In my family, there is a tradition that names must go in alphabetical order. My parents' names start with A and B, then there's me, Cindy, and then Derek and Emily. Even the cats got in on this: Fenxi, Gummy, and Walnut, aka Hup-toh. So when we were trying to figure out what to name this new addition to the family, we started with I-names, but Eric didn't like Isaac, and the rest of the boy names were frankly kind of weird (Ichabod? I love Sleepy Hollow, but no thank you). So finally I had to give up that dream, and we decided to just pick any old name that we liked, regardless of the letter it started with.
Eric wanted to name him Eric Junior, but I immediately vetoed that. Maybe it's just me, but Asian names with "Jr." or "III" just sound silly; you really need to have a last name with at least three syllables to pull that off (e.g. Wilmingtonshire or Vandercreston or something).
Once we both gave up our initial ideas for baby names, we just started throwing around all sorts of names, but that wasn't without issue either. We had to make sure that not only did we both love the name, but we also had to check that it wasn't too trendy or outdated, that it wasn't bad nickname fodder, that it didn't make for weird initials, and most difficult of all, that it didn't bring up any bad memories of former students. The problem with being a teacher is that I've had so many students in the past eight years, so almost any name will have a former student associated with it. It took some doing to finally come up with Zachary. While I have had two former students with this name, thankfully they were both likable, intelligent, well-spoken, quirky individuals with lots of potential (who weren't too much trouble).
Zachary means "Remembered by God." This was especially meaningful to me because of my worries during early pregnancy. I was afraid that 1) I wouldn't like my baby, and 2) I might forget it somewhere. See, I've never been one of those girls that gushes and gets all excited by babies; my thought process when encountering a small human being is usually something along the lines of please don't ask if I want to hold it I'll probably drop it oh crap what if they just shove it in my arms oh I know maybe I'll just pretend that it's a very small cat oh wait but cats can hold up their own heads oh no oh no oh no. As for the second concern, I have a history of forgetting my purse or my leftovers whenever I leave a restaurant. Either I take my purse but forget my leftovers, or vice versa. I really, really, really don't want to be one of those sad headlines about parents who forgot their kid in a hot car. Well, whenever I'm in a rough patch or find myself needing some reassurance, I turn to the book of Isaiah. I was reminded of Isaiah 49:15, where God says, "“Can a woman forget her nursing child, that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you."
I find it comforting to know that not only does the God seem pretty sure that I will love and won't forget about a kid I birthed, but that even if I do, He will remember. Which is good, because one time my parents forgot to pick us up from school. I want Zachary to be sure that His Heavenly Father will never forget him.
As for his middle name, Augustus (Latin for "majestic")...besides conveniently allowing for his initials to spell a shortened form of his name, it's also a nice tongue-in-cheek reference to Eric's high school Latin career. It's a little bit of an inside joke: somehow, despite having been Latin club president and helping to plan a nationwide Latin conference, he still manages to incorrectly translate most of the Latin phrases we come across. Case in point: when we went to London on our second anniversary trip, he translated the motto of the city, "Domine dirige nos" as "our king the ship." It actually means "God guide us." *facepalm* So it's kind of a fun way to remind us of our travels in Europe (it also doesn't hurt that it also references the wingaling dragon Trogdor and all his majesty).
Side note: Before we had decided on a middle name, my students made all sorts of suggestions, like Hercules, Ares, Arsenic, their own names, and all manner of other ridiculous ideas.
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