I didn’t know it at the time but we practically named Pepper last August on the same day we found out I was pregnant with her.
The day after we got home from a quick trip to NYC, I took a test and it was positive. A few days beforehand I had taken a test and it was negative so I was surprised! (Michael was not since he was convinced I was pregnant). One of the first things we did after seeing that positive test was search on google to see what size our baby was at that moment. One of the results said “peppercorn” so we immediately started calling our baby Pepper.
Fast forward to when we found out we were having a girl and Michael said he liked the name Pepper. I was a little hesitant since it’s unique and wasn’t on my “name list.” (You know the list I’m talking about ladies. The list of names you have for your future children that you started back in elementary school. haha) We discussed many girl names and I searched the website Nameberry for hours to make sure there wasn’t some name out there I had never heard of but would be perfect for our little girl. Some of Michael’s top names were Eliza and Eleanor, while I liked Hazel and Ellis. We both liked Nora. There was another name we both liked too but just in case we are blessed with another daughter sometime in the future, I'm not going to share that name yet. (If Bennett would have been a girl, his name would have been Noelle with the nickname Elle because that was a name we had talked about for a long time but it didn’t seem quite right for this baby.)
I really like flower names and the symbolism of our miracle spring baby but several flower names were off the table because of family associations. (Lily, Poppy, Daisy, Marigold and Violet were all a “no-go.”)
Since high school I liked the name Charlotte. There is a Charlotte Street in Kansas City and when Michael and I would pass an adorable house on it while going to the Country Club Plaza to eat dinner, we would think about what our future home and family would look like. So Charlotte was on our name list but I didn’t like that it had become a popular name in recent years. That was my only hesitation with the name, even though I personally didn’t know any Charlottes.
I was starting to really stress about finding the perfect name for our daughter so I literally prayed that God would give us peace about her name and would please name her for us. haha!
On the evening of November 8th, Michael and I were eating dinner at Jasper's and talking about our daughter's name. Pepper kept coming up and she just seemed like Pepper, so we decided it would be her middle name. I had originally thought my daughter’s middle name would be my middle name Marie which is after my great grandma Jean Marie but she just seemed like Pepper and I felt like God was saying, "You wanted me to name her, trust me and trust Michael. She is Pepper." Side note, the name Pepper means “berry” which isn’t a flower but I do like the nature vibe.
We started pairing our top first names with the middle name Pepper. Since Pepper is an unique name, I thought we could give her a more “formal” first name so when she’s older she can go by her first name if she wants to do so.
Michael and I love the Beatles and one night Michael was singing Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and put "Charlotte" in place of "Sergeant" and it sounded so good! We looked at each other and said, “Did we just name our baby!?” But then I quickly retracted and said “Maybe!” I wasn’t ready to commit! (I’m not the best at decision making, especially with big decisions like naming our daughter who I had dreamt about for years).
We tend to make big decisions while eating dinner out, so on December 27th we were once again eating pasta for dinner but this time at Garozzo's. We talked more about Pepper’s full name and we kept coming back to Charlotte Pepper. Michael said, “It’s always been Charlotte.” And that was it. It was decided. We went to Target a few days later and looked at the Christmas clearance section and saw a pretty stocking with a “C” on it. We bought it for our daughter and showed our family when we told them we had decided on our baby’s name. I wanted to go ahead and tell people her name because I know otherwise I’d second guess it and would go back and forth forever.
So that’s how Charlotte Pepper came to be! To me Charlotte symbolizes Michael and I’s long history together, and I love that we talked about the name Charlotte even before we were engaged. I love that Pepper is uniquely Pepper and that past Colette didn’t even fathom how special and unique her little girl was, and that her name was chosen by both her mom and dad together as a family.
I love hearing about names. How did you name your children?
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