Dear Elloree,
I wrote a blog post to your sister about choosing her name, and I have been wanting to do the same for you. I think it's always neat to see how a name came about and what it means to the parents. Here is your story:
I drove to and from Virginia to Georgia pretty often as I dated your dad and we traveled to see our family. To get from point A to point B, you get on I-95 and stay on there for 8 hours straight. It's a long haul, so I always had time to think about a lot of things. Including baby names, apparently. I never paid much attention to road signs as I drove unless I was familiar with the area. Santee, South Carolina is one area I AM SO familiar with. Every time I would get near the exit, I would have flashbacks to my childhood- "Papa's Lake", "spying" mema and papas mailbox with your uncles, walking up and down a dirt road to pick honeysuckles, fishing with worms from a cane pole, swimming in swimming holes, and enjoying time with my sweet grandparents. As a child, we visited Santee very often and it was always a fun time for us. As I was making my VA/GA trip, I was paying attention to the Santee area like usual and I saw the sign that read "Elloree/Santee this exit" and I thought to myself, wow I love that name "Elloree".
Years went by, we got pregnant with your sister and almost used Elloree but went with McKinley. Then when I found out I was pregnant with another girl, we went right back to the name Elloree. Your dad loved it and I loved that it would always remind me of such a special place. We wanted a nickname for you and we weren't crazy about "Ellie" or "Ella" (we liked them, but too common for us) so one day when I was trying to think of a middle name (this was tricky), I thought of my first name, Katherine. I remember sitting on my couch on a Friday night while your dad was working and I said to myself, "Elloree Katherine, "Ella Kate" "-- I immediately loved the idea of this name and texted your dad right away. He loved it too. Growing up, my family always called me 'Kate' and I loved that I could tie that into your name. So there, on a random Friday night in March, I named you Elloree Katherine Brown, and I absolutely loved it.
You are so loved, Ella Kate.
Love you forever,
Momma
