Comforted

We are completely aware that the name “Nehemiah” is not your typical, everyday name. We get many different reactions and even more pronunciations when we tell people his name.

Some people say (not too convincingly), “Oh, Interesting!”

We also get, “where’d you come up with that?” To which I respond, “um, the Old Testament, actually!”

We also get the occasional, sincere, “What a cool name! I love it!”

So where did we actually come up with the name Nehemiah and what made us choose such a different name for our boy?

Before Shane and I were even married, I had our kids name picked out. Thomas is a family name on Shane’s side as well as my side, so that was pretty much a no brainer. Thomas would be our first son’s middle name. After seeing the Blind Side, I thought the name SJ was adorable. So I wanted to name our first son Shane Thomas, Jr. and call him SJ for Shane Junior. Even when I was very first pregnant, I called the baby SJ or the girl name I still haven’t budged on.

Once I was actually pregnant, I could tell that Shane wasn’t all that keen on having a junior. He really wanted our baby to have his own identity and looking back in Biblical times, names were a big deal. They weren’t just chosen because they sounded cool, or because they were super trendy, or because they'd have a nice looking monogram. Names were chosen because they had great meaning and great purpose. Shane explained to me that he would love that for our own son. I told him that since I wouldn’t budge on the girl’s first name, we could discuss some alternative boy names.

So last Christmas Evening, as we were driving to Chattanooga from Huntsville, Shane started looking up boy names and their meanings. He probably read off a hundred names, to which I would reply “nope” or “hmm..that’s kinda cool. What does it mean?”

We got to Nehemiah [nee-uh-mahy-uh], and at first I was all “nope” and then I was like “wait...what does it mean?”

"Comforted by Yahweh," Shane said.

“Oh man. I love that.” I had read Nehemiah’s story before, but I couldn’t remember all the details. Shane gave me a brief rundown. If you haven’t read Nehemiah, do it

“I really like that.” I told Shane. “But that’s a long name. Four syllables is a lot for a little boy. Why don’t you see if there are any nicknames for Nehemiah.”

Well, there are:
Nemo, Neo, Miah, Nemi, NeNe, Hemi, Nem, Nehem.

Shane sorta liked Neo. I told him that made me think of the rapper Ne-yo, but he tried to convince me otherwise.

“Nehem [nee-um]? Like N-e-h-e-m? I kinda like that. What’s it mean again?”

“Comforted by Yahweh.”

I liked it. I didn’t love it, but I really liked it. We didn’t make a decision that night, and there were a couple of other names we liked and hadn’t completely thrown out, but Nehemiah really stuck out to both of us. We obviously still had a couple of months before we’d know the gender and even longer before we had to settle on a name. We could have waited until he was born if we couldn’t decide, for all I cared.

Between that night and Valentine’s Day, when we found out the gender, we had pretty much settled on Nehemiah Thomas if the baby was a boy. We had agreed on a girl’s name as well. I never budged on the girl name, for the record. Shane just came up with a cool middle name for her. We still hope to use that name...one day...in the very distant future)

We had no idea that night that God already preparing our hearts and minds for our Nehem. We barely knew what Spina Bifida was, we certainly didn’t know what caused it or that our tiny baby already had it.

Now, I can’t see Nehem (like Liam, with an N. The H is silent) being named anything else. A strong name, for a stronger boy.

And when people ask me what his name is, I often say "His name is Nehemiah, but we call him Nehem. like Liam wtih an N, but I feel certain he's gonna learn to answer to anything." Because, y'all, I had no idea the issues people would have in pronouncing his name.