They say a baby’s brain develops and learns more in the first month than it does at any other time in its life. I believe it, but a close second has to be the first month you have your own baby. She has already taught me more about life, love and patience than I could have imagined. In learning this, I realized that I have to start this post by thanking my own mother and late father for everything they went through to give me life. Thanks, Mom. Thanks, Dad.
What’s in a name?
I thought an appropriate first post-birth blog entry would be to talk about the name we chose and why we chose it. Aurelia June Schneider.
Having my own unique name story, I am no newbie when it comes to discussions about symbolism, pronunciation, and spelling. Also, coming from a family who’s generation includes atypical names like Jasper, McLain, Liberty and others, I think each name a person is given gives them some sort of strength and foundation on who the eventually become as an adult.
So who, or what is Aurelia? Aurelia is a female name which in Latin means “golden.” I have been asked a lot about the pronunciation of Aurelia. Her name is pronounced as “ah-RAYL-ya”. I have also included two oral pronunciations as MP3s if you would care to listen -Aurelia(1) Aurelia(2).
Who is Aurelia?
I have been told many times already that this is a unique name we chose. As it was my first choice in names, I tend to see that positively, but did you know that our baby girl is not the first Aurelia Schneider? There was an Aurelia Schneider born in 1900 in Texas. In fact, there are currently 10 other Aurelia Schneider’s around the world listed on Facebook, go figure?
The family name Aurelia was one of the most distinguished in ancient Rome having claimed 23 Consuls, the highest elected office in ancient Rome. The most famous of women in this family belonged to Aurelia Cotta. With a grandfather, father and three brothers all being elected Consul, she clearly came from a remarkable family. But even with such a distinguished family, she is most famously known as the mother of Julius Caesar. Of course the Julian family has its own countless number of Consuls and later Emperors of which we are more familiar.
There is also a St. Aurelia, Aurelia of Strasbourg. A tenth-century Roman Catholic saint, she was a princess, member of the royal family of Hugh Capet, who became a hermitess to escape marriage.
The name Aurelia was used in one of Shelli and my favorite movies, Love Actually.
The name Aurelia has also been used in many other places, and as I introduce her to more people I keep finding new connections and places I was unaware existed.
The VIA Aurelia is a famous roadway in Italy which connects Rome to Pisa. This roadway was first constructed in 241 B.C. and still exists today!
The Lancia Aurelia is a classic Italian roaster produced after WWII and I am sure would make a great sweet 16 present for Lulu. Yea right!
Closer to home, the USS Aurelia was an attack cargo ship during WWII and took part in many missions during the war on the Pacific.
Closer yet, there is an Aurelia, IA just six hours from Fargo. The town was named after the daughter of the railroad builder.
At home, Aurelia is the sweetest baby I have ever met. Despite the lack of sleep and constant demands she makes, we couldn’t be luckier. My hope is that someday in the distant future she makes someone else’s blog talking about why they named their daughter Aurelia. That would make me a proud papa.
Who is June?
Shelli was born in June and so, in a way, Aurelia was named after her mother. We also use June Bug as a nickname for her.
June also happens to be a special month in the Schneider family as it is the birth month of my brother, my father and several other special family members in my life.
Yes, you can still call her Lulu. I am sure these are just the first of many nicknames she will get from the creativity of many cousins, uncles, and great uncles!
Yes, you can still call her Lulu. I am sure these are just the first of many nicknames she will get from the creativity of many cousins, uncles, and great uncles!
Thank You!
I have been wanting to do a post just thanking everyone for all the love, caring, and generosity that has been shared with us over the last month. I am just not sure I could write an entry with enough emotion and length to fully show our appreciation to everyone. So I will be short and just say thank you for welcoming our little Aurelia into the world with such sincere compassion and enthusiasm.
