Name Tag

How did we come up with the names for our three boys?

First of all, I was fortunate enough to marry someone from Mexico and with a last name of Sanchez, we had the WHOLE world of Spanish/Latin names open to us. These names just happen to be my most FAVORITE!

Diego Zacarias....Hector and I both loved the name Diego. It came rather quickly for us. If you ask Hector he will tell you we named him after Diego Maradona (a famous soccer player in Argentina). I was always fond of Diego Rivera's art work (a famous Mexican muralist). But there was something about the name Diego that was so handsome, strong, and fresh. Mind you...this was before the "Go Diego Go" cartoon! So it was very quick that we agreed on the name. Diego is the Spanish name for James and you may also know it from San Diego (St. James). The middle name was a struggle but at the FINAL moment...like when we had to fill out the paperwork at the hospital for his Social Security card...we decided to go with Zacarias which is the name of Hector's maternal grandfather that he never knew. (By the way, Diego would have been Sofia Isabella if he was a girl!)

Mateo Emilio...Again, Hector and I loved this name. Another one of our all time favorites. We loved the sound of the name and beauty of it as well. The nickname for Mateo is "Teo". Mateo is the Spanish name for Matthew. Mateo was actually born in San Mateo County, how cool is that? San Mateo or St. Matthew. We also loved the name Mateo alongside Diego. They just sounded so good together. For the middle name, we decided to stick with the theme of it being a family name so we chose Emilio which is the name of my paternal grandfather who I never knew. (By the way, Mateo would have been Olivia Andrea if he was a girl!)

Then came Joaquin Andres... Hector and I went back and forth on the first name. I loved the name Joaquin and Hector loved the name Lorenzo. For the first time, we really couldn't come to a quick agreement. So we battled it out and in the end I chose the first name and Hector chose the second name. And yes, there is also a San Joaquin Valley here in California so you could say we have very California names for our boys! Then, so many cool things happened surrounding our little Joaquin Andres. You'll have to read one of my earlier posts about the meaning behind "Joaquin". You'll have to read Gifts 2 or go back to the early days of my blog and find my post titled Andres to hear the story of how we chose the middle name. It will give you chills. (We never really came up with a girl's name for Joaquin because we knew early on that he was going to be boy but I remember being very fond of Luciana and Hector loved Mia.)

Thank you Cheri for "tagging" me on this fun name game challenge! I love hearing stories about names. Isn't it one of the first of many big and important decisions you make for your child? So fun!

I tag...
Monica at Monkey Musings
Lisa at Bridget's Light
Elena at The Baby Who Chose Us