We were first-time parents, and thanks to an initial yet inaccurate ultrasound, we were getting ready to name a little girl. Plenty of names raced around in our minds; plenty which both my Significant Other and I agreed on. Emily was pretty. Jane was plain yet regal. Abby was cute; so was Chloe. Ah, the luxury of having a baby girl, we thought. What a relief we don’t’ have to name a boy.
Then, low and behold, our second ultrasound revealed that either our baby has a misplaced eleventh finger, a third leg, or it’s a boy!! Great! Baby boy names weren’t something we could compromise on. He hated the names Luke and Chris, two of my favorites. I didn’t’ like Mitchell or Trevor or… The list went on.
Then we narrowed it down to Jesse, James or Julian. Jesse was cute. James is his uncle’s name. Julian sounds smart, kind of snarky–who wouldn’t’ want a Julian as a son? We couldn’t decide between the three. They all seemed ok, yet none of them were quite right. Our families clambered to know what our firstborn’s name would be, and we kept rotating our choices from week to week.
During the last month or so of my pregnancy, we lounged at home on a Saturday night and let our favorite comedian leave us in stitches with his new Comedy Central special. Who doesn’t’ love the Fluffy Guy, the big Mexican dude with an incredible gift for imitation and hilarious stories? Who doesn’t love Gabriel Iglesias? I told my Significant Other that I definitely had to have one of his DVD’s playing during my labor to ease the pain and laugh like crazy–if possible. And then a bolt of clarity flashed in my mind! It had to be! Our boy would be named Gabriel! His daddy agreed as soon as the epiphany left my lips. No Jesse, Julian or James would do. It would have to be Gabriel.
His middle name has significance as well. It is Steven, which is also his father’s godfather’s name. But that’s not the only Steven we honored when we gave him that name. Steve Jobs died the year I was pregnant, and we both admire him and the awesome company he built. In a way, our son’s middle name pays homage to him as well.
Our little Gabriel Steven is a toddler now. He’s a wonderful combination of funny, smart and lovable–so I guess he’s living up to both of his names. Maybe he would have made a fine Julian. Maybe a Jamie would have been great too. But we’re convinced our little Gabriel fits his name to the tee and vice versa. I’m so glad Gabriel Iglesias is a big, wonderful barrel of laughter, and I thank the universe that he came on my radar that one fateful night.
Submitted By Bernadetta Pracon.
