What's In a Name?

I forget how "out of touch" civilians are with military culture sometimes.

Moving here to Massachusetts has really shown me that at great depths.

We get a ton of questions and puzzled looks when we tell them what we are naming our son.
Our ties to the Marine Corps has had a huge impact on his name.

As most of you know, we're naming our son:

Mattis Mark Vincent R.

Yes...he has two middle names and every part of his name is significant to us in some way or another.

If you were to ask just about anyone affiliated with the Marine Corps, "Do you know who General Mattis is?"

I can almost guarantee you that they will respond with a, "hell yeah!" followed by a famous "Mattis'ism"

(Just google "General Mattis quotes", and you'll get whole PLETHORA of them).

If you're still curious about exactly who he is, I posted a blog about him a few months back right here.

Most Marines are really more infatuated with his "cool" quotes (which he has a lot of), but outside of those "catchy phrases", they rarely know the true depth of this man.

For Nick and I, we admire his humble beginnings and his great knowledge and wisdom.

I can go into great detail, but I'll save you the reading!

A big reason we chose "Mattis" as a first name for our son is the fact that not only is it the name of a leader that Nick and I have both admired throughout our careers as Marines, but Nick was part of 1st Marine Division's push into Fallujah in 2004.

General Mattis played a key role in the April 2004 battle of Fallujah, Operation Vigilant Resolve.

Mark is hubby's middle name.

I feel like it's important for our son to have a part of his father's name.

I want him to be proud of his name, and I feel like he's got an amazing role model to look up to.

He's one of the most humble men I know, and rarely talks about his accomplishments in his 12 short years as a Marine.

If I started now about his amazing career so far, I will have written a novel by the time I finish.

I'll just keep it short and simple.

I will be over the moon happy if our son grows up to even be half the man that his father is.

And last, our son's second middle name, Vincent.

Vincent is the first name of a close friend of my husband, SSgt Bell.

He gave his life in Afghanistan in November of 2011 while on a combat patrol.

He's a man that Nick has known since the beginning of his career as a Marine, and have shared many experiences as Marines together.
  We felt it was appropriate to honor him in some way, and keep his memory alive through our son.

So there you have it.

Every part of his name has significant meaning to us.

And frankly...

Little Mattis has some huge shoes to fill and even bigger names to live up to :-)

no pressure, little guy...no pressure