The Name

We had a hard time naming Eli for some reason.  We couldn't ever settle on anything that sounded right and stuck around.  We'd both be ok with a name for a while and then a day or two later one of us would decide it wasn't right.  We had a list of several that kept in the running for a while but never really stuck.

The top runners were:
Bastien (not Sabastien because Sabastien and Sabine would be too crazy)  that's one I liked
Rhys (as in Reese) that was one of Max's top favorites but I knew no one would know what it was
and
Jeb
and briefly
Emmet

The problem with Jeb was that every time I said it I heard "Bush" right behind it and that didn't make me happy.  Plus it was just SUCH a statement.
Emmet is lovely but is very popular right now and just wasn't quite right.

Once Max's granny Estelle passed we gave more attention to E names in honor of her.  And probably only a week before Eli was born Max asked me: "are you totally against Eli?"  and I said "No, I'm not totally against Eli"  I had actually felt it calling me, but was worried that it was too popular right now and may not be quite right.  But then, once Max put it out there, it seemed like just the right name.

And then the middle name.  Cyrus.  What?  I know.  Max suggested Cyrus as the first name several times and each time he did I shot it down and said I thought it sounded evil.  Something about it sounded maniacal to me.  Then once we decided on Eli I started looking for a middle name.  At first I'd really wanted to use "Pack" which is my maiden name and is the name that all the men in my family are called by for at least some part of their lives.  I thought that would be sweet, but dang it if Pack doesn't just sound awful with everything!!  So I finally dropped that idea.  Next I went to meanings.  I wanted something to go with the Sun because his beginning was around summer solstice.  I found 'Cyrus' and 'Samson' as options.  Max was really taken with Cyrus and I later found out that he also had an influential martial arts instructor called Cyrus so the name sort of honors him as well.  So once the meaning was established, and hearing it with Eli, I decided Cyrus isn't such an evil name after all and we could go ahead with that.

Eli = Elevated, Offering or Lifting up, Defender of humanity
Cyrus =  the Sun, lord, throne

 Eli Cyrus is a bringer of light into our family.  And it's really true.  He has shifted me in my approach to motherhood and family and life already in the two short weeks he's been here.  Wonderful!