did we get the name Penelope Rose?

A few years ago, I was listening to an audiobook in the kitchen and Ben wandered in. The main character’s best friend was named Penelope, but she was often called Pen or Penny. Ben heard the name Penelope and said, “I like that name.” I instantly took note as it is not often that he likes a girl name.

I’ve liked the name Penelope since I was in middle school and obsessed with Greek and Roman mythology. I loved Penelope in the Odyssey. Although her husband, Odysseus, is gone for twenty years fighting the Trojan War and having quite the adventure trying to return home, Penelope remains a faithful wife. She is a strong and smart female character. After Odysseus fails to return home after the war, Penelope is beset with 108 suitors. Penelope tells her suitors that she cannot remarry until she finishes weaving a burial shroud for her father-in-law, Laertes, and undoes her work every night to delay the time when she will have to pick a suitor. Eventually Odysseus returns and they are happily reunited.

I also admit to loving the name Penelope in more modern entertainment too. Ben and I loved Lost, and I loved the romance between Desmond and Penelope Widmore. In fact, I always wondered if her name was chosen by the series writers as a nod to the faithful Penelope of the Odyssey as Penelope Widmore remains true to Desmond throughout the years and continues her search for him until they are happily reunited. Penelope might have to endure

“Not Penny’s Boat” from us in future years and wonder what the heck we are talking about.

We chose the middle name Rose after Ben’s great-grandmother. We had two names selected as finalists, and we let our son Kile chose the final name. He selected Penelope Rose and is very proud of himself for getting to name his baby sister. He says we cannot call her Penny as her name is Penelope. We’ll see how long that lasts!

The boys are excited to have a new baby sister and Penelope is a very mild baby so far. Three kids four and under is a lot of work; therefore things may be a little slow on this blog for the next few months. Please have patience and know that I am still reading and watching, but it may take a bit longer to post my reviews!