Naming Jackson

I have been meaning to write a post about how we decided on Jackson's name since around the time that Belle was born. I suppose now that it's been 2 1/2 years, now is as good of time as any. :)

After finding out that we were having a little boy, Derek and I began to casually have discussions about baby names, though none of them were productive. After going through our original ideas that we each brought to the table, it was evident that we'd need to look elsewhere. While some people seek out baby name books, we critiqued all of the names of the graduates during a never-ending high school graduation. No names were decided upon, but it opened up the conversation beyond our individual top picks. 

Derek eventually shared that he liked the name Jack. After thinking about it, I did too. We didn't pick his name for the meaning (officially, Jackson literally just means "son of Jack"). Moreso, we picked it for what the name represents.

The original inspiration for Jackson's name was this guy-- Jack Bauer.

 Other relevant "Jacks" at the time included

 Jack O'Neill from SG-1

 Jack Sparrow

Jack Shephard

(remember, Jackson was born before the series finale air and everyone realized that the entire show was a colossal waste of time...)

Jack is also the name in a series of books by Derek's favorite author, Tom Clancey. In fiction, Jack is a name often reserved for strong male characters.

The real life, Jackie Robinson embodied character traits far greater than his fictional counterparts!

While we each liked that name, I kind of wanted to have a name with a little more "substance" so that he'd have some flexibility. We then decided upon Jackson.

While you won't find this meaning in a baby name book, this is the meaning that we attribute to the name Jack/Jackson: to lead, to do what is right, to be strong and persistent, to stick up for and protect others. And in the case for Jack Sparrow-- to be whimsical and unique.

Of course, I hope I don't have to endure the stress of being the mother to the man who saves New York from terrorists in a 24 hour period (and is captured, torturued, so and so forth), nor do we wish for Jackson to be the leader of plane-crash survivors on a mystic island. I certainly hope that my Jackson never needs to endure the hatefulness and evil of prejudice. 

Who knows that Jackson's New York/island/baseball diamond might be, but whatever it is-- we want our Jackson to be bold and brave enough to face it and to seek God for wisdom, stength, and direction.

We had planned that at some point, Jackson would go by Jack... only I was expecting it, maybe in high school or something, not at age 4, but that's okay! At the beginning of this year, Jackson began to request to be called "Jack". I wondered if this was a phase, but it has stuck. When I enrolled him in preschool, per his request, I filled in "Jack" for his preferred name.

Of course, to me, he'll always be Jackson. But, if he wants to be Jack to everyone else, we're okay with that.