The story of Amelia’s name

Amelia Grace was not supposed to be my daughter’s name.

In the weeks before our 20 week “gender” ultrasound; Tim and I (ok mostly me) collected, analyzed, and searched for the perfect name for our little baby. I had kept a running list of all the names Tim and I liked. The final short list consisted of 16 girl names and 33 boy names. Of this list, Tim and I had agreed on only one name, a girl’s name, Madilyn. I was desperately hoping for a girl, Tim had been hoping for another boy but had finally caved in the weeks prior, announcing that he now wanted a girl just so I would stop hounding him to choose a name.

For some reason having a name picked out before the ultrasound was really important to me. Our baby just had to have a name! Maybe it was because Noah was named at his 20 week ultrasound, maybe it was just my OCD, or maybe in some strange way I knew that our time with this child would be short and her name could not wait.

Then we got the news.

At some point after we left the hospital I remember turning to Tim and saying, “Madilyn isn’t her name.” It just didn't seem like the right name anymore. I wanted her name to mean more and to suit the little girl I was just beginning to know.

Shortly after we got home I hopped onto the net and began hunting for a new name. This time I tried a reverse search by meaning. I typed in the search words, gift and of the LORD, and up came 60 plus girls names. I scrolled through and read them off one by one, none of them seemed right. Then I saw Amelia; Work of the LORD, it was perfect, and the name had been on our list all along! And so our darling Amelia, a work of the LORD and God’s Grace, was named.