What's in a name?

"What's in a name? That which we call a rose / By any other name would smell as sweet"

K a r i s | A k e m i | G i n n

When people ask the name of our baby girl, we seem to get two types of responses. Some people (read: non-seminary related people) look at us a bit quizzically and then say, "I like it! It's such a pretty and a unique name!" Others (read: seminary/Clifton related people) smile and say knowingly, "So...how are you going to spell it? With a 'Ch' or with a 'K'?"

Regardless of what category you might fall in, here's a brief background as to the meaning behind our baby girl's name.

Karis means "grace" in Greek and is found all over the Greek New Testament. We chose this name because we want to be constantly reminded and we Karis to be constantly reminded, that we are saved by grace alone and not our own attempts at righteousness! (It also happens to be taken from the same Greek word as Karis' auntie Charissa!!)

Akemi comes from two Japanese words: ak meaning "bright" and emi meaning "beautiful." We chose this name for two reasons. First, Cami wanted some way to retain her Japanese heritage -- especially since every child we have will be "less" Japanese than Cami! Second, although we liked the name Emi, we couldn't bear to have Karis' initials be KEG. So we opted for a word that included Emi in it. (Interestingly enough, the prefix "Ak" -- albeit, a different Japanese character -- can mean "red" which is rather fitting because Karis had the rosiest cheeks when she was first born!)

Finally, in terms of pronunciation, we are pronouncing Karis like "Paris" with a "K" (thank you Annie Meade for that helpful tip!) We are pronouncing Akemi, "Ah" + "kemi." And, we are pronouncing Ginn like the drink!