Ethan Robert Campbell

Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers out there and future mothers out there! We began the day worshipping with our church family followed by lunch with both our parents as well as grandparents and aunts and uncles at the Roberts' house. We enjoyed a BBQ lunch provided by Dickey's and overall a very relaxing afternoon. We also decided to announce the name that we had chosen for our second baby boy yesterday. We have picked Ethan Robert Campbell. I thought I would provide some background regarding the meaning of the name and how we came about picking it.

First, Ethan means "Firm, Strong or Enduring" in Hebrew. In 2011 Ethan was ranked #8 in US births. Ethan is a name that we considered last time before choosing Ryan and thus made our list this time early as we started considering names for our second baby boy. This year in reading through the Bible in chronological order, I learned more about Ethan as a Biblical name (which I didn't realize it was). Ethan is the name of four different men in the Bible. The first reference I came across was Ethan the Ezrahite, son of Mahol. He was distinguished for his wisdom and said to only be surpassed by Solomon. He is also the author of the 89th Psalm. There is also an Ethan, grandson of Judah. Next was Ethan, a Levite and from the family of Merari. He was a musician in the temple during the time of King David. Lastly, was another Ethan who was also a musician and ancestor of Asaph belonging to the tribe of Levi. I had to do some research to realize that the last two were separate individuals as I assumed they were one in the same when reading in scripture. Anyways, we liked the significance and references of this name and decided it would be a good fit for our little boy. If you get a chance read Psalm 89, I think vs. 1-2 will go in his baby book. (Scripture references: 1 Kings 4:31; 1 Chronicles 2:6, 8; 6:42, 44; 15:17, 19; Psalm 89:1)

Next, Robert means "bright fame" and is of English origin. In 2010 it was ranked #54 in US births. Robert has a fairly significant family meaning for us. Michael's father's first name is Robert, as is his grandfather Gaynor (his Mom's father). In addition, my maiden name is Roberts, so we thought it would be a nice way to incorporate my maiden name as well, thus honoring my father and grandfather. All four of these men are wonderful examples of the kind of man we would pray our son would grow up to emulate. We are thankful for strong male role models in our family and hope that our boys learn great values from each one of them. Baby Ethan's initials will also be the same as mine which I thought was kind of fun. Anyways, this is some of the background and thought that went into our deciding on Ethan Robert. We can't wait to meet him in September!