What's in a Name?

Anyone who knows me knows that I am obsessed with the Twilight Saga. I've read all the books twice, and with the exception of Twilight, have been to the midnight viewings of New Moon and Eclipse. I recently saw a preview for Breaking Dawn Part One and I got cold chills! I can't wait for the release! Not sure if I will make the midnight showing, but I made my husband promise to take me for my birthday! (The movie opens in November which just happens to be the month of my birth.)

Because I am so obsessed with the franchise I've collected some memorablia along the way. I've begged Joel to get me the life size cut out of Edward, but so far no dice! Anyway, if you were to walk into my office cube you would find the following:

With that being said, I guess I shouldn't be shocked that after hearing we had named our son McKinley Edward Krasnow, most people immediatly thought I named my child after the character Edward Cullen! Honestly, why would I ever think to name my child after a character? Again, I love the books, the movies and Edward (plus Robert Pattison is #2 on my laminated card) but still! How would I ever explain that to McKinley? "You see, son, I was obsessed with these books before you were born and because I loved the character of Edward so much I decided to name you after him." Silly!

McKinley was instead named after his father, Joel Edward Krasnow. I love that I can say I have my very own Edward, even though Joel isn't a vampire. He does sleep with his eyes open sometimes.... Something to ponder! Anyway, as we were driving to the hospital that morning, I told Joel that we had never really solidified a middle name for a boy. (We didn't find out the sex of the baby.) I threw out three options: McKinley Lawson Krasnow after my maiden name, McKinley Richard Krasnow after my dad and McKinley Edward Krasnow. Joel has always said that he hates his middle name so when I originally suggested Edward he said no. I'm not sure what changed his mind that morning, but of the three he said that he would like to name him Edward. And I agreed. I really wanted him to have part of his father's name. Family names, to me, are so important!

So that's the story of how McKinley Edward got his name. I do chuckle at times when I think about naming him after a fictional character, which many people to do, but not a vampire from books that are truly aimed at teens. Now, if it were a girl....

As a side note, I would like to add that McKinley is also family name. We named him after my great grandfather on my dad's side, not the president or the high school from the television show Glee! I do have some original ideas!