Where "Elly K" Comes From

I really love family names! I have always wanted to give my children names that came from some where. A name that if asked about has a person and a story behind it. If you like those crazy names like Apple, Coco, or Blue Ivy then go for it, but that is not my cup of tea! Now don't get me wrong, even some family names should not be passed down from generation to generation. At some point those names have got to stop (I will not list any of these but I bet you have a friend or two with their crazy great great uncle's name and its not that great...). Nevertheless, I love the fact that Jonathan and I were able to pass down a name to Elly K that she will be able to tell people where it came from and who she is named after.

So here is how we got the name for this precious, oh.so.adorable, just.want.to.eat.her.up, little girl:

 Ellyn Katherine Schlenker

Jonathan's only living grandmother's name is Ellen. We both thought that was a great name as it is, but after a little research we figured out we could "cover" another grandmother by changing the second "e" to a "y". You see, my grandmother that passed away last year was Helyn. After doing my research, I found out that Ellen and Helyn have the same origin/meaning, which is sun ray or shining light. So that is how we got Ellyn! Gotta love some customization!

As far as Katherine goes, it might seem very obvious. My legal name is Katherine. However, I got that name from my other grandmother, Catherine (aka Tootie). So Elly K's middle name also covers two people, me and my maternal grandmother. 

You might think the story ends there. Most would assume that we just shortened her name to Elly K cause we liked it. We do like it but it also "covers" one more person. My mom is Linda Kay. So we decided to shorten Katherine down to K instead of Kate (or another variation of Katherine) to get my mom in on the name as well. 

In the end, Elly K is named after five women. It makes me so happy that she has a story to tell about her name. That it comes from some where!