Long before I was pregnant, let alone dating/married to Seth, some of my friends teased me about naming my children after local historical figures. I thought it was a great idea, but children weren't on the horizon, so it remained just a joke.
One of the names suggested, however, was Ezra (after Ezra Meeker) and this suggestion stayed with me, somewhere in the far recesses of my brain.
When we found out we were pregnant, and when we found out we were having a boy, the name Ezra immediately came to mind and just wouldn't go away. I tried so hard to find another name I loved, but nothing compared.
My biggest "problem" with the name Ezra was that my best friend's nephew went by the name Ezra (one of his two middle names). Though "Ezra" has been gaining in popularity throughout the last decade (see the below chart), it was still uncommon enough that I was willing to use it - except that someone we knew had just used it! How could we? What if these two boys went to school together someday (say, to the high school that their parents had all attended)? They'd only be a year or two apart. What if my friend had children? Her children would have a cousin named Ezra and a BFF named Ezra. I was determined to reject the name and find something else.
But it fit our criteria/our criteria fit it. I couldn't keep myself from thinking of it as our baby's name, especially as I read through the Book of Ezra.
As I explained, the original reason we thought of the name Ezra was because of Ezra Meeker. Ezra Meeker was hugely influential in early Puget Sound history and in my historical research for my thesis, I grew to admire him greatly. (Also, one of my favorite dates was at Meeker Mansion... Seth knew I wanted to go, because I'd never gone before and had mentioned that fact numerous times, and completely surprised me one day - actually, June 25, 2009, according to meticulous Gmail records - by taking me, and spending hours there, reading everything along with me...)
But as we talked about the name Ezra, I spent a good deal of time reading the Book of Ezra and about the Biblical Ezra (who wrote Ezra and Nehemiah). I quickly grew to admire him as well and appreciated that he was a historian as well as priest.
Ezra 7:6 "…this Ezra came up from Babylon. He was a teacher well versed in the Law of Moses, which the LORD, the God of Israel, had given. The king had granted him everything he asked, for the hand of the LORD his God was on him."I appreciated that there was something about the fact that, as I was (reluctantly) taking a break from my historical research to give birth to and raise this baby, I could still give him a name that reflected my interest in history and my desire that he too be interested in both local and Biblical history someday.
As I read the Book of Ezra, about Ezra's leadership in shepherding Jewish exiles from Babylon to Jerusalem and guiding them in a renewed dedication to following God's law, I was encouraged and convicted by the testimony of God's sovereignty in the lives of His people. That is, after all, the thing that I kept being reminded of all throughout my pregnancy.
In his commentary on the Book of Ezra, Matthew Henry says that the book primarily teaches "that God will make His cause to prevail, notwithstanding all obstacles and adversaries" [link]. Ezra preached this to the Jews faithfully, despite their unbelief and stubborn attraction to the world. This is what God was teaching me, throughout my pregnancy, because of my pregnancy. I wanted my son to know that God is sovereign, and that He is faithful. I wanted his name to reflect the fact that I believed God to be sovereign and faithful, to remind both he and I of that fact on a daily basis.
So when I read Ezra 7:10, I found a verse that I wanted to be true of my son as well:
Ezra 7:10 "For Ezra had devoted himself to the study and observance of the Law of the Lord, and to teaching its decrees and laws in Israel."
As much as I appreciated what I was reading in the Book of Ezra, I was also studying the Book of Isaiah with BSF and reading every text I could find on pregnancy and children in the Bible. Like the story of Isaac. I just loved the way that Abraham and Sarah talked about their hope for a child (even though, at the time, I couldn't quite relate) and more importantly, the way God spoke to them about the child He would give them. So Isaiah and Isaac were pretty high on our list of contenders as well. Isaac had the edge on Isaiah (and we if we chose one of those names, the other would be permanently crossed off the list, because I didn't want repeating initials... that's why Elijah and Ezekiel and, actually briefly Ebenezer, were all rejected if/when we chose Ezra).
As I researched names, I found/was reminded of these prominent Ezras:
Ezra (c. 459 BC), an Old Testament major prophet and scribe
Ezra Abbot (1819–1884), American biblical scholar
Ezra Ames (1768–1836), American portrait painter
Ezra Booth (born 1792), American religious leader
Ezra Jack Keats (1916–1983), American author
Ezra Meeker (1830–1928), American pioneer
Ezra Pound (1885–1972), American poet
Better Than Ezra, American alternative rock bandNone of them made us more inclined toward the name Ezra (well, besides the two Ezras already referenced), but none of them soured us on the name either.
And of course, I looked up Ezra's historical popularity in the United States and decided it was tolerably unpopular enough:
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