My Son the Little Mermaid!?!

My son is still 6 weeks away from making his grand appearance (Well, hopefully. Katie's been having major Braxton Hicks--that's pre-labor contractions for all the obstetrically-unaware out there.) and he's already teaching me important lessons.

Most parents are big on the naming process. We've never fought about names like some parents-to-be. We've been fortunate in that sense. Katie and I really enjoyed coming up with Eden and Avery's names, and we're pretty big on meanings. Our children are an extension of us. As parents, we feel it's vital that their names carry a spiritual significance beyond a few letters strung together.

We loved that Eden Rene's name meant "paradise reborn". Avery Kate was a bit trickier. Depending on what link you click off of Google's search you could get "pure wisdom" or more commonly "elf ruler". We like the former more than the latter. Although, if we're honest, the latter is kinda cool, too, especially when she prances around the house, donning crown and wand (sometimes a stick--whatever works).

We love the name Ari'el for our son. I know what you're thinking, "This dude's gonna name his son after the Little Mermaid!? His boy will be scarred for life." Believe me, the thought crossed my mind, too, over a bed of Sebastian's, "Under the Sea". The more Katie and I think about it, though, the more we'd like that to be his name, regardless of the stereotype.

Ari'el is spelled the same as Disney's underwater princess but the pronunciation is different. Other than the über-protective, Jamaican-accented red crab, characters in the movie pronounce Ariel with a long "a" sound (air-e-l). Ari'el is pronounced with the "r" sound (r-e-l). There's also a bit of a pause at the apostrophe. Ari--el. In Hebrew El means "God" and Ari means "lion". I love the power in my son's name. Regardless of all the rationale we've come up with, his name reflects a background we believe Ari will come to represent; it feels right to both of us.

What's more important in the long run? Ari's 3rd grade teacher mispronouncing his name and the class having a bit of laugh or Ari forever seeing his full name written and hopefully taking pride in the meaning?  Besides, in 10 years "The Little Mermaid" may be so outdated no one will even remember the characters. Oh, wait, I forgot about remakes.