Envelope Please!

Thank you all for your great suggestions - even if one of them sounded like a hobbit-girl name (you know who you are)! We were thrilled to see 20 posts with multiple names and some really witty banter - thanks! We tried out some of the names in conversation around the home and one has really stuck with us since the first time we - almost simultaneously - spoke it out loud months ago. It just really seems to fit and coincidentally, it received more votes in the blog comments section and in real conversation than any other name...so it must be "the one"...especially when you consider that Sarah and Aiden and I can all agree on it! I must confess, it is actually the name that we've been calling her in secret for some time now.

What's that you say? Get to the name already? Ok, then. You asked for it!

Chloe or the more "Irish" way of Chloë but not the "French" way of Chloé.

The etymology (that's a word to impress your friends with, by the way) of the name "Chloe" is not especially compelling, we just really like the really old-school Irish sound of it and think it is really cute - plus, technically it's biblical (I'll explain that in a second)! So, for all you who care about origins, histories, and etymologies keep reading (if you don't then you'll miss the some important "legal" fine print at the end as well).

From www.thinkbabynames.com:
Chloe \ch-loe\ is pronounced KLOH-ee. It is of Greek origin, and its meaning is "blooming". From Khloe, originally used in the classical period to symbolize the fertility goddess Demeter. May be connected with Chloris. Appears in the Bible, and as a name in literature, especially in the tale of Daphnis and Chloe, set to music by Ravel. Adopted by Puritans in the 17th century.

World-Wide Usage:

US Usage and Trend (source: 1990 U.S. Census):

From www.behindthename.com:

Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Biblical, Greek Mythology
Other Scripts: Χλοη (Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: KLO-ee (English) [key]
Meaning: "green shoot" in Greek. This was an epithet of the Greek goddess Demeter. The name is also mentioned by Paul in one of his epistles in the New Testament.

From www.babynamesworld.com:

Gender: Girl
Meaning: Green shoot
Origin: Greek
Pronunciation: (KLOH ee)
Form of: Itself (Chloë)

Chloe was one name for the Greek earth goddess Demeter. Continuing the classical theme, Chloe has a long history in the bucolic/pastoral literary tradition. It was the name of one of the main characters in the Greek pastoral romance 'Daphnis and Chloe', written by the Lesbian (from the island of Lesbos) author Longus probably around the end of the second century AD. The French spelling is Chloé, which is also the name of a well-known fashion line; it is pronounced "kloh AY." In the UK Chloe has been riding high in the charts for several years; it dropped to number 7 in 2006.

Now, for the "biblical" aspect of the name...

From: www.biblegateway.com:

1 Corinthians 1:10-12 (English Standard Version)
10I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment. 11For it has been reported to me by Chloe's people that there is quarreling among you, my brothers. 12What I mean is that each one of you says, "I follow Paul," or "I follow Apollos," or "I follow Cephas," or "I follow Christ."

So, all this to say...we're pretty excited about it and we really feel it'll stick...however (legalese alert!), given that we still have time, we may just decide to up and change the name on a whim or because it maybe doesn't fit when we actually see her outside the womb, or whatever else you can think of...but I think that since we're already talking about her by name at home, "Chloë" is probably it.

Now if only we could settle on a middle name...