Naming of Neil

If you are coming by from Kelly's Korner, welcome

I had always wanted to post about naming Neil. When I was pregnant, I had a girl name all picked out. I really had no idea what I would name a boy. We had some criteria. One was I wanted a name with a meaning something along the lines of God gave, answered prayer, gift from God etc. Another criteria we both had was the name needed to be Indo-Western. Since we are Indians, we did not want a completely western name which our family back home could in no way identify. These days a lot of my family does put names like that for their kids, but this was what we wished. On the other hand, we did not want to put a completely Indian name that no one here (including myself) could say. Say Dhanangjaya - for my life, I can't say this name. :) and I am betting most of you can't either.

Nathaniel was on my list for a name as it means "Gift of God" Although I liked it, it wasn't quite right for a whole name for us. At that time, my friend visited me and she suggested Neel. Neel in my language means the color Blue. At that moment inspiration struck and I started liking a variation of that - Niel (short for Nathaniel). I looked up Niel at babycenter.com and guess what I found? "Gift of God" So Niel it was. We never quite decided on a middle name until I gave birth.

My parents prayed for me to get pregnant and I was getting frustrated with all the delays and waiting. With all the issues I was facing, combined with the doctors verdict I had all but given up hopes of being a mom by October 2008. Then one day my dad called me and said that while he was praying he got a very strong sense that I am going to be pregnant before 2008 drew to a close. I laughed like Sarah (maybe I should have named him Issac!) becasue did not the doctor say that it was not going to happen given all the circumstances? But my dad had heard from the Great Physician. After all the failed treatments, I got pregnant on our own in November. We found out on our fourth wedding anniversary, December 24th. And when I talked to my dad he reminded me of God's faithfulness and also told me that I was going to have a boy. Way before the boy/girl parts were formed in my womb even.

When the ultrasound revealed a boy, I guess I knew in the back of my mind that I wanted hid middle name to be my dad's name, but I never consciously thought about it. His last name was going to be my husband's family name so he gets that legacy from there. Also, although I wanted him to be Niel, we figured that would create a lot of confusion with the spelling, so we named him Neil. To me Neil or Niel he is God's gift to us. So anyway that is how he ended up with

Neil Kuruvilla *Last Name*