Juliana Ada
Jan. 5, 2009
Kim and I have finally decided on a name for our daughter. Despite our 2-year-old son's insistence that we name her after the dog, we've settled on Juliana Ada Belcher.
We're naming her Juliana after the 14th century English mystic Julian of Norwich. Kim has always had a fondness for her writings, sometimes referring to her as "her favorite theologian." It is the 160th most popular name for girls in 2007, so she shouldn't have to worry about too many people sharing her first name.
The name Ada comes from Augusta Ada King, Countess of Lovelace who was also the first computer programmer. Of course this makes me a huge computer geek, but when I discovered via wikipedia that Ada is also the name of the 7th century St. Ada, abbess of St. Julien-des-Prix abbey, it all made sense. Ada is the 646th most popular name for girls in 2007, making it very unlikely that she will meet someone else with the same name.
Both Julian and Ada made significant contributions to fields which are historically considered the domain of men. Julian is known for her optimistic theology in a time of great turmoil and for recognizing the feminine in the divine. Ada was taught mathematics at an early age and always had a strong interest in science and mathematics. She also recognized the potential of computers to compose music before even a single computer had been built. I hope that our daughter can be as optimistic and full of love as Julian, and as curious and inspired as Ada.