When little Guo Jiang Jiao comes home with us in a few weeks, she'll be known to us as Emily Grace Jiao - but we'll call her Grace. Whenever you name a child, people always want to know where the name came from. People have many reasons for choosing the names they do. Some choose it to make a statement about their hopes for the child's individuality, some choose it in honor of a beloved family member, still others pull out a baby name book and randomly turn to a page. There are as many different reasons as names.
In our case, it was family. The name Emily appears may times in both our families. My wife's mother is Emily, my cousin is Emily, our niece is Emily. My dad's mother, who passed before I was born, was Emylou.
Grace, on the other hand, was chosen for my dad's step mother - the person I knew all my life as Grandmother. She helped merge two families (3 kids on each side) into one and all through my life I knew her as Grandmother... not as "dad's step mom", but simply Grandmother. The unity she and my Grandfather created in their extended family has been a powerful, comforting and inspirational influence on my life.
So, our daughter will be Emily Grace. We also want to keep part of her Chinese identity in her name, will also use Jiao - which means lovable or tender.
