The Name

You all know how much I stressed over Tenley's name.  It wasn't an easy decision.  If we hadn't named Tate what we did she would have been Katherine Louise, called Kate for short. But you can't have a Tate and Kate, so Katherine was out.  Totally broke my heart, I love the name Katherine, and it has my name in it! :)

So while pregnant with Tate I had suggested Tenley if he was a girl.  It never really stuck, mostly because of Katherine, so it was tucked away and forgotten.  When we found out we were having a girl this time we threw a ton of names around, but none seemed to fit.  I reminded Andy of Tenley and he was all over it.  I, right away, said no way, it was a fake name and to forget it.  He didn't.  It kept popping back up. Then Bachelor in Paradise was on, and there was a Tenley!  I though for sure he'd veto it then, but no, he still really loved the name.  Hmm, ok, I'll add it to the short list but never in a million years did I think it'd be a real contender.

Finally, with about 6 weeks to go, we were no closer to having a name picked out.  Avery was tossed around but Andy was still in love with Tenley.  Finally I started using the name when talking about her.  I made sure Andy knew I hadn't agreed to it, I was just testing it out.  It started to grow on me. And finally, I fell in love with the name, too!

Louise.  That is my sweet grandma's middle name that she went by.  Her full name was Marjorie Louise, but her mother never really liked the name Marjorie so they always called her Louise.  I have always known my daughter's middle name would be Louise, also.  Grandma and I were kindred spirits and had a very special connection, I couldn't imagine using any other name for my little girl.  Before Grandma passed away, when I was pregnant with Aiden, I told her if we ever had a girl her middle name would be Louise.  In her sweet little way I could tell she was so pleased.  Gosh, I miss her. She would have adored little Tenley Louise.

And that's how we came to name our little girl Tenley Louise.  She already has many versions of her name said to her: T-Lou, Tenley Lou, and my favorite, Tallulah.  Andy came up with that one.  It was some morphing from T-Lou.  I never have any idea how he comes up with his nicknames but he's a champ at them!

Thank you again for all the sweet messages!  We are so blessed to have our sweet little Tenley Louise.