Image by The Library of Congress via Flickr

Note:  I’m thrilled to share Cathryn’s story.  I think it is a great example of just knowing the right name – and sticking with it even when initial reaction is, er, mixed!

My husband and I decided on our son’s name before we were even married! We were talking about genealogy one night and he liked Thomas Grover from my side of the family while I liked Benton from his side. We thought Thomas Benton Grover would make a perfect name for our future son.

Over a year later we found out we were expecting. When we found out that we would be having a boy, we knew his name was Benton Grover. We dropped Thomas because neither of us had actually met anyone with three names other than their surname and we just weren’t sure how it would work. I’m glad we did though. Benton Grover fits my son perfectly and a lot of the time we call him by both names.

When we told our family what our baby’s name was my in-laws liked Benton, but weren’t thrilled with Grover. My parents didn’t like Benton because there’s a town named Benton close to where we live that’s not so great and they weren’t convinced with Grover either. My dad said he would just call him Ben.

Now that Benton Grover is here, I have not heard one person ever call him Ben and he’s 18 months old. The whole family loves his name because now they associate it with him and he has stolen all our hearts.

My husband and I chose the name because of the family connection. Benton is named for his great-great grandfather, Benton Bible and his great-great-great grandfather Grover Crisco. We also loved that neither name is close to being popular, but still very usable. Benton Grover fits my son to a T. We really couldn’t have chosen a better name if I do say so myself!

Cathryn, thanks so much for sharing!  I love that you put family significance ahead of trends.  But as a bonus, Benton Grover seems like a stylish choice, too.