What's in a Name

"I have spread my dreams beneath your feet. Tread softly because you tread on my dreams." -W.B. Yeats

This was my Grandma June’s favorite poem. Grandpa recited this poem to me the evening before we were to be married 7 years ago, and told me to always remember to “tread softly.” I always knew my Grandpa loved my Grandma June but the tears in his eyes as he recited her favorite poem, made me realize just how much and how much he missed her. My Grandma June was an amazing woman whom I always loved and cherished. She was fun, exciting, smart, and loving.

Aside from choosing June as the middle name for our daughter because I adored my grandma, we also chose it for many more reasons; we simply love the name, it was the month George and I were engaged and the month we were married, which was also the month and day my Grandma June was married, and best of all, it is the month we saw our daughter’s face for the first time.

Magnolia is just simply a beautiful name that George and I both love. It’s a very old name that was used at the turn of the century and even then it was a rare name. We think it suits her perfectly. We also like that we may call her Maggie which we love as much.

Ling is her Chinese given name. Her full name in the orphanage is Jiang Cheng Ling. Jiangcheng is the name of the orphanage so they give all the babies those two names and then they are given their own special name. Ling means smart or bright which we're sure she is. We always knew we would keep her Chinese name. It is part of who she is and we would never want to erase that. We love the name Ling and think it makes her new name even more beautiful.