The Name Game

Since everyone keeps asking where we got Vander's name, I figured it was worth a blogpost.

We decided during our first trimester to keep our list of names just between Dylan and I. We also decided we wouldn't pick a name until we met our little man. That didn't stop people from asking though :)

We knew we wanted a family name for the middle name, so depending on what the first name was and what sounded best, Scott and Robert were our middle name options.

The first name was much more difficult. Ever since we found out we were having a boy, I have been keeping my eyes and ears open for names I liked. We wanted something less popular and not traditional. I was looking at the credits after movies, checking out names of people on TV, considering characters from books, you name it.

I happened across the name Vander during the March Madness NCAA Men's Basketball tournament. Vander is the name of a player for Marquette, Vander Blue, who was one of their top players. Dylan approved and it got added to our list.

Dylan and I did a last minute check of the name Vander before committing to it while he was being cleaned up and before my parents and friends came in to meet him. It is ranked 1347th in popularity on Baby Center. It means "Good man" if you consider it derived from the Greek name Evander, or "from the" or "son of" in Dutch.

We were sold! We went with Scott for a middle name since we liked the flow best.

I like it because since it was inspired by sports, it could be considered athletic if he is into sports (you know, yelling "Go Vander!" at sporting events). It also is similar to Vanderbilt, the university, which makes it sound academic. My grandma mentioned there were a couple movie stars by the name of Van back in the olden days. Dylan pointed out Van Wilder, although I hope he gets through school faster than that (which means he can't take after his dad in terms of focus!).

So far it fits him great and we love the name :) I still call him Little Man and Spud a lot, since nick names are so cute too!