What's in a name? that which we call a rose By any other name would smell as sweet;

Names.....what powerful things they are. I posted HERE many moons ago about the origins of Miss A's name, and figured I should do as much for these wee babes.

Henry Charles

Originally this name was going to be Charles Henry, but we switched it. Henry was a name we've liked for a while, one that we had picked out as a boys name long before we ever got pregnant with anyone. Interestingly enough I wasn't as fond of it this go around and conceded to Matt because he really liked the name. Charles is quite simple, both of Matt's maternal great-grandfathers were Charles, and we just liked the name (I liked it because of Pa from the Little House on the Prairie books).

James Matthew

James is actually my dad's Christian (as in catholic baptismal) name. We already have enough Roberts and Williams in our family and decided to honor my dad with his other name. We actually "stole" the name James from my sister, but seeing as she's not planning on having kids any time in the next 10 years, she decided to let us use it :-D Matthew is obvious, but I really had to convince Matt to let me use his name for James' middle name (his concession to me). Also, it's the name of Anne Shirley (of Green Gables Fame)'s first son.

Elanor Susan

We really liked the nickname "Ellie" and wanted a name to go with that. We had chosen Elanor years ago, but then dealt with an Eleanor with the fair a few years ago and Matt was completely against ever using that name or nickname. He got over it when I remembered why I liked the name Elanor (with that spelling)....my favorite literary character {next to James Fraser - another reason for the name James....we both love Outlander} is Samwise Gamgee from Lord of the Rings, and he named his first daughter Elanor. Susan is MIL's middle name (just as Ave has my and my mother's middle name).

There you have it: The babies' names in a nut shell. And yes, there was a lot of literary influence with each of their names.