What's in a Name?

**I decided to keep my maiden name out of this post. To keep my whole name from being searchable? I hope it's a good idea. Where I had once typed my maiden name, I replaced it with (censored)**

I had already started composing this blog when, during her visit to Atascadero for Everett's first birthday, Brian's sister Katie asked about the name "Everett." I wish I remember exactly what she said, but she said something to the effect of, "where did 'Everett' come from?" I said it was a traditional/classic name; she didn't know that. I mentioned C. Everett Coop, and she didn't know him. Mind you, Katie is a VERY smart lady and quite worldly, so it dawned on me that it was quite important that I finish this blog and get it posted!




Everett's full name is Everett Rulin (censored) Cisneros.


The Everett part is pretty straight forward. It's not a family name or a name we'd heard much (besides C. Everett Coop--the former Surgeon General of the U.S.). It's just a name we found in our baby name book (The Baby Name Wizard). We liked it, and it fit all our criteria: traditional (it has existed for over 20 years); In fact, some may call it old-fashioned (which is great!); non-biblical; unusual enough that he won't run into a lot of Everetts; but common enough that people understand it's a real name and know how to spell it.


Here's the meaning I took from Behind the Name (behindthename.com): It's English, derived from the name EVERARD meaning "brave boar," derived from the Germanic elements eber "wild boar" and hard "brave, hardy." The Normans introduced it to England, where it joined the Old English cognate Eoforheard.


So English and German. Cool.


Everett was actually the name Brian fell in love with on our "short list." What did he like most about it? That he could imagine yelling it, "Everett! Get over here!!" Haha. We have a friend (who Brian grew up with) named Garrett, and Brian clearly remembers Garrett's mom yelling, "Garrett!!" and he thought it sounded pretty good yelled. I also appreciate the Garrett comparison because it's proof that the "ett" ending doesn't have to sound feminine. I never think of Garrett's name as feminine.


I also agreed with Brian's top pick of Everett because it went well with my chosen middle name, Rulin. I'll admit that my favorite first name didn't work with Rulin because it ended with an "m."


I also felt that If I was so adamant about the middle name, it was only fair of me to go with Brian's favorite first name. If we ever have a girl, I'll probably get a little more emotional about that name. Also, if we ever have another boy, we'll go with my favorite (which Brian likes too). {:




Rulin is a family name. Simon Rulin Bruesch was my grandmother Ena's older brother, but everyone (at least in our family) knew him by his middle name.


I once asked my Aunt Sue where she thought the name Rulin came from. She guessed her grandmother may have spelled the name Roland incorrectly. She was not convinced that it had any special significance.

I actually never met him, even though I was 12 when he passed. He lived in Oklahoma, and I guess neither he nor my parents liked to travel much. It's unfortunate, but I have to assume that we wouldn't have had a strong connection if I had met him at a young age anyway.


I never got the impression that my grandmother was especially close to her brother, but she definitely looked up to him and respected him immensely.


We was a doctor, professor, neuroscientist, and the kind of person who knew what he wanted to do from a young age and pursued it until he got what he wanted.


He spent his career teaching at The University of Tennessee, and there's a great write-up about him on their website.


He had polio as a child, and his parents moved the family out to California to get him treatment at Stanford (which is how my grandmother ended up going to college in California, which is where she met my grandfather!).


Rulin looked upon my grandmother's family with fondness and generosity, and we wanted to honor him appropriately with a name.


It's also just a COOL NAME: Rulin!




Everett's second middle name is (censored), my maiden name. Brian and I both took (censored) as our second middle name when we got married. I couldn't get rid of (censored), it's just such a part of my identity. Brian actually suggested I keep my name as it was, but as I was pregnant and thinking about the name of my future-children, I wanted to have the same last name as my children.


I wanted to eliminate my middle name (Elizabeth) all together and just be Christina (censored) Cisneros, but Brian wouldn't get rid of Phillip and just be Brian (censored) Cisneros. So even though he was in favor of neither of us changing, I kept Elizabeth out of principle, and we both ended up with four names.




And Cisneros is just Brian's last name: boring!  It means "swan-killer" or something like that. Just kidding (about the boring--it really means "swan-killer" or "swan-farmer" . . . maybe the equivalent of the English "Swanson"?). It's a Spanish name, but I've heard that it also pops up in Italian, which is cool.