Choosing a Name Requires Thought and Consideration

My parents, named me after my father. His name was Cecil Norman Wellman. To create my name, they switched the first and middle names and then added the letter ‘e’ to my middle name and subtracted the letter ‘n’ for my first name. Thus, Cecil Norman Wellman became Norma Cecile Wellman. If I were a boy, my name would be Timothy Gray Wellman. The middle name Gray was in honor of my grandfather Walter Gray Wellman, who passed away in 1937, long before I was born and before my parents were even married.

Perhaps our son would like to know how we selected his name. We honored Keith’s maternal grandfather and great grandfather, Emil Warren Thomas and Warren Thomas, respectively. Thus, his name became Warren Thomas Maynard, and we called him Tommy. If we had been a girl, the name would be Kelly Michelle Maynard. In that name, we were honoring our heritages of Irish (me) and French (Keith).

Tommy was a planned pregnancy, and we were so delighted that he arrived here healthy with a gusto for life. All was well until the doctor broke his leg during the Caesarean Section birth. Even with that unusual start, we felt so grateful that he came to us, completing our little family.