What's in a Name

Because of the thought that went into Cade's name, which you can read about here, many people have asked how we came up with Ellee's name. We went through the same thought process this time along, except we already had an idea of a girl's name that we liked, since Cade came out a boy.

Ellee comes from my Great Grandmother Figel.  Although, she was my great grandmother she was  young, and very involved in our lives, so she was more like a grandparent.  We were extremely close, and it rocked my world when she unexpectedly passed away while I was in high school.   Her name was Elnora but went by the nickname Ellee.  Except no one really had a spelling for it.  It was more of a name she went by, but when she or family wrote out her name it was Elnora.  Jacob is not big on putting something on a birth certificate if we are not going to call the child by that name.  So we decided we would place Ellee on the birth certificate instead of Elnora, or Eleanor. 

The spelling for Ellee comes with some creativity on my part.  I am all about being unique and creating a name that each child can feel individual about.  Jacob's dad, and my dad have the same middle name, Lee.  So we placed that in her name.  Hence the El - LEE. 

Jean comes from a variety of strong women.  Both of Jacob's grandmother's names were and are Jean, my maternal grandmother's name is Jean, and my mother's middle name is Jean.  So just like my middle name is riddled throughout my family history, Ellee's middle name shows up all over on both sides. 

Our goal was to have a name for our second child that was just as strong and family oriented as Cade Ashby.  I hope Ellee Jean will love how her name was formed from channeling such strong women!