Our son Turner has a somewhat uncommon first name, but we absolutely love it. Most people who know that my husband is a die-hard Atlanta Braves fan think that we named Turner after the Braves’ Turner Field; however, that’s not exactly the case!

We knew from the beginning that we wanted his middle name to be “Cole.” My parents operated a Bed and Breakfast for several years named “The Cole House,” so the name Cole had sentimental value to me, and Aaron and I both really just liked it as a middle name. Like most expectant parents, we tossed around many, many names trying to come up with the perfect first name. We wanted it to be unique, but not crazy, strong but not too masculine, and of course something that would flow well with his middle and last names that had already been established.

I was talking on the phone to my sister when I was about 5-6 months pregnant, and we were casually discussing some names. I kept repeating the name Cole and trying to see if anything would pop into my mind. All of a sudden my sister said, “Oooohhhh, you should name him Cole Turner!” Apparently, Cole Turner was a character on the TV Show “Charmed” about 15 years ago. It’s amazing to me that she remembered that! I liked the name, but I flipped it around and said, “No, it should be Turner Cole!” It did immediately dawn on me that the Braves play at Turner field, so I was hopeful that Aaron would like the name. When he got home later that evening, I ran the name by him, and it didn’t take long for us to agree that this would be our son’s name.

Sweet Turner has been called Tucker, Tanner, Taylor, and just about everything except Turner over the last 2+ years, but we have no regrets about his name. How did you determine what to name your child(ren)? I’d love to hear your stories!