Where did we get these names...

We're often asked, "How did you pick your boy's names?"

I started putting this post together and as we ALL searched for photos, I realized just how special this post was going to be. To have three boys, all namesakes, brought tears to my eyes.

C.J. Miller

Clark Thomas Miller, Jr. (C.J.)

We always knew that if we had a boy we would follow suit and name him after Clark because his side of the family has a tradition of naming their sons, Clark Thomas or Thomas Clark. I believe that every generation, the names would flip-flop (Thomas Clark is Poppy and then Clark Thomas is C.J.'s daddy's name). We decided to keep the order the same as Clark's but added "Jr." at the end. The name "Thomas" is also the name of my grandfather, Papaw, my dad's father! A win-win! My younger sister Michelle, actually pointed out to us that we could call him C.J. and that stuck!

Thomas Clark Miller (Poppy)

Clark Thomas Miller (Daddy)

Thomas Chambers (Great Papaw)

Mark Robert Miller

So, we had a second son and boy were we happy to be able to use two of the most important names of people on my side of the family. Mark was the name of my uncle (my mother's younger brother). Uncle Mark passed away shortly after his 23rd birthday (I was 4 years old), in a tragic boating accident. He was the only blood related uncle that we had. He was just a cool guy, an uncle that was always missed terribly. The memory I have of him the most was how much he loved his "Tiddies" sandals, those rubber sandals that were popular with those who loved boating. Also, his nickname was "Gator". We still have the light blue towels that have "Gator" embroidered on them, probably given to him from my Mimi.

Robert is my dad's first name however he goes by Steve. What an honor to be able to name one of our son's after my dad...I have all sisters so no namesakes there!

Mark Wayne Slater (1962-1985)

Robert Stephen Chambers (Pop)

Peyton Daniel Miller

Then, we had a third boy! We decided that we wanted to use a "current" name so we chose Peyton and kept the spelling the same as Peyton Manning. You wouldn't think that there would be many girl's names with the same spelling but apparently there are. Oh well, I'm sure with Peyton's size, no one will want to poke fun at his name! Then we thought it would be a perfect opportunity to use a name from Clark's mother's side of the family so we chose Daniel. Sounded perfect! Daniel is the name of Clark's mother's dad, Daniel Hartnett!

Daniel Hartnett (1921-2006)

I hope you enjoyed reading as much as I enjoyed writing about how special each of our boys' names are to us and to those that they are named after!