Clara's Name

Before she grows too much more, I wanted to write a bit about the name we chose for our fourth child.

We chose Biblical names for the first three and initially combed through Biblical names in search of another for Clara. We couldn't agree on one we really liked, though (Jeremy shot down Phoebe every time I brought it up! Can you believe it? And we both had moved away from our like of Chloe . . .).

So we considered virtue names, but ran into problems--we didn't like the common ones for a first name (Faith, Grace, etc.); we were hesitant to choose a name that repeated another child's first initial (Joy); we liked some unusual ones, but figured they might be too far out there and wouldn't fit with the style of names we'd already established (Verity); others we liked alright but not enough to use as names for our child, at least right now (Mercy, Hope).

I proposed Clara as a name early on, but Jeremy wasn't sure. Initially he liked Claire/Clare better. (And he again proposed Natalie--pretty, but not a name I'd use, unless perhaps she was a Christmas baby--but even then, probably not. Plus, I want to avoid names that alliterate with our last name.) I hoped to erode his opposition and brought up Clara as an option frequently. We studied baby name sites, looked at Social Security lists and statistics, read through lists of most popular names by year, etc.

In the end, we circled back to Clara. Eventually we decided we liked the name lots--enough to break from our precedent of Biblical names. But we opted for a Biblical and family name for her middle name: Elisabeth.

Clara is a feminization of the Latin clarus, meaning "clear, bright, famous." Elisabeth means "oath/promise of God." So together Clara Elisabeth's name means "clear (or bright or famous) promise of God." In her we clearly see the goodness of God and His promises and the beauty of His blessing of children. We hope she will grow up to illuminate His good promises brightly and clearly to the world.

We chose Elisabeth as her middle name for several reasons. Obviously, we like the name. It's Biblical, even if her first name isn't. And--as with each of our children--it honors various family members. Most closely, Elisabeth is my sister's first name and Jeremy's sister's middle name (Anna Elizabeth). So Clara is named for two of her aunts. Elizabeth was also the middle name of one of Jeremy's maternal great-grandmothers (Grandma Marie) and the first name of one of my paternal great-grandmothers (Grandma Bessie). I know my maternal line has several Pennsylvania Dutch women with Elisabetha in their names, too. So Clara Elisabeth is a name of rich and recent history!

I like the softer Germanic (is that an oxymoron?) spelling with the "s," and in choosing this spelling we also wanted to honor a great woman of God who passed away this year that Clara was born: Elisabeth Elliot.

Of course, Clara's middle name is also (primarily, should I say?) after the Biblical Elizabeth, who believed God's promise to give her a son in her old age: who carried the prophet who prepared the way for his cousin, Jesus.

I've been thinking much of that Elizabeth and her cousin Mary this Christmas, as I hold a new babe and wonder at their faith, joy, trust, and sorrow as they birthed and nursed and taught and raised their sons--both of whom fulfilled the prophecies and good promises of God to us. May Clara grow up to be a woman of God like her namesake!