For months we searched and labored over her name. We have some general name preferences that we go by 1) we aren’t fond of names that are overly popular or trendy 2) we like names with good meanings 3) we aren’t crazy about “weird” names. Then, when we were introduced to the concept of having her name start with an “E”, we added another challenge. (A friend noticed that the initials of all our names come together to spell out ABIDE- Angela, Brian, Ivan, Dominique, E-baby).
Nearly every “E” girl name is either very popular or has a negative connotation. The name we were drawn to the most was Emory, but it is nearly always listed as a boy name and means “labor or work” (which did not add much inspiration), plus it sounds like “memory” which I wasn’t very keen on. We tried to like the name for many months, but I just couldn’t get excited about it. I thought, if it just sounded a little different and had a good meaning, it would be perfect.
I kept going over the lists I had made of “E” names and started looking at the roots of their parts. My favorite one for meaning was Eleora- “God is my light”; “El” means “God” and “ora” is light (Kudos to Jenn for her guess). That’s when Emora first floated into my thoughts. Emor sounds like the Spanish word “amor” meaning love. I’ve always wanted to have a child with “love” in her name’s meaning. So using some poetic license and breaking our rule number #3*, we came up with Emora- meaning “love light” or “love’s light”.
The scriptures describe God as both love and light, so Emora is both a response of walking out that love and light, of loving the way of light and living in it, but also “love’s light” means that the source is Him, the love and light flow to us and then through us as we dwell, abide, and walk in Him. I am fascinated by this circular pattern to her name: 1-giving, 2-living, 3-offering 4-receiving again.
Brian has been hearing/sensing the word “worth” all year. Although it is not the most feminine sounding name, I cannot think of a better word to speak over and into the identity of our daughter. Worth means: high value or merit, desirability, significance, quality, importance, distinction. Historically, socially and even globally right now the worth of women has been misconstrued, abused and twisted. This is a great tragedy as it is such a critical and important part of being a woman, both personally and socially. Plus, I believe every woman not only needs to know her great worth, but has a deep longing to be cherished, loved and valued.
Pronunciation: Emora can be pronounced several ways, but we are choosing to pronounce it like Emory (drop the Y and add “ah” or you could think of it as rhyming with Deborah).
*While we don’t think Emora is weird, it is certainly rare in that we have not found it anywhere!
8 comments:
I particularly love the middle name Worth. Beautiful girl with a beautiful name.
A beautiful name and a lovely meaning, congratulations on the birth of your sweet little girl! Ellen McMillan
It will take me some time to get used to saying her name; I really like your explanation of the origin of her name. Starting life with a such a special name will be a blessing for your daughter. Love to you all.
I was quite surprised that the "only" has two names and not three like big brother and sister. You ran out of choices? ;)
Hope you both do well, looks like you are back home already. So, have fun!
Her name is certainly unique-- wouldn't have guessed it but was trying hard! Yes, Emora cannot be found. Beautiful. Looking forward to meeting her.
Ditto to Ian's comment.
My grandmothers name was Emora and she was a beautiful person.
A close acquaintance of mine had a slip of the tongue today and accidentally called me Emora. She said she didn’t know what caused her to do it and that she didn’t even recognize the name. My name is Demaya by the way. I was struck by the beauty of the name so I decided to look it up and came across your lovely story. Thank you for sharing it.
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