What's in a name? The story behind Tejay's name.

Well, we finally have a baby. Of course, most of my friends know that but honestly because of an emergency c section there are several people I still haven't even contacted yet. I'm still a bit out of sorts physically but coming along. In my next post I'll write about our little guy's birth but for now I'll answer the question of how we arrived at picking the name of our son.

Tejay John Neil Klassen

Born: 2.13.13

Aren't I handsome?

 So, here's the breakdown of our name and how we got it...

First of all, we originally heard the name Tejay while watching the Tour De France. That's right... that's one sport that Kelly and I watch every year and it's constantly on at our house during the month of August. When the US rider Tejay Van Garderen made himself known this year, we looked at each other and agreed off the bat that "Tejay" was it. The name was different and unique and could certainly be our little man's name should the baby be a boy.

Once I found out that we were having a boy, I began looking at what the name Tejay meant. I honestly, wasn't coming up with much. Tejay is both a Dutch and Australian name - in some countries it's unisex as well.  Most of the meanings I found was simply another version of "TJ". However, I then discovered that it's similar to "Junior" or "Sonny". If you know Kelly at all he was extremely excited to find he was getting "his boy" - a Kelly "Junior" really wouldn't have been out of the question... so, Tejay is basically Junior indicating "his father's son".

Before we ever got to the meaning of Tejay we had already decided the middle names - the grandfather's.  Kelly's dad is John - which means gracious. My father, Laurent or "Larry" as he was called passed away almost 19 years ago. I wasn't sure if I wanted to use his name - it's not that I didn't want to honor him but honestly I'm already named after him.

Kelly and I talked and the reality is that it won't be very long until I will have known my "Texas dad" longer than I will have known my biological father. That's where the name Neil comes in... Shortly, after I returned to Dallas from taking care of my mom after my parent's car accident I met Janet and Neil. I was still grieving my dad's loss and somehow I ended up adopting this couple as my "Texas parents". They've been a God-sent and have provided a lot of encouragement over the years. The name Neil means champion...

So here we have the name- Tejay John Neil Klassen:
     His father's son (and his grandfather's too) a  Gracious Champion.

Kelly suggested that we also look for a way to honor my dad - we're considering purchasing a bench somewhere that we as a family can go visit and I can tell little Tejay some stories about his Grandpa St. Germain. It's hard to know how to introduce the concept of a deceased parent and try to get your child to know someone that they will never know. But, when I think about the names we have chosen I think my father, Larry, would definitely want his little grandson to be like his dad (both the earthly and heavenly father) and to be a gracious champion and I'm pretty sure he'd be pleased with that.

So there you have it... that's the story of the name of our little guy! Welcome Tejay!!! We love you!