The Sweet Story Behind My Son's Name

The word is out! Blake and I are having a son! I don’t think we knew how badly we wanted a boy until I opened up an envelope to read the sex in our living room. Our hearts were pounding! Why were we nervous?! I saw the words “It’s a boy!” on the ultrasound and immediately brought my hand to my mouth in disbelief.

“Oh my gosh. Babe… it’s a boy!” I was laughing and had tears in my eyes. Blake was sitting across from me and immediately broke down. Both of his hands covered his face and he hunched over crying. We are having a son. I walked over to him, sat on his lap, and we hugged, cried and laughed. You guys, this was a moment I couldn’t have even dreamed up. One that I am SO excited to tell our boy about someday.

The thing is, I have known what I wanted to name my son since Blake and I decided to start trying for a baby. So the minute we found out, we knew who he was to us: Stephen Beckham Thomas. He would go by his middle name, just like his dad! Our sweet Beck. While we were so excited to tell friends and family, there was one person in particular that had not been shy about her hopes that our first child would be a boy. We had planned on telling Blakes Grandma Barbara before everyone else in our family, and the day we found out happened to be her birthday! Unfortunately, that afternoon Grandma Barbara passed away in her home. She was an incredible woman, had an unforgettable presence about her, and she loved her family dearly. We miss her every day!

While that day was full of emotions, both extreme happiness and overwhelming sadness, something beautiful came from it. The evening of her passing, Blake asked me if I knew the history of his name, Stephen Blake. He explained to me that he was named after his dad Stephen, who was named after his mother, Barbara Stephens. There is so much peace in knowing that while she wont be able to love on our son, that we can honor her by carrying on her name.

In the painful process of going through Grandma Barbara’s belongings, Blake and I were able to find some things for Beck’s nursery to keep her memory alive. Blake chose some things that he had fond memories of from his childhood visits to her house which made it more special! We walked away with some stuffed animals, a toy truck, and I will be hanging an old Norman Rockwell painting of youth football players from one of her old calendars. Each piece makes Beck’s bedroom more meaningful and sweet.

Another reason that we love Beck’s name is that after deciding, I found myself on google to find out what “Beckham” means. After scrolling through photos of David Beckham (which will be an obvious question when he gets older- NO he is not named after David Beckham), I found that the name means HOME. If you know Blake and I at all, you know how much we adore our home and how badly we never want to leave it. There isn’t a word that I could think of to describe us more, so it brings me so much joy to know that Beck is going to carry that piece of us!