why we named him Finch
FINCH CHRISTIANSON WILLIAMS
Rooney had a homework assignment recently where she had to tell her class the meaning behind her name. I wrote about that here and also wanted to share the meaning behind Finch’s name!
I remember sitting in the room at one of my midwife appointments when I was pregnant with Finch, and Eric said he had brainstormed some name ideas. This was unusual because with both pregnancies I was way more obsessed with names than he was, and he usually just said yea or nay on the names I liked but didn’t offer up any of his own.
So I was all ears as he shared the names out loud, one by one, and Finch was one of the names he said. I wrinkled my nose and said I wasn’t sure, but I didn’t think I liked it. He said he saw Atticus on a name list, which he liked, and it reminded him of Atticus Finch from To Kill a Mockingbird, and he thought Finch was also a cool name. (That book has great names — I’ve always liked the name Scout for a girl!)
A few days later, I realized I was still thinking about that name. And one of the reasons I liked it was because it was also the name of an alternative rock band we listened to in college, which is also true about Rooney’s name. We love last names as first names (both Rooney and Finch are surnames) and uncommon names. Finch seemed to fit all our criteria! I wasn’t sure if it was too “out there,” but Eric thought it was a strong name for the bookend of our family.
From that point, that was pretty much it! (A couple weeks later an ultrasound confirmed I was right that we were having a boy!) Other boy names I liked were Oliver, Bear, Joah, Rowan, Roman and Phoenix — but Finch stood out to us and was the only name we agreed on 100%. Ironically I later realized that I had included it on a blog post I wrote called 20 Awesomely Hipster Baby Names for Boys nearly a year earlier! And our top two names if he had been a girl were Willow and Wren…we must have really been into nature/birds that year!
After that, I started noticing the word “Finch” popping up in random places, like when I was online shopping for a pair of shoes for Rooney, and in the Maps app as the name of a road near Eric’s hometown. It felt like it was meant to be!
My friend Emily told me that finches (the birds) are hardworking, gentle birds who are very routine and loyal, and that they all stick together. I loved hearing that!
Finch’s middle name is Christianson, which is also my middle name (and my maiden name). I love sharing that with him, although with three syllables it doesn’t quite roll off the tongue when he gets in trouble. (Eric once asked me why both our kids got family names from my side as their middle names, and I said because they get his family name as a last name!)
Finch Christianson Williams. We thought we might call him Fin for a nickname, but I don’t think we ever have. We mostly call him Finchy or Bubba!
I love hearing name stories! How did you choose names for your kids?