Way back when, around the time I was playing tether ball and four-square during recess, I loved the names Christina and Kristin, and I was almost certain that when I grew up and had a daughter I’d name her Kirstin (notice that little letter switch? I thought it was so beautifully clever). I clung to those names (probably because they belonged to the cool, blond-haired, popular girls), but put them on the back burner, stashing them away for when I’d need them. But then I got pregnant and something weird happened. Those names I loved quickly went down the drain. They’re lovely names, but they just weren’t right for us, and they weren’t right for our daughter.

When I was around 11 weeks pregnant I had an inkling that I was going to have a girl. I never said anything about it out loud because I didn’t want to jinx it, but the feeling lingered. I actually had to convince myself right before the anatomy scan that if my mother’s intuition was wrong and I was carrying a boy, it would be okay.

Regardless of sex, my husband and I knew we wanted our baby to have a name that had some sort of Italian significance since she would be born there. I was so convinced that I was having a girl that I referred to her by this name even before the anatomy scan. My husband often reminded me that I should maybe think about boys’ names just in case she was actually a he. It turns out my gut was right—the scans didn’t show boy parts.

So how did the name come about? The region where we lived, like Tuscany, Umbria, or Veneto, is called Friuli-Venezia Giulia. I said our region aloud one day during my first trimester and my tongue lingered over the last word: Giulia. I repeated it several times in my head and then finally said it out loud: Julia.

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photo credit: PumpkinCharm Photography

It instantly felt right. We tossed around several names that all had ties to Italy either in spelling, pronunciation, or meaning, but we always went back to Julia. There’s something comforting about a simple, classic, and beautiful name. And while unique names are fun, we decided to go with the American spelling: Julia, just Julia.

As for her middle name, Grace? Well, it just felt right. We went through practically every name under the sun and paired it with Julia, but kept falling back on Grace. We knew the name was a keeper once my husband started referring to her as Gracie more often than Julia. Actually, more often than not, he calls her Gracie Lou Freebush…poor girl! I never knew the name Grace was so popular as a middle name until we let the cat (her name) out of the bag.

We actually kept her name under wraps until the day she was born. I wanted to keep mum because I didn’t want to hear everyone’s opinions, good or bad, about her name. It was a lot of fun keeping it a secret and even more fun to reveal it to everyone.

Does your child’s name have a story behind it? Did you keep it a secret or announce it well ahead of time?