Our Bright Gift From The Sun

When my wife and I talked about having children, we had our names picked out. We had agreed that she would get to name our first daughter and I would name our first son. I knew and still know how important it is to her to give our first daughter (if God is willing to bless us with one) the names she selected. I agreed to it because it was important to me what our first sons name will be. A few of the reasons I will share with you in a moment. Some of you may already know 'Peanut's' name, for those of you that don't I hope this blog will enlighten you and give you some insight on his new moniker.
For our son, I wanted him to have a strong name. I did not want him to be 'Edwin Jr.' (Trust me, he'll thank me later for that) and I did not want him to be an exact name as someone else. What I did want for sure was to pay tribute to a man that has had a great influence in my life. My father.
My Father's name is Jose Heliodoro Narvaez, he was and is my role model, he always gave a great example, took care of us and provided for us and always showed us love. I wanted our son to have his first initial "J" and to carry out the rest of his name Heliodoro Narvaez. I know that 'Heliodoro' may not be a popular name in our society or amongst others, but I can honestly say that in my opinion, there was not a greater man to have that name then my father and our son will carry that with him to honor my father. Since, Jose was not an option for our son, as that would be a typical thing to call a Latino child Jose, I wanted something different, something biblical, but at the same time not archaic.
The name I wanted for our son was "JERICHO". What does it mean? well, according to many definitions, Jericho is the 'City of the Moon' (quick note, one of the nicknames my wife has is Luna.. coincidence???). Contrary to the belief of many, the reason I like the name is not because of WWE superstar Chris Jericho, although I will admit when I heard it on TV, I looked it up, according to the scriptures the city of Jericho was visited by Jesus Christ on his last journey to Jerusalem. On a bonus note, if 'peanut' would have been called 'Jericho' he would have had his own countdown, theme music and when he ran for any student office or even more he could call his supporters "Jerichoholics", but I guess that last part put some people off as they thought he would be mocked and not supported.
By definition: Jericho (city of the moon) Heliodoro (gift from the sun) Narvaez (dweller on a plain in the mountain). I thought that it was cool, representing the moon, the sun and nature.
But after much discussion and push back, my wishes were not fulfilled. I had to sacrifice one name, I was not going to sacrifice Heliodoro and I would not let go of the initial 'J'. One of the names considered was Jason, then Jacob, finally... Javier.
By definition: Javier (Bright) Heliodoro (gift from the sun) Narvaez (dweller on a plain in the mountain) Makes sense as well, our little "bright gift from the sun"
This experience that my wife and I have gone through, her feeling 'Peanut' move in her belly, me feeling him move with my hand on top of her belly has been great. If you are wondering why I still called him 'Peanut', I did it because, as many parents know, we rarely call our children by their names, we give them nicknames, I don't know if 'Peanut' will be a permanent nickname for him, or if one will come to me when I hold him for the first time, or when his personality starts to show.
One thing for sure is that my wife and I will try our hardest to help him become a great person, learn and understand where he came from and who his family is and to help him make a name for himself and help change the world for the better....
There you have it, 'Our Bright Gift from the Sun'... Javier Heliodoro Narvaez... A.K.A. Peanut!