What's in a name?: The Two for One Special

One thing I had wondered about was naming a child I was placing for adoption. How does that work exactly? Did I need to name him at all? I already had a name picked out for Riley because I had planned on keeping him at first. But what now?

I learned that Riley was a lucky little baby that would have tow birth certificates, one with my information and the name I gave him, and another with his parents' information and his real name. When I asked the family if they had picked a name out yet for Riley that first day, they hadn't. Their minds were still adjusting to the fact they had a baby to name.

After a day or two though they settled on a name, Silas Ensign. My first reaction was what?? I had never heard the name Silas before and did they mean Ensign like the magazine? I'm a little fuzzy on the details but I believe both names are family names for them. When I got home from the hospital I looked up the meaning of the names. Silas loosely meant "man of the woods." A website said that it was a "Roman name derived from Latin silva "wood, forest". Silvanus was the Roman god of forests. This name appears in the New Testament belonging to one of Saint Paul's companions, also called Silas." I thought that was really cool, Biblical and unique. Ensign was something I could relate to more easily. An ensign is "a sign, token, or emblem." Silas was all of these things for me. He's was such a small baby but he was already beginning to live up to his big name.