What's in a Name? Revisited

Baby-to-Be is a boy. No question about his name either.

Patrick Lawrence.

Dad-to-Be has always been partial to Patrick. A strong Irish name, he says. Unprecedented on his side of the family.

And I don’t think there was ever a doubt this tyke’s moniker would, in some way, honor Larry, his Mom’s deceased father.

Patrick Lawrence. “Nobleman of Laurentis,” when you merge the meanings of the two names.

Come to think of it, his middle name plays off of Grammy-to-Be’s too. As husband-and-wife, I was Laura-and-Larry.  As sister-and-brother, I am Laura-and-Larry. Both of which contributed to  why my son was not named Larry. Those along with two other contributions: Uncle Larry and Great Uncle Larry on Larry’s side of the family.

 “Too many Larry’s,” I can still hear him saying when I suggested our son be a Larry Jr.

My parents back peddled a bit on the choice of my name too. I was supposed to be Rose, after my father’s mother, if I was a girl or Laurence, after his father, if I was a boy. When I surprised all – by being immediately followed by a twin brother, my parents resorted to two twin-names alternatives: Laurence and Laura or Rose and Rosario. My twin brother may be even more grateful than I am for the choice they made. Shakespeare may have said “ a  rose by any other name would smell as sweet,” but I’m not sure he'd say the same holds true for a Rosario.