Layla's Name

Layla's birth parents gave her the name Layla. We couldn't imagine calling her by anything else. Eric asked her birth parents once if they named her after the Eric Clapton song. :) They didn't. They just liked it. Fair enough.

Her middle name had been Atlas. Which made me think she was destined to be a world traveler one day.

We talked as a family, though, and decided we would love to give her the middle name of my sweet grandma Allen, Belle. So we could call her L Belle. Layla's great-grandma Allen was a nurturer. She was sweet and organized. She loved shopping, but she was very frugal. She always loved kids. I remember her always being calm, soft spoken, and put together.

Layla's little personality already exhibits a similar disposition as a sweet nurturer.

At two years old, she became Layla Belle Allred.

Perry's Name

We took a long time to think about what Perry's name would be when the adoption was finalized.

We prayed a lot about changing his name. Just like with Kyler, we were conflicted about changing a child's first name. We worried a bit more because Perry had some delays and we didn't want to confuse him. In the end, we did feel that it would be right to change his first name.

We had a lot of conversations as a family about what that name would be. The boys had lots of suggestions. We threw around a lot of names. E vetoed most of them. Perry was one of the first names I brought up that Eric liked. But our boys weren't the biggest fans at first--they would lovingly tease and sing "Peeerrry" from Phineas and Ferb.

During that time period in which we were trying to decide if Perry should really be his name, we felt like the name "Perry" kept popping up around us. For example, I was talking to my parents one day and heard that they went on a short trip to Salt Lake City. While they were walking around temple square, they were stopped by Elder L. Tom Perry who struck up a conversation with them about the birds in the area. This, coupled with other similar instances, kept the name Perry fresh in my head.

Then we decided to try out the name on him. As a two year old coming into our home, he didn't respond to his given name. As time went on, this improved, but he definitely responded better when we used his nickname--Damo. As a three year old, he still wasn't always consistent in responding to his name. One day I called his name, "Damian". He didn't look up. I said it again. No response. So I tried "Perry"  and he looked right up. On a separate day at the park, Eric had a similar experience getting his attention.

We felt a reassurance that his first name should be Perry. We decided to make Damian, the name his birth parents gave him, his middle name.

He became Perry Damian Allred.

Kacin's Name

Kacin was three, almost four, when our adoption was finalized.

This three year old was a bundle of energy, fun, and love. The name Kacin just fit him well.  We honestly didn't even consider other names. We kept the spelling the same, too. Like with Kyler's name, we wanted him to have something from his birth parents and something from us.

The boys' birth dad's name begins with a "K" and ends with an "in". Ky, Kacin and their older brother's names all followed the same pattern --a "K" name ending with "in". It might have been a lot confusing when all three boys were together, but it was a nice connection.

Since he kept his first name from his birth parents, we changed his middle name to be Allen, my maiden name. He carries on the Allen name proudly. It's a name that represents fun, honesty, adventure, integrity, service, kindness, silliness, and love.

He became Kacin Allen Allred.

He wears the name wonderfully.

Kyler's Name

We recently got Layla and Perry's new birth certificates in the mail with their names, the names we chose, on them. It got me thinking about the significance of the names of each of my children and I decided to record their name stories. 

Kyler had just turned 5 when we adopted him. As soon as we knew the adoption would be finalized we got serious about thinking about what his name would be.

Of course, we would change his last name, but since he was older we were really hesitant about changing his first name, Kylin. Part of me was against it--wasn't his name his identity already? would he be confused? would he be mad at us later? what would everyone think? The other part of me wanted to make the change--did his birth name really fit him? isn't he ours now so shouldn't we be able to give him a name from us, his forever parents? would a new name symbolize a fresh start for a happy life?

We thought about this a lot. Luckily, we had a fabulous adoption attorney who gave us some pretty great advice about changing names or not. We took it to heart and spent a lot of time in prayer and at the temple.

Once we knew it would be right to change his name, we had to decide what that name would be. Our little Ky had basically already given us that answer. We just needed to listen to him.

A few months before adoption was finalized, the boys were being silly in the back seat of the car. They were looking out the window and saying things like "my name is tree head!, call me garbage can head!, my name is car head!" and then somewhere in the midst of that Ky blurts out "my name is Kyler! Hey, wait! I like that name. Can you call me Kyler?" I laughed it off a bit because at the time we weren't even thinking about changing his name.

Ky never let it go though. At least once a week it would come up again and he would ask if Kyler could be his name.

When it came time to choose the names, Eric was the most concerned about changing his first name. We were about to leave to go to the temple one evening, but before we left E decided he should talk to Ky about it. He brought him up to his room and asked him what he would think if we did change his name to Kyler. The biggest smile crept across Ky's face. At the time this was a big deal for this serious kid who kept so much of his emotions inside. Eric said it was the happiest he had ever seen Ky. He asked him why he wanted his name to be Kyler. Ky replied, "Because it has an E in it, like your name". That was all it took--Eric's heart was melted and he was sold!

We still wanted him to have something from his birthparents. We felt like we should change his middle name, which had been his birth dad's first name, to be his parents last name, Radmall.

He became Kyler Radmall Allred.

How cute is little Kyler!

 He's still so cute.