Choosing two girls' names turned out to be much more difficult than we had anticipated! P and I spent a lot of time thinking, praying, and searching for their names. There are some funny stories to share about the process but I will only share one.
We had decided on the name "Tsana" for one of the girls and were really happy with it. However, we had always used the name with the middle name "Sun" so we didn't catch what could have been a catastrophe (okay, maybe that's too strong of a word!) until the day before our c-section! We were repeating the names without the middle names attached and P blurts out, "We can't name our girl Tsana!" I asked, "Why?" With an astonished look on his face and a laugh, he says, "Because she will be forever be Sonograph! Hi, my name is Tsana Graf--sounds too much like sonograph!" And, of course, P with his dry sense of humor goes on about all the ways that she can be teased because of her name! We had a good laugh, but we were disappointed that the name we liked so much was no longer an option in our mind. We came up with "Tsana", which is the Hebrew word for "humbly," from the passage in Micah 6:8-- I had felt in my prayer times that this verse was given for one of the girls. "He has shown you, O people, what the Lord requires of you. To do justice, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.
Then, we were in a mad rush to find another name. We thought about Micah or Mikah but decided against it. We finally settled on the name Sophianne (which would have been Elijah's name had he been a girl.) As I thought about it, the name "Sophia" means wisdom in Greek. "Anne" means grace. The middle name "Sun" means goodness in Korean. A woman of "wisdom, grace, and goodness" is someone who can live out Micah 6:8. This is our prayer for Sophianne Sun that she would become a woman full of wisdom, grace, and goodness, who will do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with our God.
The name Rena means "Joyous Song" in Hebrew. How did we come up with this name? We were praying and talking about what to name our other daughter. While we were deep in discussion, I received an email from a friend. She shared with me that when she was praying for us, for our pregnancy, long before we even knew that we were having two girls, she sensed the Lord giving her the name "Deborah" for our child. She had kept it to herself but felt that perhaps this was the right time to share it with us.
So, we looked up Judges 4-5. Deborah is an awesome woman of God, a prophetess who leads Israelite men to victory over their enemies. I prayed and said to God, "Lord, I would love to have my daughter or daughters become like Deborah. But, Lord, I don't like the name Deborah....is there another name that I can give her that captures its essence without having to use the name itself?" As I spent some time praying and looking through different name options, I came across the name "Rena." As I thought about the meaning of the name, I was quickly reminded that Deborah sang a joyous song to the Lord after the victory in Judges 5. It says in Judges 5:12, "Wake up, wake up Deborah! Wake up, wake up, break out in song!" Rena, which means "joyous song" seem to fit really nicely with how Deborah responds to what the Lord has done for Israel. The middle name "Lee" is my maiden name. It's given after my parents whom I love and respect. They are models of complete abandonment to the Lord. They love Jesus with all that they are and I hope that I can pass on this amazing heritage to my daughters.
Our prayer for Rena is that she would become a woman who courageously leads others to victory in the Lord resulting in joyous songs of praise to Him.
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